The Island, County Waterford
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 158. “(Purcell-FitzGerald/IFR) An old castle on an island in the estuary of the River Suir downstream of Waterford which always belonged to this branch of the FitzGeralds – of which the most famous member in recent times was Edward FitzGerald, the translator of Omar Khayyam – but which did not become the massive battlemented cut-stone pile it is now until ca 1900, when it was remodelled, modernized and had large wings added to it by Edward FitzGerald’s great-nephew, Gerald Purcell-FitzGerald, to the design of Rosmayne Walker. The wings are almost as high as teh centre, and, like it, have Irish battlements; the centre being flanked by two small turrets. The walls are more or less devoid of ornament, there are many stone-mullioned windows and a mullioned conservatory at one side of the building. The interior is Baronial and lavish Edwardian-Elizabethan; there is a great hall with walls of Portland stone, Gothic arches and a stone fireplace carved with an impressive heraldic acheivement; there is a very large dining room panelled in oak with an Elizabethan-style plasterwork ceiling, and other rooms in the same manner. After being let for some years, The Island was sold ca 1960 by Princess Ferdinando d’Ardia Caracciolo (nee Purcell-FitzGerald).
Island House, ISLAND (BAL. BY.) KILLINCOOLY ED, County Wexford
Detached five-bay three-storey country house, extant 1777, on a T-shaped plan centred on single-bay single-storey projecting porch to ground floor. Damaged, 1798. Occupied, 1901; 1911. Vacated, 1962. Sold, 1963. Replacement flat roof behind parapet, rendered chimney stacks having capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta pots, and concealed rainwater goods retaining cast-iron hoppers and downpipes. Rendered walls with concrete coping to parapet. Square-headed central window opening in bipartite arrangement (porch) with cut-granite sill, timber mullion, and moulded rendered surround framing four-over-four timber sash windows. Central door opening into country house. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and moulded rendered surrounds framing six-over-nine (ground floor), six-over-six (first floor) or three-over-six (top floor) timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with part creeper- or ivy-covered rendered, ruled and lined piers to perimeter having ball finial-topped cut-granite capping.
Appraisal
A country house representing an important component of the domestic built heritage of County Wexford with the architectural value of the composition, one annotated as “The Island [of] Bolton Esquire” by Taylor and Skinner (1778 pl. 144), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking wooded grounds; the compact rectilinear plan form centred on ‘a blocked architrave doorcase with sidelights’ (Craig and Garner 1975, 61); the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the parapeted roofline. Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery; restrained chimneypieces; and plasterwork refinements, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (—-); and ‘gate piers [with] most unusual pineapple [finials] like tulips in shape’ (ibid., 61), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of an estate having historic connections with the Bolton family including William “Black Billy” Bolton (1720-76); William Bolton (—-), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1789); William Bolton (1782-1853); William Bolton JP DL (1815-1905), one-time High Sheriff of County Wexford (fl. 1856); and William Bolton (1850-1923).
Irish Historic Houses 