The Murtagh Family welcomes you to Rockfield House. Located just outside the heritage town of Kells in Co. Meath, in the heart of the Boyne Valley and Irelands Ancient East, originally built in the 18th century, the house has recently been restored to its former glory but with 21st century comforts.
Sitting on 68 Acres of lush green fields, with 10 bedrooms sleeping up to 30 people and a separate Courtyard 2 bedroom apartment with its own entrance which can accommodate a further 5 people, there is an abundance of space to entertain and and be entertained.
Rockfield House can accommodate groups from 5 to 32 people in the main house. Our newly renovated Gardener’s Lodge can welcome up to 22 people in dormitory style accommodation.
Rockfield House is the optimal venue for family occasions or special birthday parties and we can help you with our unique party entertainment, if you like.
The house can cater for groups of up to 100 and with our group accommodation options you have lots of scope to celebrate in style when your guests to stay over.
The Courtyard Apartment is a luxurious two bedroom apartment overlooking the stables.
The fully equipped kitchen has a dining area for five, while the separate lounge room with open fire and plush period furnishings is a lovely space to relax after a busy day.
Outside, you can ramble around the grounds, check for eggs as you go or visit the Fred and Ted our resident (and rather free-spirited) goats – or they might visit you!
Rockfield House was built by Thomas Rothwell at the end of the eighteenth century. His son Richard carried out improvements around 1840/41. At the time it was built, the Rothwell family owned well over 3,000 acres in County Meath. Thomas Rothwell married Louisa Pratt, daughter of Mervin Pratt and his wife Madeline Jackson of Cabra Castle and Enniscoe House, respectively. Over the generations, the Rothwells married local land-owning families, including Nicholson (Balrath Bury) and Fitzherbert (Blackcastle).
During the 20th century it was owned by the Pigeon and Cameron families and at the turn of the 21st Century it was purchased by Trevor and Bernie Fitzherbert (originally from Blackcastle Estate). They carried out a substantial programme of refurbishment and redecoration and returned the house and surrounding courtyards and walled garden to its former glory.
In 2022 the house was purchased by the Murtagh family, from nearby Causey Farm, with the intention of using it as a place to support foster families with their Nurturing in Nature programme. The current owners also intend to continue the tradition of parties and events that Rockfield has been renowned for over the centuries.
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.
“(Rothwell, LBI1912) An impressive three storey nine bay late C18 house, with an elevation almost identical to that of the nearby Williamstown, so that it can safely be assumed that both houses are by the same architect. Ground floor treated as basement, with channelling. Entrance front with three bay breakfront; small single-storey Doric portico with die and coupled columns; entablatures over first floor windows, pediment over window in centre. Handsome late-Georgian interior. Library with Ionic columns. Curving staircase with ironwork balustrade behind screen of columns, leading up to drawing room and dining room en suite on first floor, which is thus treated as piano nobile.”
not in national inventory
Record of Protected Structures:
Rockfield House, townland: Rockfield. Town: Kells
Detached nine-bay, three-storey late C18 house, central freestanding doric porch, courtyard at rear. Lodges, entrance gates and estate cottages.
Rockfield is an imposing very late 18th century mansion sitting in fine parkland about a mile outside Kells in county Meath. It replaced an earlier house on the same site. The house is 9 bay with the central 3 bays slightly forward. It has 3 storeys , the ground floor somewhat being treated like a basement in the past ( although I’m informed there is an actual part basement too). It has a small portico ,and entablatures dress the piano nobile windows , which they surely are, with the drawing room, dining room and library all on this first floor. The cantilever staircase is a beauty , worthy of this fine home. I noticed the ” outer” front door is made of steel, perhaps a nod to the security issues of the late 19th century or worse early 20th century( similar to Hilton Park in Co Monaghan maybe). The Rothwell family origins in Co Meath were probably in the Cannonstown and Berfordstown areas. I believe it was Thomas Rothwell who constructed the present house at Rockfield, his son Richard carrying out improvements circa 1840/41 to the house and the estate, he also added 3 gate lodges ( his son Thomas adding a 4th later) There are extensive outbuildings to the rear of the house and the former walled garden must have been a sight to behold given its scale and large pond etc . In the 1870s Thomas Rothwell held well over 3,000 acres in county Meath( and about 365 in Co. Tipperary too) .He has been educated at Magdalen college in Oxford and was a member of the Kildare St. and conservative clubs. Thomas had married Louisa Pratt, daughter of Mervin Pratt and his wife Madeline Jackson of Cabra Castle and Enniscoe House respectively. Over the generations the Rothwells had married well, including into the local Nicholson( Balrath Bury) and Fitzherbert (Black Castle) families. In the 1901 census Thomas Rothwell ,aged 66 ,was in residence with his wife and 3 of his daughters. Also staying in the house were 6 servants and 1 visitor .Thomas gave his occupation as DL and JP ( common among the gentry). Interestingly , all the servants, even the lowest ranked , in both the 1901 and 1911 census records, were Protestant. Thomas had died in 1909. The house had different owners later in the 20th century and as is sadly normal, somewhat deteriorated ,but amazingly, at the beginning of the 21st century it was bought by Trevor Fitzherbert and his wife Bernadette. Trevor was a member of the Fitzherbert/ Fitzherbert-Ruxton family that once owned the Black Castle estate on the outskirts of Navan, the estate had over 2,000 acres in Co. Meath during the 1870/80s, as well as over 2,300 acres in Co. Monaghan. As he was related to the Rothwells, in a sense, the house came back to the family. Over a period of time , Trevor and Bernadette refurbished the house to the high standard it’s in today. This was a massive task, the roof job alone would have put off many. Rooms were returned to their full size, walls were repaired, iron work , windows, doors, all sorted,the list was long . Sadly , last year, after a short illness, Trevor passed away , long before he should have. It’s a credit to them that the house now stands proudly , hopefully for at least another brace of centuries.
Rockfield is just outside Kells town on the road to Athboy. Rockfield is a large two storey house over a low vaulted basement, with a courtyard behind. The yard is earlier than the house so an older house must have stood on the site. The current house is early nineteenth century. The house is similar in design to Williamstown and both may have had the same architect. A curved stone staircase to the first floor is off the entrance hallway. The hall has a period grey marble fireplace and a stone flagged floor. The house had originally three lodges and three avenues. There is a fine Gothic gatehouse dating from 1843.
John Rothwell of Berfordstown, Co. Meath died in 1714 leaving a wife, Mary, four sons and five daughters. His son, John, succeeded him and lived at Cannonstown, the neighbouring townland to Rockfield. John was succeeded by John, son of his second son, Thomas. Richard Rothwell succeeded to his uncle’s estates at Berford and purchased the property of Rockfield from his elder brother. In 1763 he married Mary Lowther, daughter and heiress to Hugh Lowther of Hurdlestown. Their second son, Thomas, inherited the estate in 1780. Thomas was High Sheriff of Meath in 1794. He married twice, firstly to Helena Upton in 1795 and then to Letitia Corry of Shantonagh, Co. Monaghan. Thomas’s son, Thomas took the surname Fitzherbert and inherited Blackcastle and Shantonagh.
Richard Rothwell inherited on the death of his father, Thomas, in 1817. A number of account books and ledgers belonging to the family from this period are in the National Library. Richard, educated at Oxford, was High Sheriff of Meath in 1839. Richard had architect, William Murray, prepare plans for improvements in 1841. Richard was treasurer of the Meath Horticultural Society. He married Elizabeth, only daughter of Rev. Thomas Sutton, rector of Clongill. Elizabeth recorded the detestation caused by the night of the Big Wind in 1839. A sword recovered from Lagore crannog, Dunshaughlin, was presented to the Museum of the Royal Irish Academy by Mrs. Rothwell. The Rothwells had a collection of ancient artefacts which eventually ended up in the National Museum of Ireland. Their eldest son, Thomas, succeeded to Rockfield in 1853. Thomas Rothwell held 3161 acres in Meath and 365 acres in Tipperary in 1883. Educated at Magdalene College Oxford he was a member of the Conservative Club, Kildare Street. High Sheriff of Meath in 1867, he served with the Meath Militia. He married Louisa Catherine Hannah Pratt of Cabra Castle in 1866 and died in 1909 leaving four daughters. In the 1901 census Thomas Rothwell and his family lived at Rockfield. The house was home to the Rothwells until the 1960s. The Cameron family then held Rockfield for thirty years.
There are plenty of Georgian piles for sale across Ireland and while the elegantly proportioned abodes look the part, the renovation required to bring many of them up to 21st-century standards is the thing that puts buyers off. It takes time and deep pockets to modernise them gently.
Rockhill House, on the outskirts of Kells, Co Meath, is a compact estate, complete with big period pile, where all the hard – read expensive – work has been done.
This makes it an interesting proposition for a family looking to keep horses and perhaps do some farming, or for an entrepreneur who might see the commercial value in short lets and small weddings, which was the reason Bernie FitzHerbert and her late husband, Trevor, bought the estate in 2001
The 18th-century, nine-bay residence was already a a stylish country house. Situated less than an hour from Dublin it boasts a stone-pillared entrance, sweeping avenue that is partially tree-lined, with a Doric portico and shallow bows to either side greeting you as you arrive out front.
It had been in Trevor’s family until the 1960s, when it was sold. When the couple bought the listed building, it was in need of complete renovation. “The entire roof had to be redone. The previous owner had blocked off the top floor and taken out the staircase,” Bernie recalls.
The couple brought the Georgian Society on board to ensure works, which started in 2008, would be in keeping with the original house and conform to the necessary regulations.
The property, which is set over three floors, has been rewired and replumbed with some of its six over six, single-glaze sash windows reglazed. Six of its eight bedrooms now have en suite bathrooms.
The upgrades took five years to complete and the couple eventually moved in in 2012.
“It lends itself very well to entertaining. We’d some terrific parties, ” Bernie says. Its interconnecting rooms, at piano nobile level, were designed for such soirees. The dining room, library with marble columns, and drawing room all interconnect and frame sweeping views to the south from their large windows. A service kitchen, with dumb waiter, allows for easy food delivery.
At hall level, the ceilings have been decoratively painted by specialist Michael Dillon, the entrance hall has a flagstone floor and its cantilevered staircase sweeps up to the first floor.
There’s a billiards room to the right, and on the left is a sitting room that leads through to the main kitchen and on through to a large utility room. The ground floor is set around a courtyard with store buildings at the gable end.
Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.
For sale courtesy Savills Residential and Country Agency:
A82 V9D5 8 beds1485 m2
Magnificent country house with extensive traditional outbuildings and mature grounds Extending to about 65.9 acres (26.6 hectares) in total, Rockfield is a magnificent, compact residential estate. At its core is a superb, fully refurbished country house with beautifully proportioned and well-balanced accommodation. The property comprises mature garden grounds (including a charming walled garden), parkland, and woodland. The agricultural element of the estate comprises productive tillage land and pasture, which is let on a seasonal basis. There is an extensive range of traditional outbuildings to the rear of the house, which provide storage. Accessed via a stone-pillared entrance with cast-iron gates and beautiful overhanging mature trees, Rockfield House is approached along a sweeping gravel avenue lined partially by woodland, which leads to a parking area at the front of the house. Rockfield House dates back to the 18th Century and occupies a private, south-easterly facing position. External features include a Doric portico with shallow bows to either side, white window surrounds and a hip roof. The house has been comprehensively renovated during the seller’s ownership to transform one of the county’s most historic houses into a sumptuous property, fit for hosting lavish house parties and comfortable family living, in equal measure. Rockfield House Rockfield House is a superb period property situated in a private and tranquil setting with stunning views of the rolling countryside. The accommodation is predominantly laid out over three floors and is of generous and elegant proportions, as set out in the accompanying plans. It is in a U-shape of asymmetrical design with a courtyard attached to the rear. The house is approached through a Doric portico entrance that leads to an impressive reception hall. Upon entering the house, an aura of grandeur is evident with period features in the reception hall, which continue throughout the formal reception rooms and bedroom accommodation. With a flagstone floor and marble fireplace, the hall provides access to the billiards room as well as an extensive living/dining room, with a magnificent wooden fireplace and stove. The kitchen is accessed via the living room and is a spacious room with a beautifully crafted and extensive range of floor and wall mounted units. There is an island counter with gas hob and electric oven as well as an AGA cooker. The first floor is accessed via a spectacular cantilever staircase, with the principal accommodation comprising a dining room, drawing room and library, which are all inter connecting and offer excellent potential for formal entertaining, including an adjoining service kitchen with dumbwaiter. The three elegant, light-filled reception rooms include high ceilings and beautiful open marble fireplaces. Situated to the front of the house, these rooms enjoy magnificent and expansive views of the rolling parkland. The first floor also includes the master bedroom with ensuite bathroom and spacious dressing room. The remainder of the bedroom accommodation is located on the second floor, which is accessed via a staircase at the east wing of the house (connecting with the ground floor) and opens to a spacious landing. The landing leads to four generously proportioned bedroom suites and two further bedrooms. An eighth bedroom suite is situated on the ground floor. It is accessed off the billiards room and has a separate external access. Notable internal period features include decorative cornicing, sash windows, hardwood floors, impressive marble fireplaces, feature columns in the reception hall and library, architraves, shutters and woodwork including panelling on doors and staircase. Apartment Situated in the picturesque courtyard is a one-bedroom self-contained apartment, which comprises a sitting/dining room, kitchen and bedroom with ensuite bathroom.
Accommodation
Features
Renovated period country house
Accessible location
8 bedrooms (6 en suite)
Self-contained apartment
Extensive range of traditional outbuildings
About 57 acres of ring-fenced farmland
BER Details
Exempt
Negotiator
James Butler
Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Library. Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Living room.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Hall ceiling painted by Michael Dillon. Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.Rockfield House, Rockfield Road, Kells, Co Meath for sale, photograph courtesy Savills.
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. 81. “(Tisdall/IFR) A two storey house of ca 1800, with a lower wing. Hall with Corinthian columns. Drawing room in early C18 style, with panelling. Library with simple frieze. Interior rearranged by Rev Daniel Beaufort. Sold ca 1971.”
Charlesfort House, Cortown, Kells was erected and lived in by the Tisdall family. A low rectangular house Richard Castles prepared plans for the house which was later re-modelled by Daniel Beaufort and William Murray. The house which was erected in the 1740s was re-modelled in the 1780s and again about 1841. Mulligan said the house has an elegant entrance hall. The library, dining room and drawing room all have regency style plasterwork. The limestone porch is probably a late 19th century addition.
In 1668 Michael Tisdall leased the manor of Martry from Nicholas Darcy. Michael lived at a house at Bloomsbury and called it Mount Tisdall. It is not clear if he erected that house. His grandson, Michael Tisdall, was M.P. for Kildare, Castlebar and Ardee in the late 1600s and early 1700s. He was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles.
Born in 1719 Charles Tisdall began the erection of a new house in April 1742. He selected an elevated and dry site at Athgaine, away from the river. It is said that a doctor advised him to move away from the river for the good of his health. Charles purchased a volume of books on Palladio’s architecture. The famous architect, Richard Castles, was paid £20 in 1743 for providing a plan for the house and supervising some of the work. Charles Tisdall attended the first performance of Handel’s Messiah in April 1742 in Dublin. Charles maintained an account of the building of the house and also recorded his tree planting for the years 1740-1751. In 1741 Charles planted 50 pear trees, 150 apple trees and 1,000 beech trees. In 1744 he planted 1,000 oak trees and 800 ash trees. More ash and elm trees were planted in 1746. The slates for the house were purchased from Reilly in Ballyjamesduff. Charles probably moved into Charlesfort in 1753. The following year, 1754, aged 34, Charles married Hester Cramer. In December 1755 their son, Michael, was born, and in October 1756 another son, Charles, was born. Charles, the father, died in 1757, aged 37 and was buried in Martry graveyard. Michael Tisdall inherited the estate but only took control on his coming of age in 1776. Additions were carried out to the house for Michael Tisdall, which were designed by Rev. Daniel Beaufort of Navan. Michael was High Sheriff of Meath in 1781. He died in 1794 aged 39 and was succeeded by his eldest son, Charles Arthur.
Charles Arthur took over the estate at 21 years of age in 1803. Charles married Elizabeth Vernon of Clontarf Castle in 1807. In 1811 Charles was appointed High Sheriff for Meath. In 1813 the house underwent some works. Charles had an interest in religion and wrote and distributed two books attempting to persuade his tenants to convert to Protestantism. In 1824 he attended a meeting in Navan to found a branch of the Reformation Society. He stated that as a Magistrate “he was disgusted with the vice and immorality, the insincerity and want of truth in the commonest transactions” that he encountered. In the 1830s Charlesfort was described as the residence of Mr. C.A. Tisdall and a good two storey house with an extensive and well laid out demesne. Charles died in 1835 aged 53.
John Tisdall took over the estate in 1836 at 21 years of age, the year after his father’s death. The following year he married Isabella Knox. Their eldest child, Charles Arthur, was born in 1838. John provided a site for a Protestant Church at Athgaine Great. In 1883 John Tisdall held 3,962 acres in Meath, 493 in Limerick and 575 in Kilkenny a total estate of 5,030 acres. John died in 1892. John’s eldest son, Charles, had died in 1869. His second son, John Knox, appears to have been estranged from his father. John Knox’ son, also called Charles Arthur, born in 1875, inherited the estate on his grandfather’s death in 1892. As a young man he joined the Irish Guards and was reluctant to return to Ireland to take over Charlesfort. Robert Heuston leased Charlesfort from Major Tisdall. From Belfast Heuston was a noted polo player and resided at Charlesfort until 1904. Two of Major Tisdall’s uncles, Henry Chichester Tisdall and Vice-Admiral Vernon Archibold Tisdall also farmed portions of the estate. In 1904 half the estate was sold to the tenants.
Major Tisdall organised train trips for the estate children to Dublin, once to see Queen Victoria in 1900 and on another occasion to watch army drills at the Vice-Regal Lodge in the Phoenix Park. Major Tisdall was a talented musician and a pupil and friend of Sir Edward Elgar who visited Charlesfort. Elgar said when he visited the house “Charlesfort will never die, because it is built on a magic hill.’
In 1914 Major Tisdall was killed just a month after World War I broke out, killed in action in the retreat from Mons in Belgium. The Major’s brother, William, came to live at Charlesfort in 1904, inherited in 1914 and remained there until his death in 1954. During the First World War William stabled army horses at Charlesfort and tilled some of the land for vegetable growing. William was High Sheriff of Meath in 1921. He purchased the first tractor in the area and also the first wireless, which he invited local people to come and listen to. He also gave drives in his car to the local children at the parties he hosted on the estate. William’s son, Michael, was in the British army and was accidentally killed in 1940 during a military training exercise. He was 37 years old. William’s wife also died the same year. Five years later William married a second time. His wife was Una Palmer Burke from Ballina. William died aged 78 in 1954.
William was succeeded by his cousin, Dr. Oliver Tisdall. Oliver and his family came to live on the estate in 1955 and he immersed himself in the running of it. When Oliver Tisdall came to Charlesfort he was unable to find the key for the Protestant church as the key had been mislaid some years before. After rummaging he came across a key which fitted the lock. Locals were surprised with the label on the key which read “the dungeon of Martry.” Apparently the key for the police cell at Martry RIC police barracks also opened the Protestant church. Oliver died in 1964 and his widow sold the property in 1968.
In recent years the Hogan family have rescued the house and have restored it.
There is considerable further information in “Charlesfort – The story of a Meath estate and its people, 1668-1968” by Tony Coogan and Jack Gaughran and also on the Ask about Ireland, Irish Libraries website.
THE TISDALLS OWNED 3,962 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY MEATH
This is a branch of the ancient family of TISDALL in England, which bore arms “three pheons argent on a shield sable.” When, in 1679, Richard St George, Ulster King of Arms, ratified and confirmed the arms to Michael Tisdall, of Mount Tisdall, County Meath, and his brothers, he added “a thistle or,” for distinction, as is stated in the original certificate in Ulster’s office.
The first of the family in Ireland was MICHAEL TISDALL, who had a sister, Catherine.
This Michael Tisdall was of Castleblayney, County Monaghan; he had issue, by his wife Ann (née Singleton), seven sons and two daughters, namely,
MICHAEL TISDALL, of Mount Tisdall, County Meath, purchased in 1668 the Manor of Martry, County Meath (wherein the mansion of Charlesfort stands).
He was Secondary of the Court of King’s Bench in Ireland, and JP for County Meath in 1679, when arms were granted to him and his brother James by Henry St George, Norroy and Ulster King of Arms.
Mr Tisdall married, in 1666, Anne, daughter of the Rev William Barry, Rector of Killucan, brother of Sir James Barry, Knight, 1st Baron Santry, Lord Chief Justice of the King’s Bench in Ireland, and had issue,
WILLIAM, his heir;
Michael;
Catherine; Elizabeth.
The elder son,
WILLIAM TISDALL (1668-1725), of Mount Tisdall, wedded Frances, third daughter of the Hon Robert FitzGerald, and sister of Robert, 19th Earl of Kildare, and by her had issue,
MICHAEL, his heir;
George (Rev Dr).
Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his elder son,
MICHAEL TISDALL (1672-1726), MP for Ardee, 1713-26, who espoused Catherine, daughter of the Rt Hon William Palmer, Principal Secretary in Ireland, Secretary for War, and Commissioner for Appeals, MP for Castlebar, 1695-9, 1703-13, and had issue,
CHARLES, his heir;
Michael;
Catherine; Frances.
He was succeeded by his elder son,
CHARLES TISDALL (1719-57), of Mount Tisdall, who built a new house on his manor of Martry, and called it CHARLESFORT, which has since been the designation of the family.
He married, in 1754, Hester, daughter of Oliver Cramer, second son of Oliver Cramer, of Ballyfoyle, County Kilkenny, by Hester his wife, daughter of Sir John Coghill, Knight, LL.D, Master in Chancery, and had issue,
MICHAEL, his heir;
Charles.
The elder son,
MICHAEL TISDALL (1755-94), of Charlesfort, County Meath, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1788, wedded, in 1779, Juliana, daughter and co-heir (with her sister Jane, who married George, 1st Baron Headley) of Arthur Blennerhassett, of Ballyseedy, County Kerry, and had issue,
CHARLES ARTHUR, his heir;
James (Rev);
Archibald, rear-admiral in the Royal Navy;
Juliana; Catherine.
Mr Tisdall wedded secondly, the widow of the Rev _______ Crow.
He was succeeded by his eldest son,
CHARLES ARTHUR TISDALL (1782-1835), of Charlesfort, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1811, who espoused, in 1807, Elizabeth, daughter of John Vernon, of Clontarf Castle, County Dublin, and had issue,
JOHN, his heir;
William;
Archibald, major-general in the Army;
James;
Juliana; Henrietta; Elizabeth; Maria; Frances.
Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his eldest son,
JOHN TISDALL JP DL (1815-92), of Charlesfort, High Sheriff of County Meath, 1841, who married, in 1837, Isabella, daughter of the Hon George Knox, and had issue,
Charles Arthur, died unmarried 1869;
John Knox, father of CHARLES ARTHUR;
George William;
Henry Chichester;
Vernon Archibald;
Richard Louis;
Arthur James;
Alfred Oliver (Rev);
Harriet Elizabeth; Isabella Maria; Anne Charlotte.
Mr Tisdall was succeeded by his grandson,
CHARLES ARTHUR TISDALL (1875-1914), of Charlesfort, Major, Irish Guards, who wedded, in 1904, Gwynneth May, only child of Charles Adshead, and had issue, two daughters, of whom one was born in 1907.
In 1914 Major Tisdall died, just a month after the 1st World War broke out, killed in action in the retreat from Mons in Belgium.
The Major’s brother, William, came to live at Charlesfort in 1904, inherited in 1914 and remained there until his death in 1954.
During the 1st World War William stabled army horses at Charlesfort and tilled some of the land for vegetable growing.
William was High Sheriff of County Meath in 1921.
William’s son, Michael, was in the army and was accidentally killed in 1940 during a military training exercise.
William Tisdall’s wife also died the same year. Five years later William married a second time. His wife was Una Palmer Burke from Ballina.
William died aged 78 in 1954.
William was succeeded by his cousin, Dr Oliver Tisdall, who came with his family to live on the estate in 1955 and he immersed himself in its activities.
Dr Tisdall died in 1964; his widow sold Charlesfort in 1968.
In recent years the Hogan family have rescued Charlesfort House and restored it.
Charlesfort (Image: Hogan’s Farm)
CHARLESFORT, near Kells, County Meath, is a Georgian house comprising two storeys with a lower wing.
The original house is said to have been built in the 1740s; remodelled in the 1780s; and again in 1841.
The hall has Corinthian columns, and the drawing-room – in the early 18th century style – contains panelling.
Charlesfort (Image: Hogan’s Farm)
There is a frieze in the library.
The interior is said to have been rearranged by the Rev Daniel Beaufort.
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. 35. “(Bolton/LG1863; Wachman, sub Daly/IFR) A plain two storey house of ca 1790. 7 bay front, enclosed porch with fluted Doric columns; five bay side. Good staircase hall. The childhood home of James Stern, the writer; sold to William Bird 1922. Recently the home of Norman Wachman, who sold it to the Tower Cement Mines Co.”
Not in national inventory
Record of Protected Structures:
Bective House, townland: Balgill, town” Bective C1790 incl arched yard, stables, NE lodge, West Lodge, 19thC.
The Landed Gentry and Aristocracy: County Meath. Volume 1. Art Kavanagh, 2005.
Bolton of Bective Abbey p. 43.
p. 43. Richard Bolton …first emerges as a recorder of the city [of Dublin] in about 1606/7…p. 44…in 1618 the year in which he was made solicitor-general.
It was while serving in this port that he published, in 1621, a selection of The Statutes of Ireland….made Chief Baron of the Exchequer and within a year, Lord Chancellor of Ireland, replacing Sir Adam Loftus (later Viscount Ely)…
The Chancellorship was a position of some considerable importance. As head of Chancery he served as keeper of the Irish Great Seal which was applied to letters issued in the king’s name. The Lord Chancelor was entitled to a moiety (half share) of the income derived from such writes and an annual salary of £500. Significantly his acquisition of Bective coincides wiht his appointment to the position, and based on his predecessors, holding the position of Chancellor seems to have been a prerequisite to obtaining the abbey property.
Located within the Pale, the 12C foundation at Bective was one of the first great Irish monastic houses to fall under the seemingly rancorous dissolution policy of Henry VIII. The Abbey and its 4,440 acres in Meath were seized and the secularisation of the religious buildings commenced under Thomas Agard, known as “Agard of the mint” because of his position as vice-treasurer of the Mint in the Tudor administration.
Agard’s possession of the monastery seems to have been short, perhaps reflecting financial difficulties, and in 1544 it passed, again for a brief period, to Sir John Alen, the Lord Chancellor and head of the commission for the dissolution of the monasteries. …
p. 45. Bective next passed to the Treasurer of Ireland, Anthony Wyse…following his death in 1567, Bective passed to his son in law, Sir Alexander Fitton, and afterwards to his son-in-law Sir Bartholomew Dillon, a Chief Justice who resided across the Boyne at Riverstown Castle and who in 1595 had married Catherine Litton. Bective seems to have declined after this period and in 1619 the abbey was described as deserted.
Sir Richard Bolton restored some stability to the ownership of the property and his descendants established a possession of the property that endured until the end of the 19C. However from the late 17th century, the Bolton family was chiefly resident in Brazeel, an important 17th century house in north County Dublin while Bective Abbey was leased to others including Thomas Taylour, whose descendants, in recognition of this, became Earls of Bective. A smaller residence on the site, now incorporated into the present Bective House, appears to have been provided for the Bolton family’s occasional presence on their Meath estate.
p. 46. Sir Richard had barely taken up office amid the gathering tensions of the mid seventeenth century that spectacularly flared with the Catholic rising of 1641. Barely had he acquainted himself with the duties of office when he was subjected, wiht others, to impeachment proceedings for high treason. These had been initiated, it has been claimed, by Catholic members of the commons – an intrigue that has to be placed in the context of the circumstances surrounding teh abiding crises of the mid 17c. … he managed to have the proceedings against him dropped and was immediately reinstated to the chancellorship.
p. 47. The high point of his career came when he was central to the negotiations in 1643 conducted by the Earl of Ormonde, between the King and the Confederate Catholics which led to a temporary truce and military support for Chalres I, in his conflict with parliament. Bolton’s name also heads the signatories of the proclamation issued in 1646 announcing the terms of so-called first Ormonde Peace.
Richard Bolton was first married to Frances Walter who came from his home county of Staffordshire…with whom he had several children and at least one son, Edward. Notwithstanding the circumstances of his election to parliament in 1613 and later accusations that he was “much opposed to concessions to Roman Catholics in Ireland” he formed an alliance with one of the most important old Catholic families of the Pale when he took Margaret Barnewall of Turvey , widow of Luke Netterville, as his second wife. Her father, Sir Patrick Barnewall… the eldest of the 11 children of Sir Christopher Barneweall, high sheriff of Co. Dublin, he was already prominent as the leading opponent of Sir Arthur Chichester , p. 48] when as Lord Deputy Chichester attempted to compel Catholic attendance at services of the established church, applying the rigours of the Castle Chamber to those who refused. Pehaps not as threatening as the Westminster court it sought to emulate, its penalties to deviants varied from pillory to whipping to the barbarity of removing the ears of the accused. Barnewall was successful in having this regime suspended. In 1646 Patrick Barnewall’s eldest son Nicholas, in recognition of services during the English civil war was created Viscount Kingsland and Baron of Turvey by Charles I.
Bolton’s eldest son, Sir Edward Bolton, who had been knighted in 1635, followed his father’s career when as solicitor-general he was appointed Chief Baron of the Exchequer in 1640, but it is stated that he was later “removed by the usurping powers. Notwithstanding this he inherited the Bective estates on his father’s death in 1648 and in 1651 under the parliamentary government obtained another official post as Commissioner for the administration of justice in Ireland.
p. 49. After Sir Edward, who died in 1705, the Bolton family’s political importance appears to have diminished considerably and at Brazeel he was succeeded by a succession of Richards, Edwards and Roberts who remain largely obscure. Early in the 18C Edward Bolton of Brazeel married Letitia Molesworth, younger sister of the famous incarcerate Lady Belvedere. He served as MP for Swords…
By the late 18C when Taylour Earl of Bective had moved to his newly built neoClassical mansion Headfort, near Kells, Bective Abbey ceased to function as a residence and once abandoned eventually became ruinous.
The property then belonged to another Edward Bolton, an officer of the royal horse guards and it was his eldest son by his first marriage, Robert Compton Bolton, who appears to have been the last of the family to have been associated with Brazeel before its destruction by fire in about 1810. Perhaps it was because of the destruction of the house that his eldest son, Richard, renewed the family’s interest in the Bective estate when shortly before 1836 he commenced preparations to shape the present demesne.
.p. 51. ..Richard became JP and married Frances Bomfort of nearby Rahinston…Frances along with her sisters inherited the estate of her brother Robert-George Bomford when he died in 1846. …Rahinston was sold in 1852 through the Encumbered Estates Court under the direction of dame Annette Hesketh, Frances Bolton’s older sister.
It appears that the ruins of Bective Abbey and surrounding farm had, by 1862, come into the possession of Rev. George H. Martin, Rector of Agher, who was related to the Bolton family, his father Rev Charles Rudinge Martin (d. 1847), 4th son of John Martin of Blackrock, Cork, having eloped with Frances Bolton’s younger sister, Susan Bomfort, in 1826. Martin transferred the Abbey, now a National Monument, to the Commissioners for Public Works in 1894. Richard Bolton’s death does not seem to have taken place until 1868 (according to a monument at Bective Church) in in 1876 his widow still appears in possession of the estate.
p. 52. Robert the brother of Richard of Bective Abbey was married to Maria Arthur of Seafield, Co Dublin, and hey had a son whoul was probably the last of the Boltons of Bective. He was John Marshall Botlon, and he went off to South Africa.
Watson of Bective, p. 213.
John Watson (1852-1908)
The Watsons were a Quaker family; members of the petty gentry who had been established in Carlow by the early 17th century after John Watson from Cumberland obtained a lease of lands at Ardristan from the Earl of Ormond. It is claimed that they were descended from the Rutland based Wtson family who were raised to the peerage in the early eighteenth century to the Marquisate of Rockingham [see Jimmy O’Toole the Carlow Gentry]. The family’s principal seats were in Carlow, at Kilconnor and Ballydarton.
John the first of the family died in 1675 so it is unlikely that he came to Ireland any sooner than 1650. He would certainly not have been welcomne during the Great War of 1641-9 when Protestants of any persuasion were, to say the least, not encouraged to live in the rural south east. It is more liekly that he settled at Kilconnor in the aftermath of the Cromwellian clearance. He may have come to Ireland after the Restoration when the Duke of Ormonde regained much of his estates and some more in recognition of his loyalty tot he king, Carles II. The Duke was the titular owner of the lands in the Fenagh area where Watson settled. The family managed to acquire a number of properties in the area including Ballydarton and later Lumclone which became the main family seat.
John Watson the founding father was not a Quaker, but his grandson became one. Watson had an only daughter who married Robert Lecky, another post Cromwellian and neighbouring landlord.
It was John Watson III who became a member of the Society of Friends and built the meeting house at Kilconnor in 1678. The Watsons remained Quakers for the next five generations. As dissenters they would have been porhibited from holding any official posts. Despite this obvious handicap to advancement the family prospered and in due course they acquired two further properites at Lumclone and Ballydarton (Fenagh). This lead to three distinct branches of the family, all descended from Samuel of Kilconnor who was born in 1682, the eldest son of John Watson III.
Samuel of Kilconnor had two sons John of Kilconnor and Samuel of Ballydarton. John continued on the Kilconnor line down to John Lecky Watson.
Bective House is located on the banks of the river Boyne, just downstream from Bective Abbey. One of the entrance gates is on the Trim-Navan road. In the 1820s Richard Bolton erected a new house in Grange townland downstream from the abbey, making the most of the local scenery. Described as ‘a cottage’ in 1836 and ‘a handsome modern residence’ in 1837 the house is linked to the river and also to the abbey. Named ‘Bective House’ to emphasise the continuity of the estate it was also occasionally recorded as ‘Bective Abbey’ or ‘Bective Lodge’. The house is in an understated architectural style in the spirit of Francis Johnston. The front is seven bay with a side elevation of five bays. Indoors the plan was simple. The main house is two rooms deep on a tripartite plan with a large and restrained central stair hall.
Bective house was surrounded by a wide expanse of parkland, dotted with clumps of trees and secluded from the outside world by perimeter belts of trees. The plantation of these trees and creation of parkland led to the walling in of the demesne and the re-routing of the Trim-Navan road. Impressive ashlar gateways were erected at each entrance to estate with gate lodges at each and an additional number of houses to cater for workers on the estate. The gate lodge at the Trim entrance was erected in 1852 and is adorned by the Bolton crest. A walled garden was constructed near the house which provided produce for the family and household. Later the garden produced roses and vegetables for sale.
Following the dissolution of Bective monastery the estate passed though the hands of various civil servants, none of whom had the time to pay any great attention to its development but the abbey was converted into a mansion.
The Bolton family acquired Bective in 1630. The transfer of the manor of Bective from Bartholomew Dillon to Edward Bolton took place on 10 August 1630. Sir Richard Bolton was Lord Chancellor of Ireland in 1639 and established himself at Brazeel in north County Dublin.
Richard Bolton was born about 1802 and inherited the manor of Bective after the death of his father. The family home at Brazeel was destroyed by fire in 1810. Bolton did not live at Bective until the late 1820s.
In the 1820s Bolton established himself at Bective. Bolton married Frances Georgina Bomford of Rahinstown. Richard Bolton was High Sheriff of County Meath in 1828. Richard Bolton provided the site for a new national school at Robinstown, Balbradagh townland, in 1840 and became patron of the new school. His father, Robert, had provided a site for a chapel and school in 1800. In the mid 1850s a dispute arose between Mr. Bolton and the local priest as to the right to visitation and the appointment of teachers. This became a bitter dispute which was finally resolved in 1861 when Bective School at Robinstown became a non vested school and Bolton’s influence ceased.
Bolton was a resident landlord, residing on his estate and being close to his tenants and took an active interest in the development of his estate. Mr. Justice from Dublin was the agent in 1836 and Mr. Tisdall, who resided locally was agent in 1861. Bolton erected a house for the estate, walled in the demesne and erected a parish church. As the patron of the parish and the owner of the tithes Bolton decided to erect a church for his tenants and servants. Designed by Joseph Welland the church was erected on lands provided by Bolton and the cost of construction was also met by Bolton. The church was consecrated 15 June 1853 and enlarged in 1858. A glebe house was also erected in 1853. He was determined to stamp his footprint on his estate at Bective, becoming a landscape architect through the creation of a demesne. Bolton acquired his own coat of arms and crest. The motto he adopted was Deus providebit meaning ‘God will provide’. In Griffith’s Valuation of 1854 Bolton was the landlord of the entire parish of Bective and also held lands nearby at Shanbo, in the parish of Rataine. Richard Bolton died in 1868 and was buried in his church at Bective.
Francis Georgina Bolton died in 1884 and bequeathed Bective to her nephew, Rev. George Henry Martin. George Henry Martin died in 1896, aged 63. Bective was bequeathed to his fourth child, Mary Louisa, who lived there from perhaps as early as 1895. She farmed Bective for a period but later sold the house to John Watson and the majority of the estate to the Land Commission.
John Watson purchased Bective House and demesne after retiring from the army. He was master of the Meath Hunt from 1891 until 1908 when he died. Watson erected kennels for the Meath Hunt at Bective. Watson was highly regarded as a huntsman and well known for his temper. An active polo player he created a team at Bective and introduced the game to America. Watson died at Bective House in 1908 after which the estate was put up for sale.
Following Watson’s death Bective was acquired by Captain Henry Stern, late of the 13th Hussars. In 1912 Bective house was altered for Captain Stern. The Sterns were unsettled by the troubled times in the early 1920s.
An American paper manufacturer, Charles Bird, came to Meath to hunt in the early part of the twentieth century. In 1926 Bird with two friends put in a bid of £3,000 for Bective only to be amazed when a telegram arrived in the States saying “Congratulations, you own Bective”. The syndicate wished to become involved in hunting in Ireland. When the friends sold their shares, the Birds owned the place outright. The house and garden were rejuvenated. The estate’s most famous horses, Heartbreak Hill, came sixth in the 1932 Grand National at Aintree and won steeplechases all over Ireland. The steward at Bective was Tom Lavin whose daughter was Mary Lavin, the short story writer. George Briscoe, who had sold the neighbouring estate and house at Bellinter, took over the management of Bective in 1952. Briscoe and his wife moved into the wing at Bective. The Tara Harrier kennels and Briscoe’s horse were re-located to Bective. Bird became the joint master of the Meath Hunt so there were two hunts centred at Bective.
In 1960 the Birds and the Briscoes moved across the river to Assigh and Bective House became home to Norman Wachman until the mid 1970s. Wachman allowed the Tara Harriers to continue using the kennels at Bective and began to develop a stud farm.
Bective was purchased by Michael Wymes in 1975. Wymes, a major shareholder in Bula Mines, developed a pheasant shoot on the property. In July 2006 Wymes sold Bective House and demesne.
In a rather sorry state, this is the front lodge to Bective, County Meath. In the mid-19th century, the estate was laid out by then-owner Richard Bolton who added two lodges, one of them – seen here – in Tudoresque style, the front looking onto the avenue having two arched projections, one accommodating a large mullioned window, the other an entrance porch. Above the latter is a plaque featuring a hawk from the Bolton crest and the family motto ‘Deus Providebit’ (God will Provide). Smothered in cement render and dating from 1852, the building’s design has been tentatively attributed by J.A.K. Dean to Dublin architect William George Murray. Towards the end of the last century, the whole estate went into decline but it was bought a few years ago and the land is now a stud farm. The other lodge, classical with a Doric loggia, has been restored and is now used as a tea room. One must hope a similar revival awaits this building.
Castle Dillon, County Armagh, photograph by Robert French, (between ca. 1865-1914), Lawrence Photograph Collection, National Library of Ireland.
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. 66. “(Molyneux, of Castle Dillon/ PB1940) A large and austere mansion of 1845 by William Murray; built for Sir George Molyneux, 6th Bt, to replace a rather low and plain mid-C18 winged house, which had itself replaced the second of two earlier houses again. Two storey nine bay centre block with single-storey three bay wings; the entrance front, and the garden front facing the lake, being similar and without any ornament at all, except for a simple pillared porch on the entrance front. A straightforward and conservative plan; a large hall with a screen of columns dividing it from a wide central corridor running the full length of the house, and having a curved stair at one end; a saloon flaked by dining room and drawing room in the garden front. A library and morning room on either side of the hall; additional living-rooms in one wing, offices in the other, which in fact consist of two shallow ranges with a yard between them. Fine pedimented C18 stables by Thomas Cooley. Fine entrance gates of 1760, described as “the most costly park gates perhaps at that time in the three kingdoms,” erected by Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Bt, MP, who also built an obelisk near the park to commemorate the winning of independence by the Irish Parliament 1782. Castle Dillon was sold ca 1926. It is now a hospital.”
HE MOLYNEUX BARONETS OWNED 6,009 ACRES OF LAND IN COUNTY ARMAGH
This is a junior branch of the family of MOLYNEUX, Earls of Sefton, springing immediately, it is supposed, from Sir Thomas Molyneux, second son of Sir William Molyneux, of Sefton, a celebrated warrior under the Black Prince; who added to his arms, in a distinction, the fleur-de-lis in the dexter chief still borne by the family.
Sir Thomas commanded the forces of Robert de Vere, Duke of Ireland, but was defeated and slain by the combined and insurgent lords at Radcot Bridge, near Faringdon, formerly in Berkshire, in 1388.
The genealogy, however, and the records of this branch of the Molyneux family, which resided at Calais, France, being destroyed during the sacking of that town by the Duke of Guise in 1588, a chasm, of necessity, occurs in the pedigree.
SIR THOMAS MOLYNEUX(1531-97), who was born at Calais, falling into the hands of the enemy on the capture of that place, above alluded to, was ransomed for 500 crowns.
He came to England in 1568, and was sent to Ireland in 1576 by ELIZABETH I, as Chancellor of the Exchequer, when he obtained, with extensive grants of land from Her Majesty, a lease for twenty-one years of the exports and imports of the city of Dublin (wines excepted) for the annual rent of £183.
This gentleman married Catherine, daughter of Ludowick Stabeort, Governor of Bruges, and and issue,
Samuel, MP for Mallow; died unmarried; DANIEL, successor to his brother; Katherine, m Sir R Newcomen Bt and had 21 children; Margaret.
Sir Thomas was succeeded by his eldest surviving son,
DANIEL MOLYNEUX (1568-1632), of Newlands, County Dublin, MP for Strabane, 1613-15, who was appointed, in 1586, Ulster king-of-arms, and his celebrated collection of Irish family history, now amongst the manuscripts of Trinity College Dublin, prove him to have been an accurate and very learned antiquary.
He wedded Jane, daughter of Sir William Ussher, Clerk of the Privy Council, and had five sons and three daughters.
Mr Molyneux was succeeded by his third, but eldest surviving son,
SAMUEL MOLYNEUX (1616-93), of Castle Dillon, County Armagh, Chief Engineer of Ireland, who espoused Anne, daughter and heir of William Dowdall, of Mounttown, County Meath.
Castle Dillon, County Armagh
My Molyneux was succeeded by his eldest son,
WILLIAM MOLYNEUX (1656-98), MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1692-8, author of the celebrated “Case of Ireland”, who married Lucy, daughter of Sir William Domvile Bt, Attorney-General of Ireland, and was succeeded at his decease by his eldest son,
THE RT HON SAMUEL MOLYNEUX (1689-1728), MP for Trinity College, Dublin, 1727-8, Lord of the Admiralty, Secretary to GEORGE II when Prince of Wales, who wedded, in 1717, the Lady Elizabeth Diana Capel, eldest daughter of Algernon, 2nd Earl of Essex; but dying without issue, the estates reverted to his uncle,
THOMAS MOLYNEUX (1661-1733), Lieutenant-General, Physician-General to the Army in Ireland, who was created a baronet in 1730, designated of Castle Dillon, County Armagh.
The Molyneux Family (1758), Photo Credit: The Ulster Museum
The interior is no less austere: a large hall with a screen of columns dividing it from a central corridor which ran the whole length of the House, with a curved stair at one end.
There are splendid 18th century pedimented stables by Thomas Cooley.
The entrance gates, dating from 1760, once described as“the most costly park gates perhaps at that time in the three kingdoms”, were erected by Sir Capel Molyneux, 3rd Baronet.
Sir Capel also erected an obelisk near the Park in order to commemorate the winning of independence by the Irish Parliament in 1782.
The sizeable walled demesne lies in pleasantly undulating countryside, with a lake at its centre. An anonymous guide wrote in 1839 that,
‘… the demesne is laid out in a style of elegance, rarely imitated in this country, and which would do honour to the best taste. Here every natural advantage of hill, wood and water, appears admirably improved by the correctest aid of art …’
It is laid out as a mid-18th century landscape park, though there is little remaining planting, with some woodland at the lake and very few parkland trees.
The Molyneux baronets, at one stage, owned 6,009 acres in County Armagh, 2,226 in County Kildare, 1,378 in County Limerick, 6,726 in the Queen’s County, and 221 acres in County Dublin.
The site has been forested and intensively farmed in recent years.
The first house was built ca 1611 and, when that was burnt in 1663, another followed.
The stable block of 1782 by Thomas Cooley is derelict.
The walled garden has gone but two gate lodges survive, one possibly by Sir William Chambers and an eye-catching obelisk erected in 1782, still impresses outside the demesne walls.
The baronetcy became extinct when the 10th Baronet, Sir Ernest, died in 1940.
The contents of Castle Dillon House were sold in October, 1923, and the Scottish firm, McAnish & Company, bought the whole estate in 1927 for the timber.
Armagh County Council purchased the house and the remaining 613 acres from McAnish for £9,800 in 1929 – £527,000 in today’s money.
In 1948, the Northern Ireland Hospital Authority managed the mansion house, and it served for various purposes, including a nursing home, since then.
CASTLE DILLON, County Armagh (AP ARMAGH, BANBRIDGE and CRAIGAVON 03) A/010 REGISTERED GRADE B The sizeable walled demesne (635 acres/257ha) lies in pleasantly undulating countryside, with a large natural lake (53 acres/21.4ha) at its centre. An anonymous guide wrote in 1839 that, ‘… the demesne is laid out in a style of elegance, rarely imitated in this country, and which would do honour to the best taste. Here every natural advantage of hill, wood and water, appears admirably improved by the correctest aid of art …’. The origin of the demesne lies in the early 17th century when in 1618 John Dillon ‘begun to build some three years since’ a house at Mullaghbane (Castle Dillon) ‘of brick and lymme and a very fair building’, but no bawn on the north-east side of Lough Turcarra. Remodelled, apparently as a ‘long low building’ by the Chief Engineer of Ireland, Captain Samuel Molyneux (‘Honest Sam’, died 1692) after he bought the property in 1663-64. It was given some form of associated planned landscape in the early 18th century by his grandson, Samuel Molyneux M.P. (1688-1728), Lord of Admiralty and noted commentator on architecture and gardening. He is known to have added plantations to the demesne and built ‘two little turrets or summer houses…advantageously situated for a view of
Register of Parks, Gardens and Demesnes of Special Historic Interest (NI) – November 2020 the lough and plantation about it’; some of the network of geometrically laid-out paths are shown on 1723 demesne map. However, the Molyneuxs spent most of their time away from their estate until 1759 when Castle Dillon was inherited by Sir Capel Molyneux, third baronet (1717-1797), son of the well known amateur botanist, St Thomas Molyneux, 1st Baronet (1661-1733). He rebuilt the family house in a rustic Palladian style with gabled wings (as depicted in a painting of 1784), which was unflatteringly described by the Post Chaise Companion in 1786 as ‘the most agreeable [seat] in the Kingdom’ were it not for the house itelf; immediately to its east, the stable block, designed by the architect Thomas Cooley before 1782 was architecturally more successful and still survives though ruined (HB 15/03/010). Sir Capel’s biggest impact on Castle Dillon however was the landscape park, which he started in the 1760s and was considered successful, perhaps because the place had ‘every natural advantage of hill, wood and water’. He walled the demesne parkland (635 acres/257ha), cleared field boundaries to created large open lawns or meadows, each dotted with trees and clumps; he enlarged the large woodland block south-east of the lake (originally 110 acres/45ha), and created two small woodland blocks (each c.5acres/2ha) bordering the lake to the west of the house. Except for parts of the northern boundary, he surprisingly did not put down perimeter planting tree belts; these were not planted until after 1841. As a political statement in the Whig tradition, commemorating the patriotic ideas of the era, Sir Capel erected two obelisks; of these only one survives, that on Cannon Hill, (now in State Care) built in 1782 outside the park, 0.7 miles (1.1km) north-east of the house. As part of the network of carriage drives in the new park, there were originally four gate lodges and of these the earliest and principal was that from the Ballybrannon Road on the north-west side of the demesne. Built probably in the 1760s in ‘monumental Palladian style’ this comprises a pair of square ‘box-type’ limestone rock-faced rusticated lodges with distinctive harmonising gate piers; traditionally this is supposed to have been the work of Sir William Chambers, though this is unlikely, these lodges are considered among the earliest examples in Ulster (HB 15/03/001); the ‘Hockley Lodge’ was added around 1780 to designs of Cooley (demolished in 1999). The walled garden, which no longer exists save for some fragments on the south-east side, occupied a very large trapezoidal area of 6 acres (2.4ha) in the north-east corner of the demesne. A stream (which will exists) ran through the garden; in later years the area east of this stream was devoted to apple trees. In the 1840s after the property had been inherited by Sir George King Aldercron Molyneux, 6th Bt (1813-1848), the park was improved with additional perimeter, clump and isolated tree planting, during which time (1844-45) the house itself was rebuilt in austere Classical-style (Listed HB 15/03/001) to designs of the architect William Murray of Dublin. The house ceased to be occupied in 1897 and having laid vacant was sold in 1928, after which it was converted onto a sanatorium and later a nursing home, becoming vacant again in the 1990s. The park was subdivided into a number of different owners and suffered accordingly. The woodland south-east of the lake has been both reduced in area and replaced with commercial forestry; parkland trees and perimeter planting felled, and modern houses built in various locations throughout the park. SMR ARM 12:30 enclosure, 12:32 enclosure or ? tree ring, 12:62 enclosure or ? tree ring, 12:67 enclosure and 12:85 17th century bawn and rath. Private.
I look forward to this and book it into my calendar every year. I published about it before but will republish about some of the places that are open again this year. It has returned to the high quality offerings of its earlier years.
1. Blackhall Place (formerly Blue Coat School) Dublin (we visited during Open House 2019)
2. Department of Enterprise Trade and Employment, 23 Kildare Street (2019)
3. Irish Architectural Archive, Merrion Square.
4. Iveagh House, 80 and 81 Merrion Square, Dublin (Department of Foreign Affairs) (Open House 2014)
5. Mansion House, Dublin (2015)
6. Marsh’s Library, Dublin (Heritage Week 2013)
7. Na Píobairí Uilleann, 15 Henrietta St, Dublin
8. Nellie’s Flat, Iveagh Trust, Patrick Street, Dublin (Open House 2014)
Archiseek tells us that the first Blue Coat School or King’s Hospital was erected in Oxmantown Green between 1669-1673. It was officially named the Hospital and Free School of King Charles II. Orphans were nominated to attend the school by the Alderman or the parish, with funding coming from voluntary donations and from ground rent of St. Stephen’s Green. This building was demolished to make way for the new building, pictured above. The current building was started in 1773. Ivory resigned in disgust before it was finished, due to lack of funds, and only a stub was built instead of his tower, and the stub was removed in 1894 and a dome constructed.
The description of the tour tells us:
“The last of Dublin’s Palladian public buildings, the granite and Portland stone Blue Coat School replaced earlier premises, which had been established by King Charles I in 1671 to care for the sons of impoverished citizens. Construction began in 1773 to designs by Thomas Ivory, however funding issues led to a reduced building programme and Ivory’s departure. In 1894, a copper-clad cupola designed by Robert Stirling was added. Today, the building is home to the Law Society of Ireland, which has taken great care to retain many fine interior features.“
The building now houses the Law Society. It was built as a traditional country house composition with a central block, two wings and connecting passages. The wings have decorations intended to mirror the central tower.
The architect was J. R. Boyd Barrett, who won a competition to built it in 1936. It has a stripped Classical design with an Art Deco entrance bay addition. The external relief sculptures are by Gabriel Hayes. The tall round-headed window passes up through the floors to a keystone of representing Eire, with “jazzy” interstitial panels [Archiseek]. On the Schoolhouse Lane side the keystone represents Brendan the Navigator. The main entrance has a heavy cast bronze gates, and the carved lintel of the doorway represents the Celtic god Lugh releasing aeroplanes into the air!
The interiors were also designed by Boyd Barrett and everything from the ashtrays, fireplaces and door handles were specially designed. The interiors feature polished woods and metals and patterned linoleum floors, and the ceilings are deeply coffered.
“Take a tour of the largest terraced house on Merrion Square, learn about its history, see the latest exhibitions and discover the work of the Irish Architectural Archive.
No. 45 Merrion Square, the home of the Irish Architectural Archive, is one of the great Georgian houses of Dublin. Built for the speculative developer Gustavus Hume [1732-1812] in the mid-1790s and situated directly across Merrion Square from Leinster House, this is the largest terraced house on the Square and is the centrepiece of its East Side. Founded in 1976, the house was restored to its original plan by the Office of Public Works in 2003-4, and update fro use as a best-practice archive facility.
Tours start on the hour and will operate on a first come basis, no need to book in advance.“
“No. 45 Merrion Square, the home of the Irish Architectural Archive, is one of the great Georgian houses of Dublin. Built for the speculative developer Gustavus Hume in the mid-1790s and situated directly across Merrion Square from Leinster House, this is the largest terraced house on the Square and is the centrepiece of its East Side.
Light-filled, spectacularly-proportioned, interconnected rooms on the piano nobile of this Georgian palazzo offer a range of venues and facilities: meeting rooms for up to 20 people; multimedia lecture facilities for up to 55, dining space for up to 80, and receptions for up to 250. Whether the event is a meeting, a conference with breakout sessions, or a private or corporate reception, the Irish Architectural Archive’s beautifully graceful spaces provide Georgian elegance in the heart of Dublin.”
“Standing four stories over basement, and five bays wide, No. 45 is the largest of the terraced houses on Merrion Square. The house was built circa 1794 for the property developer Gustavus Hume. The architect may have been Samuel Sproule who, in the early 1780s, was responsible for the laying out of much of Holles Street, of both Mount Streets and of the east side of Merrion Square. The first person to live in the house seems to have been Robert la Touche [of Harristown, County Kildare] who leased the building in 1795. In 1829 the house was sold to Sir Thomas Staples [9th Baronet Staples of Lissan, County Tyrone]. It had been built in an ambitious and optimistic age, but in the Dublin of the late 1820s its huge size was somewhat anachronistic and certainly uneconomical, so Sir Thomas had the building carefully divided into two separate houses. Sir Thomas died aged 90 in 1865, the last survivor of the Irish House of Commons.
On his death, both parts of the house passed to Sir John Banks, Regius Professor of Medicine in Trinity College, who, like his predecessor, leased the smaller portion of the divided building, by now numbered Nos. 10 and 11 Merrion Square East. Banks himself lived in No. 11, the larger part, which he maintained in high decorative order. Banks died in 1910, and both parts of the building fell vacant and remained so until 1915 when the whole property was used to accommodate the clerical offices of the National Health Insurance Company. With single occupancy restored, the division of the building, renumbered 44 – 45 Merrion Square, began to be reversed, a process carried on in fits and starts as successive Government departments and agencies moved in and out over the decades. The last to go was the Irish Patents Office, relocated to Kilkenny in 1996.
The house was assigned to Irish Architectural Archive by Ruairí Quinn TD, Minister for Finance, in his budget of 1996. The Office of Public Works carried out an extensive programme of works to the house from 2002 to 2004, including the refurbishment of the historic fabric and the construction of new state-of-the-art archival stores to the rear.“
“Iveagh House, the headquarters of the Department of Foreign Affairs, has many stories within its walls. Explore the nooks and crannies of its beautiful architecture and artwork on this guided tour.
You will be welcomed in to the Entrance Hall and onwards to the Secretary General’s Office where, under the political direction of the Tánaiste and Minister, the Secretary General manages the Department. From there you will be brought through the Inner Hall to The Secretary General’s Ante Room. When you exit the Ante room you will be meet with the houses’ spectacular double Staircase. Moving on, you will be guided to through the Tánaiste’s Dining Room, Ante Room and finally the Tánaiste’s Office. The tour will continue on to the Ballroom before ending in Lady Iveagh’s Boudoir.
This tour is pre-book only, booking opens 14 September.“
“Iveagh House is now the Department of Foreign Affairs as it was donated to the Irish State by the Guinness family in 1939. Originally two houses, nos 80/81 St Stephen’s Green, no 80 was originally designed by Richard Cassels [also spelled “Castle”] in 1736. After both houses were bought by Benjamin Guinness in 1862, he acted as his own architect and produced the current house.
“The Dublin Builder, February 1 1866: ‘In this number we give a sketch of the town mansion of Mr. Benjamin Lee Guinness, M.P , now in course of erection in Stephen’s Green, South, the grounds of which run down to those of the Winter Garden. As an illustration so very quiet and unpretending a front is less remarkable as a work of architectural importance than from the interest which the name of that well-known and respected owner gives it, and from whose own designs it is said to have been built. The interior of the mansion promises to be of a very important and costly character, and to this we hope to have the pleasure of returning on a future occasion when it is more fully advanced. The works, we believe, have been carried out by the Messrs. Murphy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral notoriety, under Mr. Guinness’s own immediate directions, without the intervention of any professional architect.’ “
The Buildings of Ireland website featured the Mansion House as one of its Buildings of the Month, and tells us that The Mansion House, Dawson Street, is the oldest freestanding house in the city and the only surviving mayoral residence in Ireland.
The Mansion House owes its origins to Joshua Dawson (1660-1725), a member of the Guild of Merchants and at the time the second-wealthiest man in Ireland, who in 1705 purchased a tract of poor marshy ground east of the medieval core of Dublin and within two years had laid out a new street which he named Dawson Street. Work on a suitable townhouse began in 1710 and it is clear that the house was intended as the centrepiece of the new street.
The house, a rare example of a Queen Anne-style house, was substantially refronted in 1851 when the original brick finish was plastered, the windows were given robust classical frames, and the parapet was remodelled about a central pediment carrying the Coat of Arms of the City. The elaborate cast-iron canopy (1886) was designed by Daniel J. Freeman (1856/7-1902), City Architect (fl. 1879-93).
The death of Queen Anne in 1714 abruptly disrupted Dawson’s ambitious plans. Fearing that her successor would not be so favourable toward him, Dawson agreed on the 18th of May, 1715, to sell the house to Dublin Corporation at a cost of £3,500 in addition to a yearly ground rent of forty shillings and a loaf of double-refined sugar weighing six pounds due each Christmas. As a condition of the sale, Dawson agreed to build an additional room which could be used for civic receptions: the now-famous Oak Room.
The Oak Room was the venue of the annual City Ball throughout the eighteenth century. On such occasions the Lord Mayor dispensed generous hospitality, aided in no small part by a yearly grant of twenty thousand oysters from the civic oyster beds. The Oak Room continues to play a central role in the life of the Mansion House today. [2] It contains portraits of Charles II, George II, Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of Richmond.
The extension of the property continued well into the nineteenth century and included the Round Room completed in just six weeks in 1821 for the reception of King George IV. Designed by John Semple (d.1840) in the “exotic” style, an apparent nod to the monarch’s Hindu-Gothic Brighton Pavilion, it was remodelled 1892 by J. G. Ashlin, and was the venue for the first sitting of Dáil Éireann in January 1919.
The improvement of the Mansion House continued into the early twentieth century when, in anticipation of a royal visit by Queen Victoria, new ceilings were installed in the entrance hall and drawing room to designs by Charles James McCarthy (c.1857-1947), City Architect (fl. 1893-1921). The stained glass window over the principal staircase dates from the same period and carries the signature of Joshua Clarke and Sons of North Frederick Street. The Dublin City coat-of-arms again features as the centrepiece in a frame including the shields of the four provinces of Ireland and the names of prominent supporters of Home Rule. Topped and tailed by a Garland of Peace and a Cornucopia of Prosperity, the window is today known as “The Peace Window”.
Marsh’s Library 1975, photograph from National Library and Archives. [3]
Marsh’s Library was built in 1701, designed by William Robinson who was surveyor general from 1670-1700, and who also designed the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The Library was set up as the first public library in Ireland, by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713).
Unchanged for three centuries, this perfectly preserved library of the early Enlightenment, with its original oak bookcases, houses more than 25,000 rare and fascinating books. Narcissus Marsh was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Dublin, and formerly Provost of Trinity College, Dublin. In 1707 the library was established by an act of Parliament with the second gallery added shortly after under the supervision of Robinson’s successor as Surveyor General Thomas Burgh.
Built as the first public library in Ireland and still in use today by scholars and students, Marsh’s Library is one of the few buildings of its time in Dublin still being used for its original purpose. A small garden on the grounds provides a peaceful haven in the middle of the city.
Tours of the building will take place discussing the history of the building and how it was designed to preserve the books and the various alterations that have been made over the years since the Library first opened.
Meeting point: Front landing of Marsh’s Library
Tours will operate on a first come basis on the hour from 11am to 4pm with last tour starting at 4pm.
The interior of the library remains unchanged from when it was set up. It is no longer a public library, unfortunately, as the books are too delicate for general handling, but one can request to look up books in the catalogue, and it operates as a sort of museum open to the public for a fee. It contains dark oak bookcases topped with lettered gables and a mitre. The library contains the original reading cages – a reader would be locked in so that he or she could not steal the books.
“No. 15 Henrietta St. consists of the remaining two bays of an originally four bay, four storeys over basement townhouse, with a red brick façade, of the early 1740s. It is located on a cul-de-sac containing the finest early Georgian houses in the city. The street is of unique European significance, being the single remaining intact example of an early-18th century street of houses, which was at the forefront of what was to become the Georgian style.
“The building underwent significant restoration which was completed in 2007, and the 18th-century appearance of the interior, including much of the original joinery and plaster work, was restored. Perhaps the most important features of the house are the stucco ceilings on the ground and first floors which were restored in the 1980s.
“The building is now the headquarters of Na Píobairí Uilleann, an international organisation involved in promoting the playing, the making, and the teaching of the Irish uilleann pipes. They now plan to reinstate No. 16 Henrietta St. next door.
“Tours will include access to the ground floor formal reception rooms, including the rear reception room featuring a mid-18th century figured papier-mâché ceiling, depicting the Four Seasons and including busts of Shakespeare and Milton. Tours will continue up a staircase, belonging to the 1828 division of the house, to the Library and Archive of Na Píobairí Uilleann, the current occupants of the building.“
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
The Iveagh Trust buildings were commissioned by Edward Cecil Guinness 1st Earl of Iveagh in 1901. He provided houses and amenities for working-class people with low incomes in Dublin. The architects were Joseph and Smithem, London architects. The centrepiece of the buildings, built to house people who lived in the slums about St. Patrick’s cathdral, was the Iveagh Baths.
The Open House website tells us that Flat 3B, Bull Alley Estate on Patrick Street is a cosy flat comprising a living room and two bedrooms. It was once home to the Molloy family and built by The Iveagh Trust.
The Iveagh Trust replaced some of the worst slum dwellings in Europe. And, at the time, these new flats were state of the art. Nellie, their daughter, was one of six children. She lived here in this flat from 1915 right up until to 2002. Today, flat 3B is a museum and remains unchanged since the trust first built Bull Alley Estate.
“The vast ruin of the former Pigeon House power station is the one of the most striking industrial architecture complexes in the city and is now one of the largest protected structures in Ireland. Built in three main phases (1902-03, 1911-1913 and 1933-40; decommissioned in the 1970s), the power station was constructed of red brick and steel, and later of reinforced concrete. These layers of exposed fabric show how the building was constantly modified to keep up with increasing electricity demand. Today, only one of the 12 chimneys remain and the ruins of the power station resemble the atmospheric drawings of classical ruins by the 18th century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi. The vast ruin of the former Pigeon House power station is the one of the most striking industrial architecture complexes in the city and is now one of the largest protected structures in Ireland. Built in three main phases (1902-03, 1911-1913 and 1933-40; decommissioned in the 1970s), the power station was constructed of red brick and steel, and later of reinforced concrete. These layers of exposed fabric show how the building was constantly modified to keep up with increasing electricity demand. Today, only one of the 12 chimneys remain and the ruins of the power station resemble the atmospheric drawings of classical ruins by the 18th century Italian artist Giovanni Battista Piranesi.“
Join to 30-40 minute tour. Exterior of building only. This tour is pre-book only and booking opens 14 September.
The Royal College of Surgeons was built in two phases, first by architect Edward Parke, who built what is now the last three bays on the south side and five bays deep on York Street. This was subsumed later by architect William Murray, who added four bays to the north and moved the pediment to the new centre of the building, on St. Stephen’s Green. The facade has large round-headed windows separated by freestanding columns. The pediment has the royal arms, and is topped with three statues: Athena (goddess of Wisdom and War), Asclepius (god of Medicine) and Hygiea (Goddess of Health), all by John Smyth [Archiseek]. It has a rusticated basement storey.
The interior, as listed in Lewis’s guide in 1837, contains a large board room, a library, an apartment for general meetings, an examination hall, several committee rooms and offices, lecture theatres and three museums, two of which have galleries.
There is a top-lit gallery with Adamesque plasterwork.
Tailor’s Hall was built in 1706 and is the only Guild Hall from the medieval guilds still in existence in Dublin. It is two storeys over basement and the hall inside is lit by tall round-headed windows on both sides, and has two floors of smaller rooms. It is now the headquarters for An Taisce. It was originally the meeting hall for the Guild of Merchant Tailors, from 1706-1841.
It was used in 1792 as the meeting place for the Catholic Committee during their campaign against Penal Law, and for this the building earned the nickname of “Back Lane Parliament.” Later still, it was used as a meeting place for the United Irishmen around 1798.
From Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin, 2005, p. 367: “1703-1707, Richard Mills overseer. The Tailors’ Guild Hall is a tall shallow red brick building with a steep roof and dormer windows, a large gabled chimneystack and stair compartment projecting from the rear or N. wall. The entrance front is the long S elevation, reached by a stone arch and forecourt from Back Lane. In the 18th century the Hall was concealed behind houses on High Street and Back Lane and preceded only by the narrow arched pathway and a basement area. This unusual sequestered position is explained by the fact that the site was formerly occupied by a Jesuit chapel and college, endowed in 1629 by the Countess of Kildare. Seized by the Crown in 1630, it was subsequently repossessed by Lord and Lady Kildare and returned to the Jesuits who remained here for an unknown period prior to 1706…Tailors’ Hall is substantially early 18C. However, curiosities in the design and [p.368] structure suggest that it may incorporate something of the fabric of the 17C chapel.
The most striking feature of the facade is its asymmetry. Four tall narrow round-headed windows lighting the assembly hall fill almost two-thirds of the facade. To their right the facade is of two storeys and three bays with the entrance on the left next to the hall framed by an elegant rusticated limestone door surround of 1770. The basic arrangement reflects a pragmatic medieval-based system of hall and upper chamber, common in London livery halls of the late C17… A granite base-mould divides the brick masonry of the principal floor from the basement walling, which is largely of Calp with a band of brick forming the slightly cambered heads of the basement windows.”
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Former Hibernian Bank,now H&M store, 2013.Photograph courtesy of Swire Chin, Toronto.
The former Union Bank, latterly the Hibernian Bank, building was designed by William George Murray (1822-1871), in association with Thomas Drew (1838-1910), and construction began in 1864. [1] Originally it was built with just four bays on College Green and two bays on Church Street.
The Bank of Ireland was formed in 1783. The Hibernian Bank was founded as The Hibernian Joint Stock and Annuity Company in April 1825, and later changed its name to The Hibernian Bank. A group of Dublin businessmen apparently formed the company in response to anti-Catholic discrimination by the Bank of Ireland. The bank aimed itself primarily at the Dublin business community. It opened its only branch in Dublin on 20 June 1825 with 1063 shareholders, many of them London based. The Hibernian Bank was taken over by the Bank of Ireland in 1958. [2]
William George Murray joined the architectural firm of his father, William Murray. William George Murray, the Dictionary of Irish Architects tells us, was architect to the Dundalk, Enniskillen & Londonderry Railway Company, for whom he built the railway station in Enniskillen, Fermanagh as well as many others. He was also architect to the South Dublin Union. [3] Thomas Drew was also an architect in the same firm, and he worked with Murray on the original building for the Union Bank. The Union Bank failed after just six months, and the building was bought by the Hibernian Bank.
William George Murray also designed the Royal College of Physicians on Kildare Street in Dublin after the previous building had been burnt in a fire. Murray also designed many more banks, including the Provincial Bank on College Green (now part of the Westin hotel), and insurance offices.
Thomas Drew was employed by the Hibernian Bank to add more bays to each side, from 1873-76. Thomas Drew later became President of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects and President of the RIAI, and held the Chair of Architecture in the new National University of Ireland. He married a sister of William G. Murray, Anne Adelaide, in 1871. Among his most important building, Archiseek tells us, are the Ulster Bank branch on Dame Street (the interior of which has been destroyed), the Trinity College Graduates Memorial Building, Rathmines Town Hall, and St. Anne’s Cathedral in Belfast. [4]
The building features a wonderful “chateau-esque” tower topped with ornate wrought iron railings and finials. It has another tapering belltower-type turret at the other side which is actually a chimneystack.
It is built chiefly in limestone, in the Italian Gothic style, with arcades, and has four storeys. The ground storey has deeply moulded arches splaying from octagon piers, and the corner toward College Green is squared off and one entrance door is positioned there on the ground floor, in an arched opening with Corinthian pilasters, under an ornately carved triangular pediment. There is another ornate door entrance at the other end of the building on Dame Street.
The Appraisal in the National Inventory gives us a summary:
“This exuberant former bank commenced operation as the Union Bank in 1864, designed by William G. Murray, assisted by Thomas Drew... It is constructed in an Italian Gothic Revival idiom with arcading to the main floors. The bosses and colonnettes of polished pink granite, and capitals and roundels of Portland stone by C.W. Harrison, create a strong contrast with the pale grey limestone that dominates the façade. The quality and profusion of ornament is particularly striking, with many very fine details, such as the carved timber door, the chimney structure, the carved tympanums and the aedicule [niche or pediment] to the roof of the corner bay. It is located within a group of significant historic bank buildings which line the north and south sides of College Green. The former banking hall has been recently converted for use a large retail outlet.” [5]
The Inventory description continues: “…Shouldered-arch door opening to elliptical-arch recess to corner bay, with carved Corinthian pilasters with engaged marble colonnettes, double-leaf battened timber door with trefoil-headed upper panels, and having carved limestone voussoirs [wedge shaped stones forming an arch] and moulded keystone and triangular pediment with carved tympanum bearing lettering ‘Hibernian Bank’, and egg-and-dart cornice.” [5] “Tympanum” comes from the word drum, like the eardrum of the ear, so is like a drum-skin, and in architecture it means the surface between the lintel of a doorway or window and the arch above it.
The National Inventory describes the doorway at the other end of the building on Dame Street: “Shoulder-arch door opening to west end of main facade, with Corinthian pilasters to reveals having engaged marble Corinthian colonnettes, limestone step, overlight, exquisitely carved timber panelled door, and voussoirs with keystone above, set within open-bed pedimented porch supported on hanging-posts, with carved panels to spandrels, and lettering ‘Hibernian Bank 1824’ to frieze.” [5]
The first floor has more deep semicircular arches divided by columns of polished red granite topped with ornately sculpted capitals. The windows in the first floor are square headed. On the arcading on the first floor level the arches over the windows contain the initials of the banks – the older bays have the initials of the Union Bank and the newer bays, the Hibernian Bank. The windows of the first storey have slightly pointed arched hood mouldings with carved limestone masks to the stops.
The second floor has semi-circular headed openings and the storey above has round dormer windows in the roof. The stone carving was done by C.W. Harrison of Great Brunswick Street. The dressings are in Portland stone, with the finer carving in Caen stone. [6]
The south elevation to St. Andrew Street was added in 1925-8 by Ralph Byrne.
The National Inventory tells us:
“College Green facade (north) has seven bays; Church Lane facade has nine bays, two at north end being similar to main facade and of same date, three to south end being similar at ground and first floors and built 1925-8, other four-bay section being different and built 1873-6; and five-bay facade to St. Andrew Street (current main entrance) built 1925-8.” [5]
The description continues: “Limestone balconette to first floor of middle bays of Trinity Lane elevation, supported on corbels, window openings to same floor being set within square-headed frame; same bays have paired square-headed window openings to second floor, with gablet above having limestone copings with finial, and carved tympanum. Three south end bays of Trinity Lane elevation and all bays of St. Andrew Street elevation have diminutive round-headed window openings to second floor; first floor has elliptical-arch double-height openings with decorative cast-iron balconettes to middle of each opening, with timber casement windows having margined upper lights with fanlights.” [5]
The former bank now houses a branch of the clothing shop H&M.
The interior has a vaulted ceiling, which was traditionally left lit up at night for display. It has a semicircular recess on one side. The arched ceiling is very ornate. Archiseek describes it as “arched and groined, and springs from a stone cornice all around; it is covered with coffered panels arranged in a kind of diaper, with rich centre flowers in each.” Note that a “groin” is described by Alistair Rowan in his Buildings of Ireland: Northwest Ulster, as a sharp edge at the meeting of two cells of a cross-vault, and coffering, he tells us, are sunken panels, square or polygonal, decorating a ceiling, vault or arch [see my entry of architectural definitions, https://irishhistorichouses.com/2020/04/18/architectural-definitions/ ]
When remedial works were undertaken the age of this building was discovered. It was first realised it was older than thought when planners appraising development changes noticed the way the fireplace sticks so far out into the room.
We went into three rooms upstairs, up the beautiful staircase. We weren’t allowed photograph on the tour, unfortunately, in the Apollo Room, Venus Room and Jupiter Room.
Belvedere House is a detached symmetrical five-bay four-storey Georgian townhouse over exposed basement, completed 1786, designed by Robert West who, in addition to being a stuccodore was also an architect and property developer, for George Augustus Rochfort, 2nd Earl of Belvedere. The house was built for £24,000 on what would have been rural green fields with a view of the Custom House, the bay and distant mountains. It is alleged that the house is haunted by Mary Molesworth, the first lady of Belvedere, mother to George Rochfort – we came across her at Belvedere in County Westmeath.
Rochfort was the son of the cruel Robert Rochfort, 1st Earl of Belvedere, who kept his wife under lock and key in the countryside after he believed she had an affair with his brother. Some believe that she was the inspiration for Charlotte Bronte’s “madwoman in the attic.” Robert Rochfort had the summer lodge, Belvedere, built in County Westmeath, now open to the public, which also has fine plasterwork. Robert O’Byrne writes that it was the 1st Earl who bought the property on Great Denmark Street. At first his son attempted to sell the property, but then he finished having the house built. Robert O’Byrne also tells us that it is similar to 86 St Stephen’s Green (Newman House, now housing the Museum of Literature of Ireland (MOLI), which was begun in 1765, and which is also attributed to Robert West.
North Great Georges Street itself was originally laid out in 1774 as a driveway leading to Belvedere House.
In 1841 the house was bought by the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) to accommodate their growing boys school which had started life ten years previously around the corner on Hardwicke Street, now known as Belvedere College.
One of the more outstanding features of the house is the stucco-work of Adamesque style popularised by Robert and James Adam. This can be seen in the ornamental surrounds, wherein pictures are framed in plaster rather than oil.
Dublin stuccodore and designer Michael Stapleton (1740-1801) was responsible for this work and further examples of his craftsmanship include the ceiling in the exam hall in Trinity College as well as some of the plasterwork in Powerscourt House in South William Street in Dublin and the Aras an Uachtarain in Phoenix Park.
It seems odd that a house designed by Robert West, however, would have plasterwork by Michael Stapleton. Robert O’Byrne elucidates this for us:
“In 1967 C.P. Curran’s Dublin Decorative Plasterwork of the 17th and 18th centuries noted in the collection of drawings left by stuccodore Michael Stapleton several items directly relating to the design of ceilings in Belvedere House. Accordingly, this work was assigned to Stapleton. However, the fact that West was responsible for designing the house complicates matters, and the consensus now appears to be that both he and Stapleton had a hand in the plasterwork. Conor Lucey (in The Stapleton Collection, 2007) suggests that Stapleton may have been apprenticed to, or trained with, West and the fact that he was named the sole executor of the latter’s will in 1790 indicates the two men were close. The source material for the stucco work is diverse, that in the stair hall deriving in part from a plate in Robert Adam’s Works in Architecture, but the first-floor rooms feature a wider range of inspiration, much of it from France and Italy.”
“The ground floor rooms were intended for everyday and business use and therefore are minimally ornamented. However when one ascends they will encounter Stapleton’s stucco-work that depicts scenes from Greek and Roman mythology.On the half-landing the Bacchanalia is celebrated. The left panel depicts Bacchus with his thyrsis and staff, the right panel is Ceres with her cornucopia. The central oval shows Cupid being demoted by the three Graces. The arched window is ornamented with symbols of the authority of ancient Rome. The tall pilasters on each side have the Green anthemion (honeysuckle) motifs.
“At the top of the stairs the panel between the two doors on the right show Juno seated on a cloud with her peacock. The panel on the centre wall is Aurora in her chariot pulled by winged horses. Under this plaque “The New Bride” from an ancient marble popular in 18th century Rome. All the five doors have the same over-door: Silenus, the tutor of Bacchus. On the ceiling, Eros is depicted gazing at Psyche as she sleeps. Next is an Apollo head with winged lions and lastly, Cupid with a flower.
“The door immediately to the right of the stairs leads to the Apollo Room, named after the featured frieze of Apollo the music-maker holding court with attendent putti playing a variety of instruments. The adjoining Diana Room depicts Diana, patron of the chase, in a chariot drawn by stags. The design is taken directly from Pergolesi, however, Stapleton added the outer circle of flowers.
“Finally the Venus Room’s flanking panels have lunettes representing astronomy, architecture and sculpture. Notice the beautiful over-doors in all three rooms, each with the head of the principle subject.”
Notice that Venus was taken down by the Jesuits as she was nude, and it is supposedly in the National Gallery.
3. Blackhall Place (formerly Blue Coat School) Dublin, 2019.
Archiseek tells us that the first Blue Coat School or King’s Hospital was erected in Oxmantown Green between 1669-1673. It was officially named the Hospital and Free School of King Charles II. Orphans were nominated to attend the school by the Alderman or the parish, with funding coming from voluntary donations and from ground rent of St. Stephen’s Green. This building was demolished to make way for the new building, pictured above. The current building was started in 1773. Ivory resigned in disgust before it was finished, due to lack of funds, and only a stub was built instead of his tower, and the stub was removed in 1894 and a dome constructed.
The description of the tour tells us:
“The last of Dublin’s Palladian public buildings, the granite and Portland stone Blue Coat School replaced earlier premises, which had been established by King Charles I in 1671 to care for the sons of impoverished citizens. Construction began in 1773 to designs by Thomas Ivory, however funding issues led to a reduced building programme and Ivory’s departure. In 1894, a copper-clad cupola designed by Robert Stirling was added. Today, the building is home to the Law Society of Ireland, which has taken great care to retain many fine interior features.“
The building now houses the Law Society. It was built as a traditional country house composition with a central block, two wings and connecting passages. The wings have decorations intended to mirror the central tower.
The architect was J. R. Boyd Barrett, who won a competition to built it in 1936. It has a stripped Classical design with an Art Deco entrance bay addition. The external relief sculptures are by Gabriel Hayes. The tall round-headed window passes up through the floors to a keystone of representing Eire, with “jazzy” interstitial panels [Archiseek]. On the Schoolhouse Lane side the keystone represents Brendan the Navigator. The main entrance has a heavy cast bronze gates, and the carved lintel of the doorway represents the celtic god Lugh releasing aeroplanes into the air!
The interiors were also designed by Boyd Barrett and everything from the ashtrays, fireplaces and door handles were specially designed. The interiors feature polished woods and metals and patterned linoleum floors, and the ceilings are deeply coffered.
The Freemason’s Hall was built on the site of the townhouse of their first Grand Master, the Earl of Rosse. The building was completed in 1866, designed by Edward Holmes of Birmingham. The architect used three orders on the facade: Doric (lower), Ionic (centre) and Corinthian (upper). The pediment contains the Masonic square and compass.
The Irish Builder 1877 described the interior: The main hall “is larger than St. Patrick’s Hall in Dublin Castle…Along each side are six pillars with Corinthian capitals, and there are two of the same style at each end. These are painted to represent white enamel. The capitals are gilt, the pedestals and lower part of the wall are painted a rich chocolate colour; between the pillars the wall spaces are painted a light dun colour, each space being formed into a large panel by a matted gilt moulding with a deep margin of grey. The pillars support a richly designed and gilt entablature. From this spring five semi-circular arches on each side. These arches contain a series of ten cartoons, illustrative of the building of Solomon’s Temple. The ceiling is intersected by beams, which divide it into five panels, and is painted blue, and studded with gold stars. The intersecting beams, together with the architrave and cornice, are cream colour and white, relieved with gold. The predominating colour in the painting of the hall is blue, in order to meet Masonic requirements, that colour being associated with the lower ranks of the order, and the hall being used for general meetings; but other tints are introduced in sufficient abundance. The cartoons have been painted in sepia by Mr. Edward Gibson, Great Russell Street, London, son of Mr. James Gibson of Mary Street, Dublin, by whom the entire of the rest of the hall was designed and finished...”
“It was built circa 1730 by Luke Gardiner [1690-1755] as his own residence. The design of the original building has been attributed to Sir Edward Lovett Pearce. The building is a three storey, eight bay over basement house with a Venetian window between the second and third bays at first floor level. Two major interiors of the 1730’s survive, the upper part of the original main stair hall and a rear room on the ground floor. The first floor reception rooms were embellished with Rococo plasterwork circa 1760. Luke Gardiner was succeeded on his death in 1755 by his son, the Right Honourable Charles Gardiner PC, MP, Surveyor General of Customs and Ranger of the Phoenix Park [The original house was extended to the west c.1755 by Charles Gardiner]. Following his death in 1769, his son, the right honourable Luke Gardiner MP succeeded. He was created Baron Mountjoy in 1779, Viscount in 1795 and killed in the Battle of New Ross, County Wexford in 1798. He was succeeded by his son Charles John Gardiner, Second Viscount Mountjoy, created Earl of Blessington in 1816.
Luke Gardiner, M.P., (d. 1755), Vice-Treasurer of Ireland and building developer in Dublin Engraver John Brooks, Irish, fl.1730-1756 After Charles Jervas, Irish, c.1675-1739, photograph courtesy of National Gallery of Ireland.
“The Earl died in 1829 without male heirs and the house was leased to a succession of lawyers becoming the Queen’s Inn Chambers in the late 19th century. It was acquired in the early 20th century by the French Order of Daughters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul to provide relief to distressed females. The work of the order continues today and the building is actively used for a variety of community and social services projects.
“The 2001 Europa Nostra Restoration Fund Grant generously contributed to the restoration of the decayed decorative Rococo ceiling on the first floor. The restoration works were also co-funded by a grant from Dublin City Council.”
The Archiseek website quotes The Irish Builder, July 15 1893:
“This magnificent mansion was erected about the year 1725, by the Rt. Hon. Luke Gardiner, grandfather of the 1st Viscount Mountjoy, ancestor of the Earl of Blesinton, and may be described as the Manor House of Henrietta-street. The reception-rooms are seven in number, and the cornices and ceilings are finished in a rich and antique style.
“The ball-room is a noble apartment; the architraves of the doors and windows are adorned with fluted Corinthian columns sur mounted by pediments. The drawing-room, to the left of the ante-room on the first floor, possesses a beautifully carved oak cornice, the effect of which is peculiarly striking. The front staircase is spacious and lofty; the walls are panelled, and the ceiling is handsomely ornamented. The principal dining room, looking into the garden, is square, with fine stuccoed ceiling, and walls in square panels stuccoed, the squares broken off at the angles by curves. The architraves of the parlour doors are as rich as carving could make them. There is a mock key-stone or block of wood that for elegant and elaborate carving in relief cannot be surpassed. The stuccoed ceilings are in panels with enriched fillets, quite palatial, and only in the ball room are seen arabesques in the centre. The window of the ball-room, which is over the porte-cochère, has three opes, the centre ope being arched, and this is the only architectural adornment externally. Mountjoy House had originally a fine porte-cochère, or covered carriage entry, arched with cut stone, on the park side, next to the present King’s Inns buildings.” [1]
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
Robert O’Byrne tells us about the use of papier-mache instead of plaster for some decorative work. He tells us:
“When the house was first built, it featured a double-height entrance containing stairs leading to the first-floor. However, some years after the death of Luke Gardiner in 1755 his son Charles reordered this space to create a single-storey entrance hall, behind which a new staircase hall was instated. Probably around the same time a number of rooms were given new ceilings in the rococo manner. These decorations are important because in the majority of cases they are made not of plaster but papier-mâché. The use of this medium is unusual but not unique – a number of other examples survive elsewhere in the city and in Carton, County Kildare – but it seems strange to find it here. One of the attractions of papier-mâché was its relative cheapness (relative to stuccowork, that is) but the Gardiners were certainly affluent to afford anything they wished. On the other hand, its great merit is easier (and cleaner) installation than plaster, so perhaps this is why papier-mâché was preferred for the redecoration of existing rooms.
“It was not used, on the other hand, for the saloon, or ballroom (now used as a chapel), which in its present form looks to have been either added or extended at the time when Charles Gardiner was re-fashioning other spaces in the house.” [2]
12 Henrietta Street was first occupied by Sir Gustavus Hume (1677-1731), MP, privy councillor and courtier to King George I. He was the third son of the prominent Ulster-Scot Sir John Hume of Castle Hume (2nd Baronet), County Fermanagh and of Sidney, daughter and co-heiress of James Hamilton of Manor Hamilton, County Leitrim and became 3rd Baronet of Castle Hume (now demolished) when his father died as his two elder brothers predeceased their father. Castle Hume was architect Richard Castle’s first known commission in Ireland. It was pulled down in the 1830s and the materials reused to build Ely Lodge nearby.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage tells us it is:
“Terraced three-bay three-storey house over exposed basement, built c.1730, by Luke Gardiner as pair with No. 11, heavily remodelled c.1780…This house was built as a pair with No. 11, possibly to the designs of Edward Lovett Pearce. It was initially leased to Henry Boyle, Speaker of the House of Commons. Later, the house was leased to the 2nd Earl of Shannon in 1780, and subsequently gutted with the removal of a floor to provide a truly grand piano nobile. The building retains most of the interior detailing from that remodelling including stucco decoration by Charles Thorp, with remnants from the earlier scheme. The house has been undergoing a painstaking programme of conservation works and forms an important part of what has been described as ‘Dublin’s Street of Palaces’ while the ongoing conservation work will contribute to the improving fortunes of this remarkable streetscape. Laid out by Luke Gardiner in the 1720s, Henrietta Street is a short cul-de-sac containing the finest early Georgian houses in the city. It was named after Henrietta Crofts, the third wife of Charles Paulet, 2nd Duke of Bolton and Lord Lieutenant in 1717-21, the street developed in a piecemeal fashion and set the trends of scale and design in domestic architecture.”
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
In 1733 William Stewart (1709-1769), 3rd Viscount Mountjoy and later 1st Earl of Blessington, moved to 12 Henrietta Street.
See also the wonderfully informative book, The Best Address in Town: Henrietta Street, Dublin and its First Residents 1720-80 by Melanie Hayes, published by Four Courts Press, Dublin 8, 2020.
“Iveagh House is now the Department of Foreign Affairs as it was donated to the Irish State by the Guinness family in 1939. Originally two houses, nos 80/81 St Stephen’s Green, no 80 was originally designed by Richard Cassels [also spelled “Castle”] in 1736. After both houses were bought by Benjamin Guinness in 1862, he acted as his own architect and produced the current house.
“The Dublin Builder, February 1 1866: ‘In this number we give a sketch of the town mansion of Mr. Benjamin Lee Guinness, M.P , now in course of erection in Stephen’s Green, South, the grounds of which run down to those of the Winter Garden. As an illustration so very quiet and unpretending a front is less remarkable as a work of architectural importance than from the interest which the name of that well-known and respected owner gives it, and from whose own designs it is said to have been built. The interior of the mansion promises to be of a very important and costly character, and to this we hope to have the pleasure of returning on a future occasion when it is more fully advanced. The works, we believe, have been carried out by the Messrs. Murphy of St. Patrick’s Cathedral notoriety, under Mr. Guinness’s own immediate directions, without the intervention of any professional architect.’ “
The Iveagh Trust buildings were commissioned by the Earl of Iveagh in 1901. The architects were Joseph and Smithem, London architects. The centrepiece of the buildings, built to house people who lived in the slums about St. Patrick’s cathdral, was the Iveagh Baths.
The Buildings of Ireland website featured the Mansion House as one of its Buildings of the Month, and tells us that The Mansion House, Dawson Street, is the oldest freestanding house in the city and the only surviving mayoral residence in Ireland.
The Mansion House owes its origins to Joshua Dawson (1660-1725), a member of the Guild of Merchants and at the time the second-wealthiest man in Ireland, who in 1705 purchased a tract of poor marshy ground east of the medieval core of Dublin and within two years had laid out a new street which he named Dawson Street. Work on a suitable townhouse began in 1710 and it is clear that the house was intended as the centrepiece of the new street.
The house, a rare example of a Queen Anne-style house, was substantially refronted in 1851 when the original brick finish was plastered, the windows were given robust classical frames, and the parapet was remodelled about a central pediment carrying the Coat of Arms of the City. The elaborate cast-iron canopy (1886) was designed by Daniel J. Freeman (1856/7-1902), City Architect (fl. 1879-93).
The death of Queen Anne in 1714 abruptly disrupted Dawson’s ambitious plans. Fearing that her successor would not be so favoured towards him, Dawson agreed on the 18th of May, 1715, to sell the house to Dublin Corporation at a cost of £3,500 in addition to a yearly ground rent of forty shillings and a loaf of double-refined sugar weighing six pounds due each Christmas. As a condition of the sale, Dawson agreed to build an additional room which could be used for civic receptions: the now-famous Oak Room.
The Oak Room was the venue of the annual City Ball throughout the eighteenth century. On such occasions the Lord Mayor dispensed generous hospitality, aided in no small part by a yearly grant of twenty thousand oysters from the civic oyster beds. The Oak Room continues to play a central role in the life of the Mansion House today. [4] It contains portraits of Charles II, George II, Duke of Cumberland and the Duke of Richmond.
The extension of the property continued well into the nineteenth century and included the Round Room completed in just six weeks in 1821 for the reception of King George IV. Designed by John Semple (d.1840) in the “exotic” style, an apparent nod to the monarch’s Hindu-Gothic Brighton Pavilion, it was remodelled 1892 by J. G. Ashlin, and was the venue for the first sitting of Dáil Éireann in January 1919.
The improvement of the Mansion House continued into the early twentieth century when, in anticipation of a royal visit by Queen Victoria, new ceilings were installed in the entrance hall and drawing room to designs by Charles James McCarthy (c.1857-1947), City Architect (fl. 1893-1921). The stained glass window over the principal staircase dates from the same period and carries the signature of Joshua Clarke and Sons of North Frederick Street. The Dublin City coat-of-arms again features as the centrepiece in a frame including the shields of the four provinces of Ireland and the names of prominent supporters of Home Rule. Topped and tailed by a Garland of Peace and a Cornucopia of Prosperity, the window is today known as “The Peace Window”.
14.Marsh’s Library, Dublin (2013)
Marsh’s Library 1975, photograph from National Library and Archives.[5]
Marsh’s Library was built in 1701, designed by William Robinson who was surveyor general from 1670-1700, and who also designed the Royal Hospital Kilmainham. The Library was set up as the first public library in Ireland, by Archbishop Narcissus Marsh (1638-1713).
The interior of the library remains unchanged from when it was set up. It is no longer a public library, unfortunately, as the books are too delicate for general handling, but one can request to look up books in the catalogue, and it operates as a sort of museum open to the public for a fee. It contains dark oak bookcases topped with lettered gables and a mitre. The library contains the original reading cages – a reader would be locked in so that he or she could not steal the books.
10 Mill Street was built in the 1720s by the Brabazon family, Earls of Meath. In the early 19th century it was converted into a school by the Christian Brothers and later used by several charitable groups. It was remodelled in 1894 by architect George P. Beater as a Methodist mission house and school. [Archiseek]
15. Rates Office, formerly Newcomen Bank, Dublin (2013)
Rates Office, formerly Newcomen Bank, photograph by Robert French, Lawrence Collection National Library of Ireland, flickr constant commons.
Built in 1781 by Thomas Ivory. The original building was half the size, and Ivory’s half was built in mirror image with a portico built to link the two halves. [archiseek]
In 1722 Simon (or William?) Gleadowe (d. 21 August 1807) married into the Newcomen family of Carriglass House in County Longford and took their name. He started the Newcomen Bank. He was knighted to become 1st Baronet Newcomen in 1781 and elected to the Irish Parliament. He voted for the Act of Union and his wife Charlotte was rewarded with a Peerage to become Viscountess Newcomen. Their son inherited her title and became Thomas Gleadowe-Newcomen, 2nd Viscount Newcomen (1776-1825), and he also inherited the Newcomen Bank. The bank had a series of failures and closed in 1825, and Thomas shot himself and died in his office. After his death the title became extinct.
“An elegant block in Portland stone, the building stands at the corner of Cork Hill and Castle Street, doubled in length on Cork Hill by an 1862 addition. Ivory’s original plan comprised three rooms with a large stair hall, with the site’s irregular boundaries concealed by the use of oval rooms. The interior has been recently renovated and retains fine decoration, with highlights including the larger first-floor oval room and the highly decorated ceiling over the stair hall.”
Designed by William George Murray who also designed the Hibernian Bank. It was built in 1861 to replace the College of Physicians previous premises which had burned down at this location. The facade eroded and was completely replaced 100 years later in 1960. A description in the 1862 Irish Builder describes it:
“Entering from the portico, the outer hall or vestibule leads by a spacious flight of five steps to the inner hall, in which the main staircase is placed. On the right and left of this hall are the entrances to the council and examination rooms, registrar’s apartments, back stairs, reading room etc. The college hall is at the rere of the building, and is entered from the first landing of the main staircase, which here divides into a double flight, returning to the right and left.
This noble apartment, 58 feet by 30 feet and 30 feet high… is divided into five bays in length and three in breadth by Corinthian pilasters elevated on a panelled daedo, and surmounted by the ordinary frieze and cornice from which springs a quadrant coved ceiling with semi-circular arches over each bay groined into it. This hall is lighted by five lofty windows at the rere, and also three circular dome-lights in the ceiling…“
The room with the ceremonial mace also contained glass cases with memorabilia and diary of Napoleon from his days on St. Helena, as his physician was an Irishman. He gave his physician his toothbrush and diary as a memorial, telling him the diary would make him rich! He chose this physician on hearing him talk. The physician agreed to be the doctor but said he would not spy for the British. They became friends. He had to bleed Napoleon several times as Napoleon fell ill, and the lancet used is also in the glass case.
The Royal College of Surgeons was built in two phases, first by architect Edward Parke, who built what is now the last three bays on the south side and five bays deep on York Street. This was subsumed later by architect William Murray, who added four bays to the north and moved the pediment to the new centre of the building, on St. Stephen’s Green. The facade has large round-headed windows separated by freestanding columns. The pediment has the royal arms, and is topped with three statues: Athena (goddess of Wisdom and War), Asclepius (god of Medicine) and Hygiea (Goddess of Health), all by John Smyth [Archiseek]. It has a rusticated basement storey.
The interior, as listed in Lewis’s guide in 1837, contains a large board room, a library, an apartment for general meetings, an examination hall, several committee rooms and offices, lecture theatres and three museums, two of which have galleries.
There is a top-lit gallery with Adamesque plasterwork.
The Archiseek website tells us that in the early 1880s, seven feet below street level, under a bakery, the chapter house of St. Mary’s Abbey was discovered. St. Mary’s Abbey was a Cistercian Abbey founded by the Benedictine monks in 1139. It was dissolved in 1530 and fell into disrepair and its existence is reflected in the street names surrouding it: Mary Street and Abbey Street. The Chapter House is the only part remaining, and was built in 1190! [6]
It was in the Chapter House, which could be rented out, that at a meeting of the Privy Council in 1534, “Silken Thomas” FitzGerald objected to the King, who had imprisoned his father. Thomas thought his father had been executed.
Tailor’s Hall was built in 1706 and is the only Guild Hall from the medieval guilds still in existence in Dublin. It is two storeys over basement and the hall inside is lit by tall round-headed windows on both sides, and has two floors of smaller rooms. It is now the headquarters for An Taisce. It was originally the meeting hall for the Guild of Merchant Tailors, from 1706-1841.
It was used in 1792 as the meeting place for the Catholic Committee during their campaign against Penal Law, and for this the building earned the nickname of “Back Lane Parliament.” Later still, it was used as a meeting place for the United Irishmen around 1798.
From Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin, 2005, p. 367: “1703-1707, Richard Mills overseer. The Tailors’ Guild Hall is a tall shallow red brick building with a steep roof and dormer windows, a large gabled chimneystack and stair compartment projecting from the rear or N. wall. The entrance front is the long S elevation, reached by a stone arch and forecourt from Back Lane. In the 18th century the Hall was concealed behind houses on High Street and Back Lane and preceded only by the narrow arched pathway and a basement area. This unusual sequestered position is explained by the fact that the site was formerly occupied by a Jesuit chapel and college, endowed in 1629 by the Countess of Kildare. Seized by the Crown in 1630, it was subsequently repossessed by Lord and Lady Kildare and returned to the Jesuits who remained here for an unknown period prior to 1706…Tailors’ Hall is substantially early 18C. However, curiosities in the design and [p.368] structure suggest that it may incorporate something of the fabric of the 17C chapel.
The most striking feature of the facade is its asymmetry. Four tall narrow round-headed windows lighting the assembly hall fill almost two-thirds of the facade. To their right the facade is of two storeys and three bays with the entrance on the left next to the hall framed by an elegant rusticated limestone door surround of 1770. The basic arrangement reflects a pragmatic medieval-based system of hall and upper chamber, common in London livery halls of the late C17… A granite base-mould divides the brick masonry of the principal floor from the basement walling, which is largely of Calp with a band of brick forming the slightly cambered heads of the basement windows.”
This building is on Foster Place, just next to College Green and the Bank of Ireland. It was the Royal Bank, which was the predecessor of Allied Irish Bank. Before that, Robert O’Byrne tells us, it was Daly’s Clubhouse, a Gentlemans’ Club. [7]
A Neo-Classical porch was added by George Papworth in 1850. The banking hall was added by Charles Geoghegan in 1859 at the rear of the building. It has a coffered barrel vaulted space top-lit and supported by cast iron Corinthian columns. The building has a double-height entrance hall. The bank closed in 2002 and the building is now owned by Trinity College Dublin.
“Behind a neat stucco facade (with a neo-classical porch added by George Papworth circa 1850) and a double-height entrance hall, the interior includes what has been described as Dublin’s finest Victorian banking hall. A curving mahogany counter wraps most of the floor area, previously as a barrier between the bank clerks and customers. The space is in excellent condition, lit from above by a coffered and glazed barrel vault, supported by elegant cast-iron columns. For those who love pattern and ornament, the friezes and the plasterwork on the columns and their capitals will be particularly enjoyable.”
I have a bigger project than this section 482 houses blog. It helps, when writing about big houses, to know what is out there. So I have studied Mark Bence-Jones’s 1988 publication in great detail,A Guide to Irish Country Houses, and have conducted research with the help of the internet.
For my own interest, and I am sure many of my readers will appreciate, I am compiling a list of all of the “big house” accommodation across Ireland – finding out places to stay for when Stephen and I go on holidays, especially when we go to see the section 482 houses!
I am also discovering what other houses are open to the public. There are plenty to see which are not privately owned or part of the section 482 scheme. In fact many of the larger houses are either owned by the state, or have been converted into hotels.
This Monday, 8th June 2020, Ireland moves to the next phase of the government’s Covid-19 prevention plan, and we are allowed to travel 20km from our home, or to places within our county. Big houses won’t be open for visits, but some will be opening their gardens – already my friend Gary has been to the gardens of Ardgillan Castle for a walk. Stephen and I went there before lockdown, meeting Stephen’s cousin Nessa for a walk. The castle was closed, but we were blown away by the amazing view from the garden, and walked down to the sea.
Here is my list of houses/castles to visit in Dublin. Some are on section 482 so are private houses with very limited visting times; others are state-owned and are open most days – though not during Covid-19 restriction lockdown – they might be open from June 29th but check websites. Some have gardens which are open to the public now for a wander.
The website says “Original home to the Overend family, today Airfield House is an interactive tour and exhibition which brings visitors closer to this admired Dublin family. Here you’ll view family photographs, letters, original clothing and display cases with information on their prize-winning Jersey herd, vintage cars and their much loved Victorian toys and books.
We focus not just on the way of life the family lived at Airfield, but also on their fantastic charitable work for organisations such as St John Ambulance and The Children’s Sunshine Home (now The Laura Lynn Foundation) to name but a few.“
The name was changed from Bess Mount to Airfield circa 1836. It is a working farm, in the middle of suburban Dundrum! The house was built around 1830. [1] It was built for Thomas Mackey Scully, eldest son of James Scully of Maudlins, Co Kildare. Thomas Mackey Scully was a barrister at Law Grays Inn 1833 and called to the bar in 1847. He was a supporter of O’Connell and a member of the Loyal National Repeal Association. In 1852 the house went into the Encumbered Estates, and was purchased by Thomas Cranfield.
The Stillorgan History and Genealogy website tells us that Thomas Cranfield married Anne Keys in 1839. Thomas was a stationer and printer of 23 Westmorland Street. In 1847 he became the first mezzotint printer in Ireland producing copies of a works by Irish artists such as William Brocas. He received an award from the RDS for his print from a portrait of the Earl of Clarendon. He moved to 115 Grafton Street and received a Royal Warrant in 1850. The family moved to Airfield in 1854. Thomas was also an agent for the London Stereoscopic company and moved into photography. He disposed of his business in 1878 to his son and his assistant George Nutter. I recently heard Brian May member of the former rock band Queen discussing his interest in stereoscopic photography, which was fascinating. I wonder has he been to Airfield? It’s a pity there is nothing about it in the house. Thomas moved to England in 1882 after the death of his son Charles.
Thomas’s father was interesting also: the website tells us: “In 1753, Dr Richard Russell published The Use of Sea Water which recommended the use of seawater for healing various diseases. Circa 1790 Richard Cranfield opened sea baths between Sandymount and Irishtown and by 1806 was also offering tepid baths. Originally called the Cranfield baths it was trading as the Tritonville baths by 1806. Richard Cranfield born circa 1731 died in 1809 at Tritonville Lodge outliving his wife by four years to whom he had been married for over 60 years. He was a sculptor and a carver of wood and had a share in the exhibition Hall in William Street which was put up for sale after his death. He was also the treasurer for the Society of Artists in Ireland. He worked at Carton House and Trinity College. His son Richard took over the baths.“
The Stillorgan History and Genealogy website continues. When the Cranfields left Airfield, it was taken over by the Jury family of the Shelbourne hotel in Dublin. William Jury born circa 1805 was a hotel proprietor. He and his second wife went to live at Tolka Park, Cabra and William became proprietor of the Imperial Hotel in Cork and in Belfast and also had an interest ‘Jurys’ in Derry. In 1865 William, together with Charles Cotton, (brother of his wife Margaret) and Christian Goodman, (manager of the Railway Hotel in Killarney) purchased The Shelbourne from the estate of Martin Burke. They closed The Shelbourne in February 1866, purchased additional ground from the Kildare Society, and proceeded with a rebuild and reopened on 21.02.1867. John McCurdy was the architect and Samuel Henry Bolton the builder. The four bronze figures of Assyrian muses/mutes installed at the entrance of the Shelbourne Hotel were designed by the Bronze-founders of Gustave Barbezat & CIE of France.
William’s wife Margaret took over the running of the hotel after the death of her husband. She travelled from Airfield each morning bringing fresh vegetables for use in the hotel. She left Airfield circa 1891.
Four of their sons followed into the hotel business. Their fourth son, Charles, took over the running of The Shelbourne and died in 1946 in Cheshire aged 91 years.
The Overends seem to have taken over Airfield from 1884. Trevor Thomas Letham Overend (1847-1919) was born in Portadown, 3rd son of John Overend of 57 Rutland Square. He married Elizabeth Anne (Lily) Butler 2nd daughter of William Paul Butler and Letitia Gray of Broomville, County Carlow. Their daughters Letitia and Naomi were left well provided for with no necessity to work and instead devoted themselves to volunteer work and never married.
The website continues: “We focus not just on the way of life the family lived at Airfield, but also on their fantastic charitable work for organisations such as St John Ambulance and The Children’s Sunshine Home (now The Laura Lynn Foundation) to name but a few.“
“Airfield Ornamental Gardens Airfield gardens came to prominence under the leadership of Jimi Blake in the early 2000’s. Like all progressive gardens the garden in Airfield is an ever-evolving landscape. The gardens were redesigned in 2014 by internationally renowned garden designer Lady Arabella Lenox Boyd and landscape architect Dermot Foley. The colour and life you see in our gardens today are the result of the hard work and imagination of our Head Gardener Colm O’Driscoll and his team who have since put their stamp on the gardens as they continue to evolve. The gardens are managed organically and regeneratively with a focus on arts and craft style of gardening.
Airfield Food Gardens Certified organic by the Irish Organic Association this productive 2-acre garden supplies the onsite café and farmers market with fresh seasonal produce. Food production is only one element of this dynamic food garden. Education is at the core of this space. Annual crop trails, experimental crops and forward-thinking growing methods are implemented throughout the garden. Soil is at the heart of the approach to growing and and on top of being certified organic the garden is managed under “no dig” principals. These regenerative approaches result in a thriving food garden that is a hive of activity throughout the growing season.”
“The Walled Garden was originally a Victorian-styled kitchen garden that used to supply the fruit, vegetables and cut flower requirements to the house. It is 1 hectare (2.27 acres) in size, and is subdivided by free standing walls into five separate compartments. The walled garden was replanted in 1992 and through the 1990’s, with each section given a different theme.“
“The Victorian Conservatory was originally built in 1880 at Seamount, Malahide, the home of the Jameson family, who became famous for their whiskey all over the world. It was built by a Scottish glasshouse builder McKenzie & Moncur Engineering, and is reputed to be a replica of a glasshouse built at Balmoral in Scotland, the Scottish home of the British Royal Family. The conservatory was donated to Fingal County Council by the present owner of Seamount, the Treacy family and was re-located to the Ardgillan Rose Garden in the mid-1990s by park staff.
“The Department of Arts, Heritage and the Gaeltacht (DAHG) approached Fingal County Council in early 2014 to participate in a pilot project to develop and enhance skill sets in built heritage conservation, under the Traditional Building Skills Training Scheme 2014. The glass house/ conservatory at Ardgillan was selected as part of this project. The glass house has been completely dismantled because it had decayed to such an extent that it was structurally unstable. All parts removed as part of this process are in safe storage. This work is the first stage of a major restoration project being undertaken by the Councils own Direct Labour Crew in the Operations Department supervised by David Curley along with Fingal County Council Architects so that the glasshouse can be re-erected in the garden and can again act as a wonderful backdrop to the rose garden. This is a complex and difficult piece of work which is currently on going and we are hopeful to have the glasshouse back to its former glory as a centrepiece of the visitor offering in Ardgillan Demesne in the near future.“
The Bewleys business began in 1840 as a leading tea and coffee company, started by Samuel Bewley and his son Charles, when they imported tea directly from China. Charles’s brother Joshua established the China Tea Company, the precursor to Bewleys.
The Buildings of Ireland publication on Dublin South City tells us: “Rebuilt in 1926 to designs by Miller and Symes, the playful mosaics framing the ground and mezzanine floors are indebted to the Egyptian style then in vogue following the discovery of Tutankhamun’s tomb. The interior, originally modelled on the grand cafés of Europe and Oriental tearooms, was restructured in 1995 but retains a suite of six stained glass windows designed (1927) by the celebrated Harry Clarke (1889-1931). Four windows lighting the back wall of the tearoom are particularly fine and represent the four orders of architecture.“
Recently Paddy Bewley died, the last of the family directly involved with the running of the cafe and coffee business of Bewleys. Paddy was responsible for starting the coffee supplying end of the Bewley business.
Paddy, like those in his family before him, was a Quaker, and he lived by their ethos. The Bewley family migrated from Cumberland in England to County Offaly in 1700. Their association with coffee and tea dates back to the mid nineteenth centry, when they began to import tea from China.
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
p. 52. [Nugent, Byrne 1863, Ormsby-Hamilton sub Ormsby] A C18 house built round three sides of a square; with well-proportioned rooms and good decoration. Built by that genial Irishman on the C18 English political scene, Robert [1702-1788] 1st and last Earl Nugent, on an estate which belonged to his brother-in-law, George Byrne [or O’Byrne (1717-1763), husband of Clare Née Nugent], and afterwards to his nephew and political protege, Michael Byrne MP. The house was originally known as Clare Hill, Lord Nugent’s 2nd title being Viscount Clare; but it became known as Cabinteely House after being bequeathed by Lord Nugent to the Byrnes, who made it their seat in preference to the original Cabinteely House, which, having been let for a period to John Dwyer – who, confusingly, was secretary to Lord Chancellor Fitzgibbon, 1st Earl of Clare [John Fitzgibbon (1748-1802)] – was demolished at end of C18 and a new house, known as Marlfield and afterwards a seat of the Jessop family (1912), built on the site. The new Cabinteely House (formerly Clare Hill), afterwards passed to the Ormsby-Hamilton family. In recent years, it was the home of Mr. Joseph McGrath, founder of the Irish Sweep and a well-known figure on the Turf.”
Cabinteely House, photograph from Dun Laoghaire Rathdown County Council website.
The National Inventory attributes it to architect Thomas Cooley. It is described as: Detached nine-bay (three-bay deep) two-storey country house, built 1769, on a quadrangular plan originally nine-bay two-storey on a U-shaped plan; six-bay two-storey parallel block (west). Sold, 1883. “Improved” producing present composition” when sold to George Pim (1801-87) of neighbouring Brenanstown House. The Inventory also lists other owners: estate having historic connections with Robert Byrne (d. 1798, a brother to above-mentioned Michael Byrne MP) and his spinster daughters Mary Clare (d. 1810), Clarinda Mary (d. 1850) and Georgina Mary (d. 1864); William Richard O’Byrne (1823-96), one-time High Sheriff of County Wicklow (fl. 1872) [he inherited the house after his cousin Georgiana Mary died]; a succession of tenants of the Pims including Alfred Hamilton Ormsby Hamilton (1852-1935), ‘Barrister – Not Practicing’ (NA 1901); John Hollowey (1858-1928); and Joseph McGrath (1887-1966), one-time Deputy Minister for Labour (fl. 1919-2) and co-founder of the Irish Hospitals’ Sweepstake (1930). [4]
Charlemount House. Photograph from flickr constant commons, National Library of Ireland.
The architect of Charlemount House was William Chambers, and it was built in 1763. The Archiseek website tells us:
“Lord Charlemont [James Caulfeild, 1st Earl, 4th Viscount of Charlemont] had met and befriended Sir William Chambers in Italy while Chambers was studying roman antiquities and Charlemont was on a collecting trip. Years later Charlemont had hired Chambers to design his Casino on his family estate at Marino outside Dublin. When the need arose for a residence in the city Charlemont turned again to Chambers who produced the designs for Charlemont House finished in 1763. The house now the Municipal Gallery of Modern Art consists of a single block of five bays with curved screen walls to either side. The house breaks up the regularity of this side of Parnell Square as it is set back from the other houses…Charlemont house was sold to the government in 1870 becoming the General Register and Census Offices for Ireland and later the Municipal Gallery for Modern Art – a development that Charlemont would undoubtedly would have approved.” [5]
Robert O’Byrne tells us that inside is work by Simon Vierpyl also.
James Caulfeild, 1st Earl of Charlemont (1728-1799) by Richard Livesay, British, 1753-1826.
Open dates in 2026: Apr 17-20, May 1-4, 15-18, 29-31, June 1, 5-8, 15, 19-22, July 17-20, 24-25, Aug 14-24, 28-29, Oct 23-26, Nov 6-9, 20-23, 27-30 Sat -Thurs 9am-1pm, Fridays 3pm -7pm
Open dates in 2026: June 2-30, Tues-Fri, July 1-31, Tue-Sat, Aug 4-23, 10am-2pm
Fee: adult €10, entrance fee is a voluntary donation in honesty box at door
“The house was built in the 1820’s to designs by William Farrell as an Italianate seaside villa. A Mediterranean grove was planted with a Cork tree as its centrepiece. In the remains of this romantic wilderness, the present owner, architect Alfred Cochrane, designed a garden punctuated by a collection of architectural follies salvaged from the demolition of Glendalough House, an 1830’s Tudor revival mansion, built for the Barton family by Daniel Robertson who designed Powerscourt Gardens.”
“There is more fun at Corke Lodge” writes Jane Powers, The Irish Times, where ” the ‘ancient garden’ of box parterres is punctuated by melancholy gothic follies, and emerges eerily from the dense boskage of evergreen oaks, myrtles, and a writhing cork oak tree with deeply corrugated bark. Avenues of cordyline palms and tree ferns, dense planting of sword-leaved New Zealand flax, and clumps of whispering bamboos lend a magical atmosphere to this rampantly imaginative creation.”
Believe it or not, I did my Leaving Certificate examinations in this building! I was extremely lucky and I loved it and the great atmosphere helped me to get the points/grades I wanted!
Dalkey Castle in Dalkey in the suburbs of south Dublin, photograph by Brian Morrison, 2014, from Tourism Ireland. (see [2])
The website tells us: “Dalkey Castle is one of the seven fortified town houses/castles of Dalkey. The castles were built to store the goods which were off-loaded in Dalkey during the Middle Ages, when Dalkey acted as the port for Dublin. The castles all had defensive features to protect the goods from being plundered. These are all still visible on the site: Machicolation, Murder Hole, Battlements and arrow-loop windows. In Dalkey Castle, you will see a fine example of barrel-vaulted ceiling and traces of the wicker work that supported it. Niches have been exposed on the walls where precious goods may have been stored. The Castle is an integral entrance to both the Heritage Centre and Dalkey Town Hall.
Dalkey Castle was called the Castle of Dalkey in the Middle Ages. Later, in the mid to late 1600s it was called Goat Castle when the Cheevers family of Monkstown Castle were the owners.
In 1860s the former living quarters, upstairs, became a meeting room for the Dalkey Town Commissioners. It continued as a meeting room until 1998 when it was incorporated into Dalkey Castle & Heritage Centre. Today, part of the Living History tour takes place there. There is a re-creation of the stocks that were across the street where the entrance to the church is today.“
The website describes the Castle: “Drimnagh Castle is the only castle in Ireland to retain a fully flooded moat. Its rectangular shape enclosing the castle, its gardens and courtyard, created a safe haven for people and animals in times of war and disturbance. The moat is fed by a small stream, called the Bluebell. The present bridge, by which you enter the castle, was erected in 1780 and replaced a drawbridge structure.“
Open dates in 2026: Jan 9-12, 16-19, 23-26, 30-31, Mon-Fri, 9.30pm-1.30pm, Sat-Sun, 1pm-5pm, May 11, 15-18, 29-31, June 5-8, 12-15, 19-22, Aug 14-23, Sept 11-12, 18-21, 25-28, Oct 16-19, 23-24, Mon- Fri 9.30am-1.30pm, Sat-Sun 2pm-6pm
The website tells us: “Fernhill is a former substantial family residence on 34 hectares of land at Stepaside. Fernhill Park and Gardens is Dublin’s newest Public Park, and forms an important component of the historic landscape on the fringe of Dublin City and an impressive example of a small estate dating back to around 1823. The former estate is a unique collection of heritage buildings, gardens, parkland, woodland and agricultural land. The elevated nature of the site, overlooking Dublin Bay on the threshold between the city and the Dublin mountains, lends a particular magic to the place. Fernhill is also home to a unique plant collection, made up of acid-loving plants such as Rhododendrons, Camelias and Magnolias, among others.“
The Stillorgan Genealogy and History website tells us:
“The original house was a single-storey (possibly a hunting lodge) built circa 1723. By 1812 it was substantial family residence with additional out buildings surrounded by gardens, woodlands, parkland and farming land on an elevated location overlooking Dublin Bay. The house itself is a series of rambling interconnecting blocks of one and two stories transcended by a three storey tower which has developed and evolved over the years.
The gardens were planted with exotics such as magnolia and Chilean firetrees but it is also home to an extensive daffodil collection. Originally on 110 acres it now now on about 82 acres. The land was owned by Sir William Verner and part was leased to Joseph Stock. Alderman Frederick Darley purchased the lease from Verner in 1812 and his son William purchased the property outright in 1841.” Another son was the architect Frederick Darley (1798-1872).
20. Georgian House Museum, 29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street, Merrion Square, Dublin 2 – virtual visit only
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. 155. “Gaisford-St. Lawrence/IF) A rambling and romantic castle on the Hill of Howth, which forms the northern side of Dublin bay; the home of the St. Lawrences for 800 years. Basically a massive medieval keep, with corner towers crenellated in the Irish crow-step fashion, to which additions have been made through the centuries. The keep is joined by a hall range to a tower with similar turrets which probably dates from early C16; in front of this tower stands a C15 gatehouse tower, joined to it by a battlemented wall which forms one side of the entrance court, the other side being an early C19 castellated range added by 3rd Earl of Howth. The hall range, in the centre, now has Georgian sash windows and in front of it runs a handsome balustraded terrace with a broad flight of steps leading up to the entrance door, which has a pedimented and rusticated Doric doorcase. These Classical features date from 1738, when the castle was enlarged and modernized by William St. Lawrence, 14th Lord Howth, who frequently entertained his friend Dean Swift here; the Dean described Lady Howth as a “blue eyed nymph.” On the other side of the hall range, a long two storey wing containing the drawing room extends at right angles to it, ending in another tower similar to the keep, with Irish battlemented corner turrets. This last tower was added 1910 for Cmdr Julian Gaisford-St. Lawrence, who inherited Howth from his maternal uncle, 4th and last Earl of Howth, and assumed the additional surname of St Lawrence; it was designed by Sir Edward Lutyens, who also added a corridor with corbelled oriels at the back of the drawing room wing and a loggia at the junction of the wing with the hall range; as well as carrying out some alterations to the interior. The hall has C18 doorcases with shouldered architraves, an early C19 Gothic frieze and a medieval stone fireplace with a surround by Lutyens. The dining room, which Lutyens restored to its original size after it had been partitioned off into several smaller rooms, has a modillion cornice and panelling of C18 style with fluted Corinthian pilasters. The drawing room has a heavily moulded mid-C18 ceiling, probably copied from William Kent’s Works of Inigo Jones; the walls are divided into panels with arched mouldings, a treatment which is repeated in one of the bedrooms. The library, by Lutyens, in his tower, has bookcases and panelling of oak and a ceiling of elm boarding. Lutyens also made a simple and dignified Catholic chapel in early C19 range on one side of the entrance court; it has a barrel-vaulted ceiling and an apse behind the altar. Howth Castle is celebrated for the custom, continuing down to the present day, of laying an extra place at meals for the descendent of the chieftan who, several centuries ago, kidnapped the infant heir of the Lord Howth at the time in retaliation for being refused admittance to the castle because the family was at dinner, only returning him after the family had promised that the gates of the castle should always be kept open at mealtimes and an extra place always set at the table in case the kidnapper’s descendants should wish to avail themselves of it. Famous gardens; formal garden laid out ca 1720, with gigantic beech hedges; early C18 canal; magnificent plantings of rhododendrons.”
“It is with great sadness that we report the death of Pat Herbert, the founder and curator of The Hurdy Gurdy Museum of Vintage Radio, sadly he passed away on the 18th of June, 2020.
The museum has been a very special place since it first opened its doors in 2003. Pat had begun collecting radios and all things connected with communications, when he was working in the construction industry in London in the 1950’s. His collection grew over the years and found its rightful home in the Martello Tower which has a long history with the story of radio in Ireland. Pat had an encyclopedic knowledge on the history of radio and was also a great storyteller. He generously allowed the setting up of the amateur station EI0MAR in the Martello Tower and was always fascinated with the contacts made throughout the world over the airwaves.”
25. Knocknagin House, Coney Hill, Ballbriggan, Co Dublin, K32 YECO – section 482
Open dates in 2026: June 2 – 27, July 1 – 31, Aug 1-14, Tues – Sat, National Heritage Week, Aug 15-23, 9.30am-1.30pm
Lambay Island, photograph courtesy ofwww.visitdublin.comLambay Island, photograph courtesy ofwww.visitdublin.comLambay Castle, Lambay Island. Photograph from Country Life.The east court of Lambay Castle. (see [8])
26. Lissen Hall, Lissenhall Demesne, Swords, Dublin – open by appointment
The Historic Houses of Ireland tells us about Lissen Hall:
“Looking over the Meadow Water near the expanding village of Swords, Lissen Hall presents a tranquil mid-Georgian façade that is typical of rural Leinster. In fact country houses have become a rarity in the suburb of Fingal, formerly North County Dublin, which reuses an ancient place name for one of Ireland’s newest administrative regions. A pair of end bows disguise the fact that Lissen Hall is part of a far earlier building, possibly dating from the very end of the 17th century. The newer five-bay front is a typical mid-Georgian concept, with a tripartite door-case surmounted by a Serlian window.
“The arrangement is repeated on the upper storey, where the central window is flanked by a pair of blind sidelights, and the façade continues upwards to form a high parapet, now adorned with a pair of stone eagles. The building’s other main decorative features, a pair of attached two-storey bows with half conical roofs, have many similarities with Mantua, a now-demolished house that faced Lissen Hall across the Meadow Water in former times. At Mantua, which was probably slightly earlier, the silhouettes of the bow roofs prolonged the hip of the main roof in an uninterrupted upward line. It is difficult to imagine how this arrangement could have been achieved at Lissen Hall without compromising the outer windows on the top floor.
“The principal rooms are not over large but the interior of the mid-Georgian range is largely intact and original, with good joinery and chimneypieces. Architectural drawings from 1765 can be seen in the house, which at that time was owned by John Hatch, MP for Swords in the Irish Parliament in Dublin.
“Lissen Hall has only been sold once in 250 years. It passed from John Hatch to the politically influential Hely-Hutchinson family, one of whose seats was Seafield House in nearby Donabate. In 1950 Terence Chadwick purchased the house and park from the Hely-Hutchinsons and the house was subsequently inherited by his daughter Sheelagh, the wife of Sir Robert Goff.”
The Great Hall has an important collection of Jacobite portraits, on loan from the National Gallery of Ireland. It has corbel heads of King Edward IV (28 April 1442 – 9 April 1483), which are original.
Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])Malahide Castle 1976, Dublin City Library and Archives. (see [6])
The library wing dates to the seventeenth century and is hung with eighteenth century leather wall hangings.
The pair of drawing rooms were rebuilt c.1770 after a fire in 1760. They contain rococo plasterwork and decorative doorcases. The castle also has turret rooms.
Open dates in 2026: Jan 12-16, 19-23, 26-30, Feb 3-6, 9, May 1-2, 5-9, 25-30, June 2-6, 8-13, 15-20, 22, Aug 15-23, 9am-1pm
Fee: adult €5, OAP/child/student €2
Meander, photograph from National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage describes it:
“Detached four-bay two-storey mono-pitched house, built 1939, on an asymmetrical plan with single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor abutting single-bay two-storey mono-pitched higher projection; five-bay two-storey rear (south) elevation with single-bay two-storey projection on a shallow segmental bowed plan….A house erected to a design by Alan Hodgson Hope (1909-65) representing an important component of the twentieth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one ‘exploring Scandinavian modernism rather than Mediterranean modernism‘ (Becker 1997, 117), confirmed by such attributes as the asymmetrical plan form; the cedar boarded surface finish; the slight diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression with some of those openings showing horizontal glazing bars; and the oversailing roofline: meanwhile, a cantilevered projection illustrates the later “improvement” of the house expressly to give the architect’s children a room to wallpaper (pers. comm. 12th April 2016). 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 plywood-sheeted interior, thus upholding the character or integrity of a house ‘which has grown and matured together with its garden to make an ensemble appealing more to the senses than to the mind’.”
“No. 45 Merrion Square, the home of the Irish Architectural Archive, is one of the great Georgian houses of Dublin. Built for the speculative developer Gustavus Hume in the mid-1790s and situated directly across Merrion Square from Leinster House, this is the largest terraced house on the Square and is the centrepiece of its East Side.
Light-filled, spectacularly-proportioned, interconnected rooms on the piano nobile of this Georgian palazzo offer a range of venues and facilities: meeting rooms for up to 20 people; multimedia lecture facilities for up to 55, dining space for up to 80, and receptions for up to 250. Whether the event is a meeting, a conference with breakout sessions, or a private or corporate reception, the Irish Architectural Archive’s beautifully graceful spaces provide Georgian elegance in the heart of Dublin.”
“Standing four stories over basement, and five bays wide, No. 45 is the largest of the terraced houses on Merrion Square. The house was built circa 1794 for the property developer Gustavus Hume. The architect may have been Samuel Sproule who, in the early 1780s, was responsible for the laying out of much of Holles Street, of both Mount Streets and of the east side of Merrion Square. The first person to live in the house seems to have been Robert la Touche who leased the building in 1795. In 1829 the house was sold to Sir Thomas Staples. It had been built in an ambitious and optimistic age, but in the Dublin of the late 1820s its huge size was somewhat anachronistic and certainly uneconomical, so Sir Thomas had the building carefully divided into two separate houses. Sir Thomas died aged 90 in 1865, the last survivor of the Irish House of Commons.
On his death, both parts of the house passed to Sir John Banks, Regius Professor of Medicine in Trinity College, who, like his predecessor, leased the smaller portion of the divided building, by now numbered Nos. 10 and 11 Merrion Square East. Banks himself lived in No. 11, the larger part, which he maintained in high decorative order. Banks died in 1910, and both parts of the building fell vacant and remained so until 1915 when the whole property was used to accommodate the clerical offices of the National Health Insurance Company. With single occupancy restored, the division of the building, renumbered 44 – 45 Merrion Square, began to be reversed, a process carried on in fits and starts as successive Government departments and agencies moved in and out over the decades. The last to go was the Irish Patents Office, relocated to Kilkenny in 1996.
The house was assigned to Irish Architectural Archive by Ruairí Quinn TD, Minister for Finance, in his budget of 1996. The Office of Public Works carried out an extensive programme of works to the house from 2002 to 2004, including the refurbishment of the historic fabric and the construction of new state-of-the-art archival stores to the rear.“
32. MOLI, Museum of Literature Ireland, Newman House, 85-86 St Stephen’s Green, Dublin
“No. 85 St. Stephen’s Green was built in 1738 by Richard Cassels, architect of Powerscourt House and Russborough House, and is notable for its exquisite baroque plasterwork by the Lafranchini brothers. The adjoining townhouse at No. 86 was constructed in 1765 and features superb examples of rococo stuccowork by the distinguished Dublin School of Plaster Workers.
The building takes its name from the theologian and educationalist Dr. John Henry Newman, who was rector when the Catholic University was founded in 1854.”
One entire room is dedicated as a “cabinet of curiosities.” Desmond Guinness and Desmond FitzGerald tells us in their entry about Newbridge House in Great Irish Houses that the collection may have started life as a shell collection in the 1790s by Elizabeth Beresford (1736-1860), who married the archbishop’s son Colonel Thomas Cobbe (1733-1814). She came from Curraghmore in County Waterford (see my entry on Curraghmore) and would have been familiar with her mother’s Shell Cottage. Much of what we see in the collection today comes from the Indian subcontinent, including a Taj Mahal in alabaster, ostrich eggs, corals, statues of house gods, snake charmer’s box and tusks with carving noting the abolition of slavery [see 12]. The oriental theme is even carried through to the elephant design curtains. The panels on the wall are reproduction of the originals.
An Arts and Crafts Gothic Revival mansion built in the late 1870s by its architect owner George Coppinger Ashlin for himself and his wife, Mary in tribute to her father, the hugely influential Gothic Revival architect, Augustus Pugin, who most famously designed the British Houses of Parliament and a number of Irish churches and Cathedrals. [17]
The website tells us: “Located in the centre of the ancient town Swords Castle contains over 800 years of history and, as a recent surprising discovery of burials beneath the gatehouse shows, it has yet to give up all of its secrets. The castle was built by the Archbishop of Dublin, John Comyn, around 1200, as a residence and administrative centre. The extensive complex of buildings is in the form of a rough pentagon of 0.5 hectares and is enclosed by a perimeter wall of 260 meters. It is a National Monument, and it is the best surviving example of an Archbishop’s Palace in Ireland. The curtain walls enclose over an acre of land that slopes down to the Ward River. This complex of buildings is made up of many phases of reuse and redesign reflecting its long history and changing fortunes.”
Swords Castle, 1971, Dublin City Library and Archives photograph. (see [6])Swords Castle, 1971, Dublin City Library and Archives photograph. (see [6])
47. The Church, Junction of Mary’s Street/Jervis Street, Dublin 1– section 482
The National Inventory tells us it is: “Freestanding former Church of Ireland church, built 1700-4… Now in use as bar and restaurant, with recent glazed stair tower built to northeast, linked with recent elevated glazed walkway to restaurant at upper level within church… Saint Mary’s (former) Church of Ireland was begun c.1700 to the design of Sir William Robinson and was completed by his successor, Thomas Burgh.” [18]
Mark Bence-Jones writes in his A Guide to Irish Country Houses (1988):
“[Guinness/IFR] A Victorian house of two storeys over a basement with plate glass windows, built ca 1860 for Thomas Hosea Guinness and his wife Mary, nee Davis, who was heiress of the estate. Rich plasterwork and Corinthian columns with scagliola shafts in hall.”
The National Inventory adds the following assessment:
“A country house erected for Thomas Hosea Guinness JP (1831-88) to a design by Joseph Maguire (1820-1904) of Great Brunswick Street [Pearse Street], Dublin (Dublin Builder 1st December 1861, 692), representing an integral component of the mid nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one superseding an adjacent farmhouse annotated as “Tibradden House” on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1837; published 1843), confirmed by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking rolling grounds and the minor Glin River; the compact near-square plan form centred on a Classically-detailed doorcase demonstrating good quality workmanship; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the open bed pediment embellishing a slightly oversailing 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; Classical-style chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition. Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1909); a walled garden (extant 1837); and a nearby gate lodge (see 60250002), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained ensemble having historic connections with the Guinness family including Colonel Charles Davis Guinness (1860-1939), one-time High Sheriff of County Louth (fl. 1918); Major Owen Charles Guinness OBE (1894-1970); and Second Lieutenant Charles Spencer Guinness (1932-2004).“
Current owner Selina Guinness’s memoir The Crocodile by the Door tells us about the house and how she acquired it from her uncle, and the work she has undertaken to run it as a family home, with her adventure of taking up sheep farming to maintain the property and its land.
“Tyrrelstown House & Garden is set in 10 hectare of parkland in Fingal, North County Dublin, just minutes from the M50, off the N3 (Navan Road). There are 2 walled gardens, and an arboretum with woodland walks including 2 hectares of wild flower & pictorial meadows. Lots of spring bulbs and cyclamen adorn this lovely sylvan setting.
The walled gardens are over 600 years old and include a wide range of alkaline and acid loving plants and shrubs and include an organic vegetable garden.
The Wilkinson family arrived here in 1895 & have been farming the land ever since.“
[3] 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.
Irish Historic Houses 
