Mayfield, Portlaw, Co Waterford
Mark Bence-Jones. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (originally published as Burke’s Guide to Country Houses volume 1 Ireland by Burke’s Peerage Ltd. 1978); Revised edition 1988 Constable and Company Ltd, London.
p. 204. “An 1840s Italianate rebuilding of an earlier house by William Tinsley, of Clonmel,for a member of the Quaker family of Malcolmson who in early C19 founded the great cotton mills at Portlaw which brought great prosperity to the town. Of three storeys, with a tower projecting from the centre of the front; a composition which may have been inspired by the nearby Curraghmore. After emigrating to USA 1851, Tinsley repeated the Mayfield theme in several American college buildings.”
https://archiseek.com/2013/mayfield-house-portlaw-co-waterford
1849 – Mayfield House, Portlaw, Co. Waterford
Architect: William Tinsley / John Skipton Mulvany
Detached seven-bay three-storey over basement Italianate house incorporating fabric of earlier house constructed for the Malcomson family, whose cotton mills were nearby. Originally designed by William Tinsley, with later additions of 1857 including the tower by J.S. Mulvany. Now sadly ruined, the building has been largely stripped for architectural salvage. The tower remains a dramatic focal point.
Mayfield House, COOLROE (UPP. BY.) CLONAGAM PAR., Portlaw, County Waterford
Detached seven-bay three-storey over basement Italianate house, c.1840, on an almost-symmetrical plan incorporating fabric of earlier house, c.1740, with four-bay three-storey Garden elevation to south-west originally having service range to south-west. Renovated, 1857, with single-bay three-stage higher Italianate entrance tower added to centre on a square plan, seven-bay single-storey double-pile lateral wing to north-west having paired single-bay single-storey bows to north-west, seven-bay single-storey single-pile lateral wing to south-east (originally conservatory), and service range to south-west removed. Subsequently in use as offices. Now in ruins. Hipped slate roofs now gone behind parapets with granite ashlar chimney stacks, and traces of cast-iron rainwater goods. Remains of barrel-vaulted roof to wing to south-east with iron ribs on moulded cast-iron cornice. Roof to entrance tower not visible behind. Unpainted rendered walls with channelling to ground floor, stringcourse over, full-height corner pilasters to upper floors supporting plain frieze having projecting cornice with modillions, and blocking course to parapet. Unpainted rendered panelled parapets to wings on moulded cornices having rendered coping. Square-headed window openings to main block (in square-headed recesses to ground floor) with cut-stone sills on consoles (forming sill course to first floor), and moulded surrounds having segmental pediments to first floor on elongated consoles. Remains of 6/6 timber sash windows with some 2/2 timber sash windows to side (north-west) elevation. Round-headed window openings to second stage to entrance tower with projecting sills on consoles, moulded surrounds, and deep panelled hoods over. Square-headed window openings to top stage to entrance tower on consoled projecting course with segmental pediments on elongated consoles. Fittings now gone. Round-headed door openings to first stage to entrance tower (leading into barrel-vaulted corridor) with moulded surrounds having deep panelled hoods over. No fittings. Series of round-headed openings to front (north-east) elevation of wings (some blind) in round-headed recesses with square-headed window openings to remaining elevations. Fittings now gone. Interior now in ruins with some floors partly collapsed, outlines of red brick-lined fireplaces, and evidence of coved plaster ceilings on timber batons. Set back from road in own grounds with avenue to entrance, and overgrown grounds to site.
Appraisal
An imposing, well-composed, substantial house built for the Malcomson family to designs prepared by William Tinsley (1804 – 1885), and reputed to incorporate the fabric of an earlier house, thereby attesting to a long-standing presence on site. A range of stylistic features enhance the architectural design quality of the composition, including bow-ended wings, which are a trait common to further Malcomson properties, including Woodlock (House) (22803001/WD-08-03-01), and Villa Marina, Dock Road, Dunmore East (22817021/WD-27-17-21), and which attest to the later intervention by John Skipton Mulvany (1813 – 1871). The house is distinguished by the elegant entrance tower, which augments the Italianate Classical quality of the composition. Now in ruins, and having been exposed to architectural salvage, much of the original fabric has been lost, although the remains of some fine detailing to the openings survive intact, contributing to the design quality of the site. The construction of the barrel vault to one wing, now exposed, may be considered to be of some technical interest. The house forms an elegant centrepiece in extensive grounds originally accommodating the Malcomson cotton factory complex, and remains an imposing, although increasingly obscured, landmark of some Romantic quality in the townscape.
Detached three-bay single-storey Italianate gate lodge, c.1840, with single-bay single-storey half-octagonal entrance elevation to east, and three-bay single-storey side elevations to north and to south. Now disused and derelict. Hipped slate roof (half-polygonal to entrance elevation) on timber beams and batons with clay ridge tiles, rendered chimney stack, and remains of cast-iron rainwater goods on overhanging timber eaves. Painted rendered, ruled and lined walls with rendered quoins, and moulded rendered cornice. Square-headed window openings with stone sills, and moulded rendered surrounds. Fittings now gone. Square-headed door opening with rendered pilaster doorcase having shallow pediment over. Fittings now gone. Interior now derelict. Set back from line of road at entrance to grounds shared with Mayfield House and Portlaw Cotton Factory. Part overgrown grounds to site. (ii) Gateway, c.1840, to east comprising decorative cast-iron gate with sections of cast-iron flanking railings on granite plinth, decorative cast-iron open work piers forming flanking gateways with cast-iron double gates (on shallow concave plans operated by chain mechanism), and sections of cast-iron flanking railings leading to unpainted rendered panelled terminating piers having panelled friezes, moulded cornices, and remains of cast-iron gas lamp holders to capping.
Appraisal
A well-composed, small-scale gate lodge fashioned in an Italianate style, which complements the appearance of the main house to north-west (228030035/WD-08-03-35), suggesting that both compositions were built to designs prepared by John Skipton Mulvany (1813 – 1871). Although now disused, and in an advanced derelict state, the lodge retains its original form and massing, together with some important salient features and materials. The gateway to east, designed by Richard Turner (1798 – 1881), and fashioned at the Richard Turner Hammersmith Ironworks, Ballsbridge, Dublin, is an ornamental composition incorporating three sets of gates, the flanking double gates operated by a chain mechanism that survives on site, and which is of technical and engineering significance. The gates and railings are fine examples of early mass-produced cast-iron work and, together with the lodge, form a picturesque termination to the vista from Factory Road to the east.
http://landedestates.nuigalway.ie/LandedEstates/jsp/property-list.jsp?letter=M
Mayfield was held by William Malcolmson from the Medlicott estate at the time of Griffith’s Valuation, when it was valued at £50. Lewis refers to it as the seat of J. Malcolmson in 1837. In 1906 it was the property of William Malcomson and valued at £31. It is now a ruin.
https://theirishaesthete.com/2019/01/14/mayfield/
Eaten Bread is Soon Forgotten
Portlaw, County Waterford and its association with the Malcomson family have been mentioned here before (see: A Shell, June 28th 2017). The Malcomsons were of Scottish Presbyterian origin but in the mid-18th century one branch became members of the Quaker community. A son of this line, David Malcomson, settled in Clonmel, County Tipperary where from 1793 onwards he became involved in the corn milling industry and enjoyed such success that when Richard Lalor Shiel visited the town in 1828 he could write ‘Malcomson’s Mill is I believe the finest in Ireland. Here half the harvest of the adjoining counties as well as Tipperary is powdered.’ By that date the family, fearful that the Corn Laws (restrictions on the import of grain which favoured domestic production) were to be revoked by parliament, had moved into another business in another part of the country. In 1825 Malcomson took a 999-year lease on a house called Mayfield and the adjacent 16 acres from a local landlord, John Medlycott. A small corn mill, damaged by fire, stood on the site and this was redeveloped as a vast, six-storey cotton mill, building a canal to utilize the power of the adjacent river Clodiagh. The enterprise required large numbers of employees and as a result the little village of Portlaw expanded rapidly. Around the time the Malcomsons began work on the mill, it comprised less than 400 residents living in 71 houses: by 1841 the population of Portlaw had grown to 3,647 souls occupying 458 houses, most of the latter built by the Malcomsons as part of a planned urban settlement. The family lived on the edge of the town and directly above the mill in Mayfield.
The core of Mayfield was a classical house dating from c.1740 and it was here the Malcomsons initially lived. However, in 1849 Joseph Malcomson, who had assumed responsibility for the business, employed architect William Tinsley to enlarge the building. Like his client, Tinsley originally came from Clonmel and had built up a substantial practice in the area, so he was an obvious choice. However, by the time Joseph Malcomson decided on a further expansion of Mayfield, Tinsley was no longer available: in 1851 he had emigrated with his family to the United States where he enjoyed an equally successful career before dying in Cincinnati in 1885. So in 1857 Malcomson instead employed John Skipton Mulvany who specialized in a loosely-Italianate style architecture and who was responsible for giving the house its present appearance. Mulvany added many of Mayfield’s most striking features, not least a three-storey tower that served as an entrance on the house’s eastern front. This rises considerably higher than the rest of the three-storey over basement building which is of seven bays: the tower accordingly provided views both down to the factory and over to the village, allowing the Malcomsons a paternalistic prospect of their workers. Mulvany was also responsible for the single-storey over basement wings on either side of the main block: that to the south served as a conservatory, that to the north held a pair of reception rooms. However the family were not to enjoy this splendor for long, the cotton factory which generated their wealth being ruined in the aftermath of the American Civil War (the Malcomsons had extended credit to the losing side).
In the last quarter of the 19th century the Portlaw factory was adapted for spinning but this enterprise didn’t last long and it was only in the early 1930s that a new purpose was found for the complex when it was acquired to act as a tannery by the Irish Leathers Group. Mayfield, which had for a period been occupied by members of the de la Poer Beresford family of nearby Curraghmore, now became an office premises for the new enterprise, and remained as such for the next half century. The tannery closed in the 1980s, and as a result Mayfield no longer had any purpose, although to the end of that decade a proposal was put forward to convert both factory and house into a retirement home. The scheme never took off and for the past thirty-odd years Mayfield has stood empty, falling into its present state of dereliction. As can be seen, little of the original mid-Victorian interiors remains other than fragments of plasterwork and rotting timbers. The exterior of the building has proven more sturdy, and retains the same appearance found in old photographs. But it is difficult to know what sort of future, if any, Mayfield might have. There is an old Irish expression Ní bhíonn cuimhne ar an arán a hitear, commonly translated as ‘Eaten bread is soon forgotten.’ Portlaw as seen today owes its existence to the enterprise and initiative of the Malcomsons: what a shame that so little has been done to acknowledge their contribution to the area.
Mayfield House, Portlaw, County Waterford, for sale 2026 courtesy BidX1
The property is arranged to provide a historical estate located within an irregular shaped parcel of land. The lands are partially comprised within Folio WD39672F.
The house was originally built in 1740 and underwent improvements in the 1840s giving the distinguished Italian style that can still be seen today. It benefits from a large site area of approximately 10.5 hectares (26 acres) with former tannery buildings to the rear of the main house, offering significant development potential (subject to obtaining all necessary planning consents).
The property is located on the outskirts of Portlaw Town, approximately 18km North West of Waterford City.
Tenancy
Vacant possession.
Zoning
Under the WCCC Development Plan 2022 – 2028 the lands are zoned Part RE and part HA.
RE: Provide for enterprise and/or residential led regeneration.
HA: Protect highly sensitive and scenic location from inappropriate development that would adversely affect the environmental quality of the locations.
Irish Historic Houses 