Author Archives: theirishaesthete

At a Crossroads


Encircled by yew trees, here is the Temple of Mercury in the grounds of Dromoland Castle, County Clare. The building dates from the early 18th century, and appears on an estate map of c.1740 which shows it to have been of a elaborate formal layout that included avenues and terraces, as well as vistas of which this would have formed part, since it stands at the crossing of two straight paths. The temple features eight Doric columns supporting a timber dome covered in lead atop which perches a bronze statue of Mercury.

A Venerable Monastic Edifice


‘The village of Timoleague [County Cork] is situated on an arm of the ocean, which flows in between the hills, whose feet it washes. It is in the barony of Ibawn and Ballyroe, and eight miles S. W. of Kinsale. It was anciently a place of note, being much frequented by the Spaniards, who imported thither large quantities of wine, and tradition reports that it had fourteen taverns that sold Sack. But the harbour is now quite choked up with sand. A small river discharges itself here, called the Arigideen, or the Little silver Stream; it runs at the foot of an hill, formerly clothed with an oak grove for about a mile, in a picturesque serpentine manner. It passes by O’Shagnessey’s castle, the church-yard, and the walls of the Franciscan abbey. This venerable monastic edifice, whose ruins we have exhibited, was founded by William Barry, Lord of Ibawn ; the 17th December 1373 he died, and was interred in it. In 1400, it was given to Franciscans of the strict observance. John de Courcy, a Monk of this house, and afterwards Bishop of Clogher, with the assistance of James Lord Kinsale, his nephew, built the library, belfry, dormitory, and infirmary, and bequeathed liberally to it. He died in 15 18, and was buried in the church…’




‘Provincial chapters were held in this abbey in 1552 and 1563. Here are several tombs of ancient Irish families j as M’Carthy-righ’s, in the middle of the choir. West of it is an old broken Monument of the O’Cullanes, and on the right hand, that of the Lords de Courcy. The O’Donovans, O’Heas, and others, were interred here. By an inquisition taken, four acres and an half of land were found to belong to the abbey, which were then possessed by Lord Inchiquin, but now by Lord Barrymore. A considerable part of the tithes were granted to the college of Dublin. Near the church is a well, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, celebrated for miraculous cures. St. Molaga is patron of the parish, and it receives its name from an old monastic Cell dedicated to him, called Tea Molaga, or St. Molaga’s house…’




‘The building, though unroofed, is intire, for it was thoroughly repaired in 1604, It consists of a large choir with an aisle : one side of the said aisle is a square cloister arcaded, with a platform in the middle; this leads to several large rooms, one of which is said to have been a chapel, another a chapter-house, the third the refectory, besides a spacious apartment for the Guardian of the house, with kitchen, cellars, &c. the whole forming a large pile of building. There is an handsome Gothic tower, seventy feet high, between the choir and the aisle.’


From Francis Grose’s The Antiquities of Ireland, vol.II, published 1791.

Rampant Grandiosity



The grandiously-named Woburn, which stands on the coast in north County Down. Designed by Dublin architect John McCurdy, the house was built in 1866-67 around an earlier seaside villa. This had been owned by wealthy mill owner John Gilmore Dunbar but was spectacularly enlarged into an Italianate mansion by his nephew and heir, George Orr Dunbar: the property subsequently passed to the Pack-Beresford family. Death duties obliged Woburn’s sale in the 1950s, after which it was bought by the Northern Ireland Ministry of Finance and converted into a borstal. More recently it became a training centre for prison officers but following the closure of this facility, the 43-acre site – on which many ancillary buildings had been constructed – stood empty until sold last year. The house’s future is unclear.


A Significant Birthday



Last weekend saw festivities marking the 250th anniversary of Monksgrange, County Wexford. Completed in 1769, the house has remained in the ownership of the original builder’s descendants, something of a rarity in Ireland as is also the property’s extensive archive of documents, thoroughly mined over many years by Philip Bull for his recently-published book, Monksgrange: Portrait of an Irish house and family, 1769–1969 (Four Courts Press). In its simplified Palladian design, the building is representative of the aspirations of the country’s landed gentry in the mid-18th century, adopting and adapting aristocratic taste better to secure its own place in the then-social hierarchy. While Monksgrange has undergone some alterations and modifications over the past two and a half centuries, it retains an important place in the history of our architectural evolution.


The Consequences of a Carriage Accident


Seen in the grounds of St Mary’s, Killarney, County Kerry: the tombstone of William Wadd who, as the carving explains, acted as Surgeon Extraordinary to George IV. Wadd is remembered for being one of the first doctors to advocate a sensible approach to diet, in 1810 publishing his Cursory Remarks on Corpulence which explored the history and causes of obesity, concluding that it was due to ‘an over-indulgence at the table’ (such as that practiced by his royal patient). The work went through four editions, the last appearing in 1829, the year of its author’s death: Wadd had come to Ireland on holiday and was killed instantaneously outside Killarney after leaping from a runaway carriage. Hence his interment at St Mary’s.

A Grand Arrival



Located on a narrow country road and exceptionally wide (and therefore impossible to photograph fully face-on), these are the entrance gates to Newberry, County Cork. It would appear that the outer pair of classical ashlar pillars dating from the 18th century and topped with eagles comes from an older entrance to the estate close to the adjacent church of St Senach. In the 1840s, the present gateway was created and the older pillars incorporated into this, but separated by rustic rubble walls from a smaller pair of pillars, this time crowned by pineapple finials. Sadly the Georgian Gothic lodge on the other side of the road has now fallen into ruin.


Needing Attention



This 19th century domed greenhouse closes a vista inside the walled garden of Malahide Castle, County Dublin. The building is not original to the site: seemingly it came from a convent in south County Dublin and was installed here in recent years by Malahide Castle’s owners, Fingall County Council. It is a handsome addition to the walled garden, but the state of some of the roof timbers suggests insufficient maintenance.


Strictly Greek


Not a miniature Greek temple, but a mausoleum erected in 1860 to the Corry family. It stands in the same cemetery as the remains of Movilla Priory church, County Down seen here last Wednesday. Originally from Scotland, the Corrys moved to Ulster in the early 17th century and settled on the Ards Peninsula. In the first half of the 19th century, Robert Corry became extremely wealthy through involvement in quarrying and timber. It was he who commissioned this mausoleum, believed to have been designed by his second son John, a keen amateur architect (he was also responsible for the design of the Italianate Elmwood Presbyterian church in Belfast). John Corry was clearly well-informed, since the building conforms to strict Greek revival rules, the little temple featuring an open base plinth around which runs a peristyle of Doric columns supporting a pedimented entablature.

Buried in Tombs


Movilla, County Down takes its name from the Irish magh bile, which means ‘plain of the ancient tree’ because in pre-Christian times a sacred tree had stood here. A monastery was founded here in 540 by St Finian and grew to be one of the most important in the country. However, after being sacked by Vikings in the ninth century, it went into decline and was eventually re-established as an Augustinian priory. This was closed down during the Dissolution of the Monasteries and today all that remains are the gable ends of a 15th century church, the space between them filled with tombstones.