After last week’s post about a late 17th century stone cross at Robertstown, County Meath: in the adjacent graveyard stands – just about – this tombstone, featuring an image of the crucified Christ below which are the heads of two winged angels. The tomb was erected by local man Patrick Hand to commemorate his daughter Eleanor who had died in August 1836 at the age of 24.
The Cruise, or Cruice, family has been mentioned here before, specifically with regard to the remains of Rathmore Church, County Meath (see https://theirishaesthete.com/2012/11/19/music-sent-up-to-god). They were the descendants of an Anglo-Norman soldier with the name de Cruys who came to Ireland in the 12th century and settled in this part of the country, gaining control of land that stretched from what is now North County Dublin and well into Meath. More than 15 miles north of Rathmore can be found the ruins of another church in a place called Cruicetown, thereby showing its direct link with the family. Now standing at the highest point in a field, and surrounded by a low, subcircular stone wall, Cruicetown church is believed to date from the late 12th or early 13th century, and to have once served a settlement in this area, begun when the Normans constructed a motte and bailey. At the start of the 14th century, when all Irish churches were being valued for the Papacy in order to assess the proportion of their revenue that should be given as tax, that at Cruicetown as valued as £2, 15 shillings and eight pence. The church continued to be used for services until the mid-16th century, but probably fell into disuse soon afterwards and was already in a ruinous state by 1622 when visited by James Ussher, then Church of Ireland Bishop of Meath.
The Cruises remained in this part of the country until the upheavals of the 17th century. They also, like many old Anglo-Norman families, remained loyal to the Roman Catholic church, the consequence being that eventually they came into conflict with the English authorities. There appears to be some confusion about what became of the Cruises of Cruicetown in the aftermath of the wars of the 1640s (in which they had supported the defeatedCatholic side). Many reports declare that Christopher Cruise was forced to forfeit his property at Cruicetown and then transplanted to Connacht, only some time later his son Lawrence being able to regain possession of the land here. On the other hand, a very substantial report on the site produced by Dr James Galloway in 2005 states that ‘the Cruise family appear to have retained their position as lords of Cruicetown in the post-1640 period’ and that in 1686 ‘the manor was granted by royal patent to Laurence Cruise.’ Certainly, they owned land here for another century, until in 1789 Joseph Cruise sold his interest in Cruicetown to one Arthur Ahmuty, a retired colonel formerly in the service of the East India Company and now living in London. With this transaction, the Cruice family’s major interest in Cruicetown came to an end.
Cruicetown church contains two notable features, the first being a remarkable chest tomb inside a niche on the south wall of the chancel. Dedicated to the memory of Water and Elizabeth Cruise, it features recumbent figures of the two deceased, above their heads appearing that of God flanked by trumpet-blowing angels. The figures rest on a base with four pilasters carved with foliage, rosettes and hearts while the end of the chest features symbols of mortality. On the wall above is a dedicatory plaque containing heraldic motifs of the Cruise and Dalton families, and the information that the tomb had been erected in 1688 ‘AND IN THE 4TH YEARE OF THE REIGNE OF THE MOST ILLVSTRIOVS PRINCE OVR GRACIOVS KING JAMES THE SECOND’
The tomb was erected by the couple’s son, Patrick Cruise and he was also responsible for a sandstone cross that stands outside the church and to the south of the building; an inscription on one side of the monument reads ‘Pray for the souls of Patrick Cruise and Catherine Dalton, his wife, daughter to William Dalton 1688’. It is clearly inspired by much earlier Irish High Crosses and yet considerably more primitive in design. One face features the crucified Christ with a winged head above, while the other side carries a depiction of the Virgin with a rather substantial Child occupying her lap. It would appear that even when this pair of additions were made to Cruicetown church, the site had already been abandoned for services and now only served as a burial place. The persistence of an ancient religious faith in Ireland during this period is remarkable to observe.
Tucked into the hedge, halfway down a boreen (from the Irish bóithrín, meaning ‘a little road’) that leads to the remains of Robertstown church and graveyard, County Meath, is this old stone cross. Much weathered, and missing part of its shaft, the cross’s south face bears a carving of Christ’s crucifixion and, at the base, an inscription dating from 1685 and advising that it was first erected during the reign of the ‘SOVERAIN LORD KING JAMES THE SECOND BY THE GRACE OF GOD.’
The decoration on a roof of a single-storey cottage close to the remains of Clongill Castle, County Meath. A pair of wonderfully carved limestone sphinxes flank what might be either an eagle or a phoenix. These figures look to have been salvaged from a grand entrance gate, but where was it, and what happened to the rest of the building? All suggestions welcome…
All houses wherein men have lived and died
Are haunted houses. Through the open doors
The harmless phantoms on their errands glide,
With feet that make no sound upon the floors.
We meet them at the doorway, on the stair,
Along the passages they come and go,
Impalpable impressions on the air,
A sense of something moving to and fro.
There are more guests at table, than the hosts
Invited; the illuminated hall
Is thronged with quiet, inoffensive ghosts,
As silent as the pictures on the wall.
The stranger at my fireside cannot see
The forms I see, nor hear the sounds I hear;
He but perceives what is; while unto me
All that has been is visible and clear.
We have no title-deeds to house or lands;
Owners and occupants of earlier dates
From graves forgotten stretch their dusty hands,
And hold in mortmain still their old estates.
The spirit-world around this world of sense
Floats like an atmosphere, and everywhere
Wafts through these earthly mists and vapors dense
A vital breath of more ethereal air.
Our little lives are kept in equipoise
By opposite attractions and desires;
The struggle of the instinct that enjoys,
And the more noble instinct that aspires.
These perturbations, this perpetual jar
Of earthly wants and aspirations high,
Come from the influence of an unseen star,
An undiscovered planet in our sky.
And as the moon from some dark gate of cloud
Throws o’er the sea a floating bridge of light,
Across whose trembling planks our fancies crowd
Into the realm of mystery and night,–
So from the world of spirits there descends
A bridge of light, connecting it with this,
O’er whose unsteady floor, that sways and bends,
Wander our thoughts above the dark abyss.
Remembering all those lost during the present pandemic in Ireland and around the world: “We meet them at the doorway, on the stair, along the passages…” Haunted Houses by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
(Derelict Farmhouse in County Meath)
Still in Nobber, County Meath and immediately to the east of the old railway line (see last Wednesday’s post) are the ivy-covered remains of a late-medieval tower that was once part of the church of St John, already ruinous by 1641; a small, 18th century replacement stands close by. Outside the latter and mounted on a wall is the Cruise Monument, now upright but once recumbent in the choir of the old church. It depicts a knight in full armour, with is sword to the right, and carries the inscription ‘HERE LIETH THE BODY OF GERALD CRUISE OF BRITTAS AND MARGARET PLUNKETT HIS WIFE, WHICH GERALD DID BUILD THIS MONUMENT AND IS HERE LINEALLY DESCENDED FROM SR MAURICE CRUISE WHOE DIED THE FIRST YEAR OF KING HENRY THE THIRD IN ANNO DOMINI 1216 TO WHOSE SOVLES GOD GRANT HIS MERCY AMEN 1619+’
The platform and what remains of the former station alongside the railway line that once passed through Nobber, County Meath. Operated by the Midland and Great Western Railway Company, the line opened in 1872 and ran between Navan and Kingscourt, County Cavan. Like a great many other branch lines, it was never particularly successful commercially but at a time when other forms of transport were limited, provided a valuable means of travel in this part of the country. The line was closed to passenger traffic in 1947 but continued to be used for movement of freight although this station closed altogether in 1963. The station has since fallen into its present dereliction but an adjacent warehouse is used for storing machinery.
‘Immediately approaching Navan, the river [Boyne] makes a bold sweep round the foot of the hill, from which rise up the ruins of Athlumney Castle, the dilapidated towers and tall gables of which shoot above the trees that surround the commanding eminence on which it is placed, while glimpses of its broad, stone-sashed and picturesque windows, of the style of the end of the sixteenth century, are caught through the openings in the plantation which surrounds the height on which it stands. This beautiful pile consists of a large square keep, with stone arched floors and passages rising into a tower, from which a noble view can be obtained on a clear day; and a more modern castellated mansion, with square stone-mullioned windows, tall chimneys and several gables in the side walls.’
‘Of the history of the castle of Athlumney and its adjoining church, there is little known with certainty; but, standing on the left bank of the Boyne, opposite this point, we cannot help recalling the story of the heroism of its last lord, Sir Launcelot Dowdall, who, hearing of the issue of the battle of the Boyne and the fate of the monarch to whose religion and politics his family had been so long attached, and fearing the approach of the victorious English army, declared on the news reaching him, that the Prince of Orange should never rest under his ancestral roof. The threat was carried into execution. Dowdall set fire to his castle at nightfall and, crossing the Boyne, sat down upon its opposite bank, from whence, as tradition reports, he beheld the last timber in his noble mansion blazing and flickering in the calm summer’s night, then crash amidst the smouldering ruins; and when its final eructation of smoke and flame was given forth, and the pale light of morning was stealing over that scene of desolation, with an aching and despairing heart he turned from the once happy scene of his youth and manhood, and, flying to the continent, shortly after his royal master, never returned to this country. All that remained of this castle and estate were forfeited in 1700. Many a gallant Irish soldier lost his life, and many a noble Irish gentleman forfeited his broad lands that day. We wish their cause had been a better one, and the monarch for whom they bled more worthy such an honour.’
‘Tradition gives us another, but by no means so probable story about Athlumney Castle, which refers to an earlier date. It is said that two sisters occupied the ancient castles of Athlumney and Blackcastle, which latter was situated on the opposite bank of the river; and the heroine of the latter, jealous of her rival in Athlumney, took the following means of being revenged…’
‘…She made her enter into an agreement, that to prevent their mansions falling into the hands of Cromwell and his soldiers, they should set fire to them at the same moment, as soon as the news of his approach reached them, and that a fire being lighted upon one was to be the signal for the conflagration of the other. In the mean time, the wily mistress of Blackcastle had a quantity of dry brush-wood placed on one of the towers of the castle which, upon a certain night, she lighted; and the inhabitants of Athlumney perceiving the appointed signal, set fire to their mansion and burned it to the ground. In the morning the deception was manifest. Athlumney was a mass of blackened, smoking ruins; while Blackcastle still reared its proud form above the woods, and still afforded shelter to its haughty mistress.’
Extracts from The Beauties of the Boyne, and its Tributary, The Blackwater by Sir William Wilde (1850)
The Taylour family has appeared here before, in connection with Headfort, County Meath (see https://theirishaesthete.com/2016/02/22/a-unique-legacy). Dating from the 1760s, that house was built for Thomas Taylor, first Earl of Bective (incidentally, it was his son, the first Marquess of Headfort who assumed the new surname of Taylour). One of Lord Bective’s younger sons was the Hon Robert Taylor (b.1760) who in 1783 entered the British army as a cornet in the 5th Dragoons. Thereafter his rise through the ranks was steady and by 1796, having spent time in Flanders and Germany during the French Revolutionary Wars, he was a Colonel. He was here during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 when promoted to the rank of Brigadier-General and serving as second-in-command to General Lake at the Battle of Ballinamuck in September of that year when the French General and his forces were defeated, thus marking the end of the rising. Taylor continued his career in the army for two more decades, finally being brevetted a full general in 1819. Around this time, or soon after, he acquired a small estate in his native Meath called Dowdstown.
Situated not far from the Hill of Tara, the name Dowdstown presumably derives from the Dowdall family which came to own this property in the 16th century; previously it had been a grange for the Cistercian St Mary’s Abbey in Dublin. At the end of the 17th century it came to be owned by the Rochforts. When General Taylor bought the place, there may have been some kind of dwelling there already, but surviving drawings in the Irish Architectural Archive by James Shiel dated 1820 and 1834 show that improvements were carried out on the site during this period for its new owner (the archive also holds unexecuted drawings for Dowdstown by Birmingham architect Joseph Bateman from 1831). Parts of this building probably survive in the two-storey block to the north of the present main house at Dowdstown, but the residence was likely to have been quite modest. In his Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) Samuel Lewis notes that ‘the Hon. Gen. Taylor has a seat in the cottage style in a demesne of about 590 acres, of which about 240 are plantations.’ These extensive plantations of trees, long since cut down, gave rise to a notion that General Taylor had been a participant at the Battle of Waterloo and then laid out his grounds to imitate how different regiments were placed on that occasion, with taller trees represented officers. In fact, the roll call of participants at Waterloo does not include Taylor’s name, and as a general he would have been a prominent figure on that occasion. Nor is it mentioned in any of his obituary notices, an extraordinary omission had he been present.
A bachelor, General Taylor died in April 1839, leaving Dowdstown to a nephew, Thomas Edward Taylour whose branch of the family lived at Ardgillan Castle (originally called Prospect House) in County Dublin. It appears that when his mother died twenty years later, Thomas and his younger brother Richard Chambre Hayes Taylor who had inherited Ardgillan swapped properties. Accordingly the Dowdstown estate now passed into the possession of Richard Taylor who, like his uncle before him, was a professional soldier, having entered the British army in 1835 at the age of 16. He subsequently saw service in India on a couple of occasions (being there during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and involved in the Capture of Lucknow), and took part in the Crimean War. Like his uncle he eventually rose to the rank of General and was knighted two years before his death in 1904.
In 1863 he married Lady Jane Hay, a daughter of the eighth Marquess of Tweeddale, and it was no doubt as a result of this union that the ‘cottage style’ property he had inherited at Dowdstown was deemed insufficient. One of the period’s most popular architectural practices, Lanyon, Lynn & Lanyon, was requested to enlarge the place, possibly with the assistance of another Ulster architect Samuel Patrick Close who worked with the firm on many occasions. As today’s pictures show, Dowdstown might be described as offering something for everyone, since it displays a fantastical array of styles both inside and out. The south-facing façade, for example, is somewhat French in flavour, thanks to a turreted corner with conical slate roof and a large central bow projection. The west-facing entrance front on the other hand, looks more Jacobethan in inspiration, with a four-storey belvedere-topped tower to the immediate left of the main door which has a heavily ornamented porch. The interiors are equally eclectic but the most heavily decorated areas are the drawing room and adjacent staircase hall, each visible to the other thanks to a screen of coloured glass between them, the whole divided into sections by heavy banded pilasters with richly carved capitals; they imitate those in stone on the porch.
It’s open to question how much time the Taylors ever spent living at Dowdstown. For a number of years in the 1880s the General was Governor of the Royal Military College at Sandhurst and seems to have settled in England following his retirement, dying in Surrey in 1904. Dowdstown seems to have been rented out for long periods before finally being sold in 1926 to a religious order, the Columban Fathers who initially used it as their own residence before finding other purposes for the building. Since such is no longer the case, the order is now offering Dowdstown for sale.
The great house at Summerhill, County Meath and its unhappy destruction have been discussed here before (see https://theirishaesthete.com/2013/04/01/my-name-is-ozymandias). Following its burning in February 1921 the building, having stood a dramatic ruin for some 35 years, was finally demolished in the late 1950s, and that would seem to have been the end of it. However, it transpires that sections of the building were saved and put to new use in the cemetery at another site elsewhere in the county. In 1927 an Irish Roman Catholic organisation, the Missionary Society of St Columban, bought Dowdstown, an old estate in Meath, to which the society moved permanently in 1941, naming the place Dalgan Park after their former premises in County Galway. At some date, presumably when Summerhill was being knocked down, the Missionary Society acquired cut stone from the building and used it to create a pavilion at the top of the cemetery. Of seven bays, it has a breakfront centre with round-arched loggias on either side. The central bay, the lower section rusticated, rises higher than its neighbours, and is flanked by Doric columns. This is very much a new composition made from older elements but it gives an idea of the fine quality of stonework used in the original construction of Summerhill and provides a souvenir of what was lost when the building was demolished. The only incongruous feature is a cheap metal canopy jutting out above the central arch to protect an altar table beneath (the ugly paint used on this, and the interior of the pavilion doesn’t much help either, but these errors are easily reversible. Incidentally, the date 1921 seen in the pedimented attic storey’s oculus must refer not to the death of Summerhill, but to that of an original member of the Missionary Society.
