Tag Archives: Architectural History

A Charmer



Located on the outskirts of New Ross, County Wexford, Woodville dates from the first years of the 19th century and may have been built in 1807 when the property’s owner Edward Tottenham married Henrieta Alcock, daughter of Sir John Alcock; the Tottenhams had long been settled in this part of the country. Woodville’s site was clearly chosen because the land in front then drops away down to the river Barrow. However, this view was obscured in 1887 when the Dublin and South Eastern Railway opened a branch to New Ross, the line running along the banks of the river (the railway is long since closed). Of five bays and two storeys over basement, the house was originally two bays deep but was extended towards the end of the 19th century, with further alterations made during an extensive restoration in 2006. The Woodville estate was acquired by Patrick James Roche in 1876 and is still owned and occupied by his descendants who have developed charming and extensive gardens both in front and behind the main house. 


Period Piece


Back in 2010, while reviewing a biography of Derek Hill, the Irish Aesthete managed to affront a number of people by suggesting the artist’s reputation was less substantial than either he or his admirers might have wished. Indeed, some 24 years after his death, the question is likely to be asked in some circles: Derek who? Born in Southampton in 1916, after leaving school in 1933 Hill originally studied theatre design in Munich, before travelling eastwards through Russia, eventually visiting China and Japan. Returning to England, he took a job as costume designer at Sadlers Wells Theatre but then, encouraged by the couturier Edward Molyneux, he took up painting in a serious fashion. During the Second World War, he worked on a farm as a conscientious objector but still found time to paint and in 1943 had a one-man exhibition in London. In the aftermath of war, he spent a great deal of time in Italy, often staying with art historian Bernard Berenson at his villa I Tatti outside Florence. And he continued to paint, specialising in the genres of landscape and portraiture. Hill demonstrated a distinct aptitude for the former, especially when working on a small scale – in larger pictures he seemed to lose his way – and when presented with the kind of rugged prospect found in the north-west of Ireland, where he spent more and more time. The influence of Corot was always evident in this work, aligned with the beneficial impact of Cezanne. His portraits are more problematic, veering between acute character study and superficial likeness. Some of the finest are little more than preparatory studies; he could overwork a portrait and thereby mislay the sitter’s personality. But in their enormous number these pictures offer an insight into the scope of his social life, which took in everyone from Irish farmers to English grandees. That he had a weakness for aristocracy and royalty cannot be denied (he loved to go on painting holidays with Prince – now King – Charles); it was another aspect of his essentially old-fashioned persona. There is a well-known anecdote of Hill once being decried as a snob, to which he supposedly responded: “How amazing. I was only talking with the Queen Mother a few days ago, and she said just the same thing.” There were two drawbacks to his maintaining a busy social life, flitting from one grand house to the next: it made him appear trivial in the eyes of many people and it took him away from his work. Although he spent periods entirely focused on his work, and quoted Degas’ remark that “if the artist wishes to be serious . . . he must once more sink himself into solitude”, he was unable to apply this policy with sufficient rigour.






Derek Hill first came to Ireland in the late 1940s, invited here by the wealthy  Philadelphia-born socialite and art collector Henry McIllhenny who in 1938 had bought Glenveagh Castle, County Donegal, an estate some 15 miles south-west of where his forebears had lived until emigrating to the United States the previous century; at the time of their meeting, McIllhenny was working as Resident Art Historian at the American Academy in Rome. The two men thereafter remained lifelong ‘frenemies’ (to use a wonderful neologism) and in due course also neighbours because in 1953 Hill bought an old rectory, St Columb’s, just a few miles south of Glenveagh. Five years later, he visited Tory, a small island off the north coast of Donegal, where he rented a hut and spent time each summer painting for himself and also encouraging members of the local fishing community to do likewise, thereby creating a school of naïve painting, known as the Tory Island Painters, the best-known of whom was James Dixon. In 1982 Hill donated St Columb’s and its contents to the Irish State (McIllhenny had done likewise with Glenveagh Castle and gardens three years earlier) and thereafter lived in a small cottage nearby although he spent more time than hitherto in England. He died in London in 2000. 






St Columb’s dates from 1828 when, according to Samuel Lewis’s Topographical Dictionary of Ireland (1837) it was constructed thanks to a gift of £400 and a loan of £380 from the Board of First Fruits; the surrounding glebe land ran to 25 acres. It remained in use as a Church of Ireland rectory until the death of the second resident clergyman, the Rev Henry Maturin in 1880, after which the building was leased to tenants before being sold. In 1898 it opened as St Columb’s Hotel, and continued to be used for this purpose until being bought by Derek Hill in 1953, the majority of guests over the intervening period coming to this part of the country either for fishing or shooting. Of two storeys and three bays, the house retains much of its original appearance, although a large and elaborate cast-iron single storey veranda to the rear seemingly was brought here from somewhere else. Inside, it has a typical tripartite design, with reception rooms on either side of a narrow entrance hall, that to the right presumably serving as a small study since the staircase immediately behind takes up considerable space. The decoration throughout is as it was when St Columb’s was occupied by Derek Hill and displays a fondness for Victoriana and William Morris papers, for needlepoint cushions and Staffordshire figures. The house is now a period piece, preserved as though its former owner had just stepped out for air, and deservedly ought to be kept as such even if, rather like Hill’s paintings, this will not be to everyone’s taste. It is open to the public for tours during the summer months, while, the adjacent yard buildings have been converted into a gallery space which hosts temporary exhibitions each year.

For more information about the house and gallery, see Glebe House and Gallery | Explore a world-class collection of art (glebegallery.ie)

 

It’s Not Unusual



A not-unusual sight in Ireland: the former hotel on Main Street, Milford, County Donegal. Also not unusual: the fact that it has been left closed and falling into decay for many years. The property was put on the market some ten years ago but failed to find a buyer. Then in 2019 the owners applied to redevelop the site into a mixture of townhouses and apartments, with the front section renovated and the rear replaced. That didn’t come to pass, and in 2020 a local elected representative proposed Donegal County Council buy the place. This didn’t happen either, and last year a similar proposal was made, the response being that the authority was working on the (inevitable) draft plan for the town centre’s regeneration and that this document would be subject to further consultation. Some months ago, Milford was listed as one of 26 beneficiaries of a new national Town Centre First initiative. Meanwhile, the old hotel continues to deteriorate.


Decidedly Quirky



Ardress House, County Armagh is a wonderfully quirky building that appears to have begun as a modest farmer’s residence but then, as we say in Ireland, ‘got notions.’ The earliest part, a gable-ended brick house of five bays over basement, probably dates from the late 17th century when constructed for one Thomas Clarke. In 1760 heiress Sarah Clarke married Dublin architect George Ensor who in due course enlarged Ardress by adding a further bay to either side of the east facade (and probably the small limestone Tuscan portico) and a large extension to the rear accommodating a grand drawing room. Within a few years of his death, further changes took place , the front enlarged by a further bay on either side with tripartite windows, their lower parapets decorated with urns and undulating dressed stone at each corner. The extension to the north contains rooms but that to the south is just a blank wall, as can be seen by going around to the garden where it becomes one of a pair of quadrants with blind recessed panels and statuary niches, the latter holding busts representing the Four Seasons. Formerly a conservatory ran the length of the five ground floor bays on this side, helping to provide some unity, but without this structure, the imbalance created by the double bays to the east is more apparent, thereby adding to Ardress House’s quirky charm.





Text here…The interiors of Ardress House, County Armagh are as idiosyncratic as its exterior. To the front of the building immediately inside the entrance is a large arch opening into a sitting room, while through a door on the other side lies a small parlour. The main staircase in an extension to the north rises to a landing which then divides to give access to bedrooms in different parts of the building. Meanwhile, another eccentric feature of Ardress House is the location of the dining room, which would customarily be located to one side of the entrance hall: here it is located behind the drawing room but not accessed from it. Instead, the dining room is reached via a corridor to the rear of the building and then through a small external door (originally a small glazed building provided coverage for diners).





As mentioned earlier, in 1760 heiress Sarah Clarke married architect George Ensor, who oversaw a number of additions to Ardress House, County Armagh. One of these was the creation c.1783 of a large, rectangular drawing room behind the original building, its walls and ceiling elaborately decorated with neoclassical plasterwork, its design attributed to the preeminent Irish stuccodore of the period, Michael Stapleton. The tripartite ceiling is composed of a circular section with demi-lunes on either side, the former containing a centrepieces featuring Aurora in a chariot drawn by two winged horses. Other panels and medallions around the walls show various classical figures, including Cupid bound to a tree and observed by three females and a warrior kneeling before Minerva and another goddess. Between these, garlands of husk chains and ribbons swoop and  fall across the walls in a breathtaking, and unexpected, display of sophisticated craftsmanship in rural Ulster. Ardress House is today under the care of the National Trust and open to the public. 


Well Fort



Hillsborough Fort, County Down has been considered here before (see Hillsborough Fort « The Irish Aesthete) but on that occasion the Irish Aesthete was unable to gain access to the building at its centre. Completed c.1650 by Colonel Arthur Hill, the little square forthouse was Gothicised just over a century later, perhaps to the designs of Christopher Myers and, having been a place of defence became instead a place of delight, used for entertainments. Inside, the ground floor consists of a narrow entrance hall with vaulted ceiling, doors to front and rear, and a number of small rooms on either side. A staircase in one of the flanking towers leads upstairs to a great chamber occupying the entire space, lit by three arched windows and with a high flat roof. At the moment, the building sits empty but there plans are afoot for its restoration and reuse.


Don’t Hold Your Breath


Irish Times, December 7th 2000: Fresh Look for Fruit and Vegetable Market
‘Occupying a large site of some 6,000 sq m and with its principal facades on Mary’s Lane and St Michan’s Street, the market is one of the city’s least-known or appreciated architectural delights. This situation should now improve, however, because Dublin Corporation has just finished a £1 million-plus restoration of the building’s exterior, for which the funds came from the local authority, the Department of the Environment and the EU. The Fruit and Vegetable Market was intended to replace a jumble of unhygienic and dilapidated structures serving that purpose on Dublin’s northside and first opened for business in December 1892. It was designed by the city engineer Spencer Harty and, when new, was described in the Irish Builder as being likely to “rank foremost with many of our modern buildings”.’
Irish Times, December 11th 2004: Fish Market to close after 100 Years,
‘Dublin City Council is to close the 100-year-old fish market in the north inner-city as part of a €70 million rejuvenation of the markets area. The closure will also see the adjacent fruit and vegetable market move to a site near the M50, at a location yet to be finalised, as the council plans to refurbish its Victorian building for use as a retail “table-top market” modelled on the English market in Cork.It is hoped the table-top market will ultimately see high quality fresh vegetables, fruit and home produce – including organic foods, cheeses and pastas – attract new visitors and shoppers to the area.
The city council envisages the current fruit and vegetable market building becoming “the Victorian set-piece” for the rejuvenation of a large surrounding area which currently includes much warehousing.’





Irish Times, January 3rd 2008,: The Markets: Bidder Identified
‘In July 2005 the council announced a framework plan to redevelop the area surrounding the old fruit and vegetable markets and the fish market southeast of the Four Courts.
The project was to involve private investment of more than €400 million to build a new food market, restaurant and general retail market within the retained Victorian fruit and vegetable market building and the site of the fish market.
Some 600 homes and 60,000sq metres of office/retail units were also to be built in the area. The market square and surrounding infrastructure was also expected to be granted up to €25 million in exchequer funding.
Demolition of the fish market did begin in November 2005, but subsequent development stalled, largely, it is understood, due to difficulties in negotiations with the existing stall-holders in the market.’
Irish Times, August 2nd 2011: Capital’s Fruit and Vegetable Market to get artisan food makeover
‘Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market, which was the centrepiece of a €425 million regeneration scheme that collapsed three years ago, is to be redeveloped as an artisan food market by Dublin City Council.
The council plans to refurbish the market, which is occupied by a small number of wholesale fruit, vegetable and flower sellers, and provide some 40,000sq ft for food retailers.
The market would be modelled along the lines of European food markets and the highly successful English Market in Cork city, assistant city manager Michael Stubbs said.’
Irish Times, August 19th 2013: Dublin’s Victorian Fruit Market to be Redeveloped
‘The Victorian fruit and vegetable market in Dublin’s north inner city is to be redeveloped as a continental-style food market more than a decade since its regeneration was first proposed.
Dublin City Council has drafted plans for the refurbishment of the market hall between Capel Street and the Four Courts. It intends to go to tender for contractors by the end of this year, with work due to start by autumn 2014. The council hopes to have retailers on site in the newly restored hall by summer 2015.
The building, which was built in 1892 and is on the Record of Protected Structures, has 6,000sq m of internal space, currently devoted to wholesale. Under the new plan, the wholesalers, who serve surrounding restaurants and shops with fruit and vegetables, will move to the western half of the building.
The remaining half of the market will be devoted to a retail food market that includes butchers, bakers, cheesemongers, fishmongers, and a range of other food producers, as well as greengrocers. There will also be space for cafes at the edges of the market and in buildings bordering the market.’





Irish Times, March 3rd 2015: Plans for Historic Dublin Market Approved by City Councillors.
‘The €3 million redevelopment of Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market as a continental-style food market has been approved by Dublin city councillors.
The 1892 wholesale market building between Capel Street and the Four Courts in the north inner city will be refurbished and converted into a retail and wholesale market.
The council aims to attract a range of food producers including butchers, bakers, cheesemongers, fishmongers and greengrocers, serving goods to take home as well as to eat at the market, while retaining the wholesale businesses in the western half of the market hall.’
Irish Times, May 21st 2018: Victorian Dublin Market Regeneration to Go Ahead
‘A €3 million redevelopment of Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market as a continental-style food market is finally to go ahead more than 16 years after it was first planned.
Dublin City Council assistant chief executive Richard Shakespeare said he expects to have vacant possession of the 126-year-old market hall by the end of the summer and will then seek tenders for its refurbishment and conversion into a retail and wholesale market.
He said he hoped the revamp of the market, located between Capel Street and the Four Courts in the north inner city, would get under way early next year with work expected to take in the region of 18 months.’
Irish Times, August 15th 2019: Dublin’s Victorian Fruit Market to Close for Two Years for Revamp
‘Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market on Mary’s Lane will close next week for a major redevelopment project expected to take at least two years.
Dublin City Council has had permission for the past four years to convert the 127-year-old wholesale market between Capel Street and Smithfield into a 50-50 retail and wholesale market.
However, the market may now be changed to a retail-only facility, depending on the outcome of a tender process for the redevelopment, which will get under way in the coming months.’
Irish Times, October 31st 2023: Reopening of Dublin Victorian Market sees Dramatic Plan for Surrounding Area
‘The revitalisation of the area around Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market, with the extension of pedestrianisation from Capel Street, and the upgrade of parks and roads, is planned in advance of the reopening of the market.
The draft Markets Area Public Realm Plan aims to dramatically improve the environment of the north inner city area between Capel Street, Church Street, North King Street and the quays…
…The area was once a thriving market district, serving the city’s restaurants and grocers. While many wholesale traders still operate in there, the closure of the council’s fruit and vegetable market on Mary’s Lane in 2019 substantially reduced activity in the locality.’
Irish Times, April 6th 2024: Dublin’s Victorian Fruit and Vegetable Market Finally to Reopen
‘Redevelopment of Dublin’s Victorian fruit and vegetable market is finally to go ahead at a cost of €25 million, five years after its closure, city council chief executive Richard Shakespeare has confirmed.
The revamped retail food market and restaurant complex will reopen in just over two years’ time, following an extensive refurbishment and fit-out programme, Mr Shakespeare said.’

Don’t hold your breath…


P.S. While we wait for more time to pass, perhaps someone could take the relevant persons in Dublin City Council to one side and advise them that even basic maintenance of a building will help to reduce the costs of its eventual restoration.

Remembering a Hero



Following last Monday’s post about Lucan House, here is a monument found within the surrounding garden and dedicated to Patrick Sarsfield, first Earl of Lucan and hero of the 1691 Siege of Limerick. While he never lived here (the property was owned by his older brother William), toward the end of the 18th century either Agmondisham Vesey or his nephew and heir Colonel George Vesey is thought to have commissioned this work from James Wyatt. Originally located elsewhere on another site to the west, the monument was moved to its present location on an elevated mound in the mid-1980s when the greater part of the old demesne became a public park. On a stepped base, three tortoises support an elaborately carved Portland stone triangular pedestal, with medallions on two sides featuring classical figures (the third for some reason has been left blank). And to finish it off, on top of this rests a substantial limestone urn. 


Addio del Passato



Last Monday, the Presidents of Ireland and Italy jointly inaugurated a new public park in Lucan, County Dublin, the space henceforth to be known as Parco Italia. The reason for this somewhat unusual name? Since 1942 Lucan House, which stands at the centre of the 30-acre park, has been the official residence of successive Italian ambassadors to this country. The building here has, like so often, a long and complex history but in its present form was commissioned in the early 1770s by the estate’s then-owner Agmondisham Vesey who, although he consulted several eminent architects, played an active role in the eventual design. Vesey’s house replaced an earlier one, probably dating back to the Middle Ages but much altered over the centuries. A painting by Thomas Roberts produced shortly before its demolition shows what appears to be a late-mediaeval tower house with a fortified manor house with castellated roofline to one side. Vesey’s wife Elizabeth, a noted bluestocking (and close friend of Elizabeth Montague) lamented the destruction of the older building, ‘with its niches and thousand other Gothic beauties,’ but her husband was determined to start afresh. To do this, he not only had to overcome his spouse’s opposition but also the original house’s associations with noted Irish patriot Patrick Sarsfield, first Earl of Lucan. His forebear, Sir William Sarsfield, had acquired the Lucan estate in 1566 and although temporarily dispossessed during the Confederate Wars, several generations of the family lived there until the marriage in 1696 of heiress Catherine Sarsfield (a niece of Patrick Sarsfield) to Agmondisham Vesey, father of the man responsible for building Lucan House. 





As mentioned above, Agmondisham Vesey, displayed a keen interest in architecture despite his involvement in many other activities: a Member of the Irish Parliament, he was also a Privy Councillor and Accountant and Controller General of Ireland. Like his wife Elizabeth he liked to keep abreast of cultural developments: in 1773, during the period that work was underway on the new house, he was elected to the ‘Club’, the informal dining and conversational group established by Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds 10 years earlier. Johnson and James Boswell granted him the notional title of ‘Professor of Architecture,’ and the latter wrote that Vesey had ‘left a good specimen of his knowledge and taste in that art by an elegant house built on a plan of his own at Lucan.’ Boswell exaggerated his friend’s role in the matter because while Vesey undoubtedly had a hand in Lucan House’s appearance, so did a number of architects, not least Sir William Chambers who in 1773 sent him now-lost ‘Designs for a Villa.’ It is thought that the facade of the building was based on this work, not least because in March 1774, Vesey wrote to Chambers, ‘I am much more intent in finishing the South front of your Plan at Lucan this summer.’ The aforementioned facade is of seven bays and two storeys over basement except for the breakfront three centre bays which feature an additional attic storey beneath a pediment (despite Vesey reminding Chambers ‘You have taught us to think pediments but common architecture). This central section is faced in granite ashlar with four half-engaged giant Ionic columns above a rusticated ground floor. Originally at that level the two bays on either side were given rusticated render, as can be seen in an engraving of the house produced by Thomas Milton in 1783, but this was removed at some later date. Lucan House’s design looks to have been the inspiration for Charleville, County Wicklow, designed by Whitmore Davis in 1797, although the facade of that building is entirely faced in ashlar and runs to nine bays. Meanwhile, at Lucan, the house forms a rectangular block, other than a three-bay bow to the rear that, as with the facade, rises three storeys over basement. 





If Sir William Chambers was involved in designing the exterior of Lucan House, James Wyatt, together with his Irish representative Thomas Penrose, can claim much credit for the building’s interiors, with Michael Stapleton responsible for much of the plasterwork found on many of the walls and ceilings in the ground floor, as well as the main staircase and first-floor lobby. Lucan House has some of the finest examples of neo-classical decoration in Ireland, beginning with the entrance hall, to the rear of which a screen of columns and pilasters painted to imitate Siena marble, provide access to the principal reception rooms. That to the immediate left here, now called the Wedgewood Room but originally the breakfast room, is a perfect square, its walls rising to a gently domed ceiling at the centre of which is a medallion depicting a warrior kneeling before Minerva accompanied by her maidens. Around the room, floral drops surround panels containing what appear to be grisaille paintings: in fact, these are in fact prints overpainted at some date when age had caused them to fade. To the rear is the drawing room, although this was intended to be the dining room. Its walls were left undecorated (and today covered in paper) but again the ceiling has been covered in plasterwork centred on another medallion, this one, somewhat unusually, featuring the Christ child and infant John the Baptist together with a lamb. The rear of the house is taken up by what is now the dining room but was originally intended to be the drawing room. The ceiling decoration here is simpler than that in the previous rooms, but the walls are decorated with plaster girandoles, their design found among those created by Michael Stapleton. Oval in shape, the bow in the window is echoed by a similarly curved wall centred on a door leading back into the entrance hall. This arrangement of the two rooms  – hall with screen of columns to the rear and central door opening into an oval room – is found in Castle Coole, County Fermanagh designed in the early 1790s by James Wyatt.
Agmondisham Vesey died in 1785 and having no children, left the estate to his nephew Colonel George Vesey. The latter’s only child, Elizabeth Vesey, married Sir Nicholas Colthurst and their descendants lived at Lucan House until the property and its contents were sold in September 1925 by Captain Richard Colthurst (later eighth baronet), after which it was occupied by Charles Hugh O’Conor and then his son-in-law William Teeling. In 1942 the building and surrounding gardens were rented by the Italian government and then bought 12 years later, to serve as a residence for its ambassador. It continued to serve the same purpose until this month, at the end of which the present ambassador leaves his position and the property passes into the hands of a new owner, the local authority, South Dublin County Council. What happens to both house and grounds in the future remains to be seen. 



For anyone wondering, the bronze buffaloes seen in the grounds and fibreglass horse in the entrance hall, all by contemporary Italian artist Davide Rivalta and placed in their present positions last year, are due to remain on site. 

Corbalton



Corbalton Hall dates from 1801 when the house was designed by Francis Johnston. The foremost architect of the period, Johnston was responsible for some of Ireland’s most significant buildings, such as Dublin’s GPO and the Chapel Royal in Dublin Castle, as well as many other country houses. His client on this occasion was Elias Corbally, a wealthy miller who bought the estate along with an older house, since demolished, called Cookstown. To commemorate his family, Corbally decided to name the new house Corbalton Hall. A flawless example of fashionable neo-classical taste, Corbalton is faced in crisp limestone, the two-storey facade defined by a freestanding Ionic portico. The windows on either side are set in shallow recesses with semi-elliptical fluted panels above them. Inside, the building follows a typical tripartite plan, with a central entrance hall flanked by the main reception rooms, accessed through meticulously finished mahogany doors. To the rear of the hall is the cantilevered staircase in pale Portland stone, the whole space amply lit by a generous bowed window on the return and leading up to a series of bedrooms.







Symmetry and order are paramount in Johnston’s neo-classical houses, so Corbalton Hall’s drawing room and dining room have exactly the same proportions, although the former has a large east-facing bow window offering views across the surrounding demesne. All the windows on this floor are set in shallow recesses holding the shutters, at the top of which can be seen a design detail typical of Johnston’s work: a fan-like fluted, semi-circular motif. In 1970 the original Cookstown House was demolished, leaving an empty space between Johnston’s villa and the stable block which he had also designed. At the start of the present century, however, an extension designed by conservation architect David Sheehan was added to the rear of Francis Johnston’s Corbalton Hall, on the footprint of the demolished building, thereby restoring coherence to the site. Fortunately the handsome stable yard survives and beyond it lie further work yards leading to a pair of substantial walled gardens (the first of them terraced), all essential features of a functioning country house. 







It is worth noting that Elias Corbally was a Roman Catholic, and a keen campaigner for the repeal of the Penal Laws, together with full civil rights for members of his faith. As a result, the Corballys became associated through marriage with other notable Catholic families elsewhere in County Meath. In 1817, for example, Elias’s only daughter Louisa Emilia Corbally married Arthur Plunket, 10th Earl of Fingall who lived not far away at Killeen Castle which had only recently been enlarged and altered by Francis Johnston. The Fingalls had always been Catholic, as were the Prestons, Viscount Gormanston: in 1842 Elias’s son and heir Matthew married the Hon Matilda Preston, daughter of the 12th Viscount. In 1865 their only child, and Elias’s granddaughter, Mary Margaret Corbally would marry Alfred Stourton, 24th Baron Segrave whose family title went all the way back to 1283; like the others, his ancestors had always remained Catholic.  Their son, Colonel the Hon Edward Plantagenet Joseph Corbally Stourton was the last of the family to live at Corbalton Hall, selling the property in 1951. It then passed through several owners before being acquired a few years ago by the present owner who has carried out extensive restoration and refurbishment work on the building. 


A Charter House



The former Charter School at Ray, County Donegal. In brief, Charter Schools (so-called because they were established by royal charter in 1733) were part of a scheme by the Church of Ireland episcopacy to set up a Protestant education system throughout the country: the idea was that boys would learn a useful trade and girls be trained in domestic skills (while also becoming loyal members of the Established Church). Run by The Incorporated Society in Dublin for Promoting English Protestant Schools in Ireland, the project never achieved great success and proved subject to much abuse (many children being treated as unpaid servants and farmhands, or worse) but more than 40 schools were constructed, such as this one which dates from 1740 and was intended to house 27 pupils. At the time, Nicholas Forster, Bishop of Raphoe provided £50 towards the cost of construction, as well as supplying the original furniture and providing for four debentures of £100 for the ‘maintaining of the children’. William Forward of nearby Castleforward (since demolished) donated a further £20 while one John Leslie bequeathed two acres of land in perpetuity to the school, and another ‘twenty acres for use for the period of three lives at £6 per annum.’ It became a boys’ only school by 1794 and boarding was phased out after 1810. The building thereafter served as a day school for Protestant pupils until 1895, when it became part of the National School system. This remained the case until 2001 when a new school building opened close by: the old charter school has since lain empty and falling into its present state of dereliction.