Tag Archives: Irish Folly

A Commemoration



With superlative views across Dundalk Harbour towards the Cooley and Mourne Mountains, this is Moonveigh Tower, a 19th century folly erected by Sir Patrick Bellew. Member of an Angl0-Norman family which despite the Penal Laws managed to retain both the Roman Catholic faith and lands of its forbears, Sir Patrick was among the first Catholics elected to Parliament after Emancipation in 1829. In 1832 he stood aside to let his younger brother Richard Montesquieu Bellew take the seat but was returned in 1835 and again two years later. It was to mark the latter occasion that the tower, on the site of an old windmill, was constructed, a spiral staircase inside climbing up to offer a wonderful outlook from the top. A plaque above the now-cemented doorcase declares ‘This tower was erected to commemorate the election to parliament in January 1837 of Sir Patrick Bellew Bart and Richard M. Bellew Esq. As members for this County. It was commenced in the year of the Coronation of Her Majesty, Queen Victoria whom God long preserve.’


Another Commemoration 

After Monday’s post about St John’s Church in Clonmellon, County Westmeath, here is an image of another monument in the same part of the world: the obelisk in the grounds of Killua Castle. It was erected in 1810 by Sir Thomas Chapman to honour the memory of Sir Walter Raleigh who supposedly first introduced the potato into Ireland in 1589; the Chapmans originally came to this country thanks to the support of Raleigh who was a maternal first cousin.

For the Present III

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In 1972 Mariga Guinness claimed that Ireland ‘has more follies to the acre than anywhere else in the world.’ The assertion has yet to be verified (has anyone actually traversed every acre of the country in search of follies?) but we certainly have our ample share of these whimsical edifices. Some research on the subject has been published but usually of an academic nature and with no spirit of the playfulness which inspired the typical folly’s construction. For surely the essence of such a building’s character lies in its name, with the implication of common sense being absent and fun gaining the upper hand.
What a treat, therefore, to find a book which celebrates the irrational, glorifies the absurd and encourages the downright nonsensical. Fabulous Follies of Ireland is a collaboration between author William Laffan and illustrator Nesta FitzGerald. It explores fifteen of the country’s follies, some of them like the Casino at Marino (shown above) widely known, others such as McDermott’s Castle at Rockingham, County Roscommon insufficiently appreciated. And it does so with just the right balance of erudition and wit, ensuring readers are as much entertained as informed. The book is published by the Irish Georgian Society, the emblem of which – the Conolly Folly, County Kildare – can be seen below. It costs €7.50, making this a fabulous folly anyone can afford.

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Bridging Cultures

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The ‘Hindu Gate’ at Dromana, County Waterford. This originated as a papiér maché and canvas-covered timber structure erected in 1826 by the tenants of Villierstown to welcome home their newly-wed landlord Henry Villiers-Stuart, later Lord Stuart de Decies, and his Austrian bride Theresia Pauline Ott. Drawings for the present structure dated 1849 were made by Wexford-born architect Martin Day, who carried out other work on the estate. Located on one side of a bridge spanning the river Finnisk, the gate is a entrance lodge, its central arch flanked by chambers. While some elements of the design, such as the decorative glazing bars complimented by quatrefoil-detailed filigree above are a reflection of Georgian gothick, other features – not least the minarets and copper-clad onion dome – appear to owe their inspiration to John Nash’s Royal Pavilion, Brighton built some thirty years earlier. After being restored by the Irish Georgian Society in the late 1960s, the gate was subject to vandalism and had to be repaired again by the local county council in 1990.

Next Wednesday, October 1st I shall be speaking on ‘The Fate of the Irish Country House: A Comparative Study’ at a symposium being held in King’s College, London to mark the fortieth anniversary of the influential 1974 V&A exhibition, The Destruction of the Country House. For more information, see: http://www.kcl.ac.uk/artshums/depts/cmci/eventrecords/2014/forty-years-english-heritage-legacy-destruction-country-house.aspx

Their Faithful Representative

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In the late 18th century, Thomas Dawson, Viscount Cremorne, passed responsibility for his Irish estate Dawson’s Grove, County Monaghan to his heir and nephew, Richard Dawson. To the dismay of his uncle, Richard – who served as a local MP in the Irish parliament – proved to be something of a radical and in 1799 consistently voted against the Act of Union. In the event, he died eight years later (predeceasing Lord Cremorne) after which he was remembered as being ‘the most active in promoting improvements, the most useful and the most popular man this country ever knew.’
As evidence, in the aftermath of his death, a fifty-eight foot high limestone Doric column surmounted by a funerary urn was erected on the edge of the Dawson’s Grove demesne. The arms of the Dawson family appear on two sides of the monument’s square base plinth and the following inscription on the other two sides: ‘This column was erected by the free and independent electors of the county of Monaghan to perpetuate the memory of Richard Dawson Esq., who was unanimously returned by them to five successive parliaments. He died their faithful representative on 3 September 1807, aged 44 years.’ The column, its design attributed to James Wyatt, has been restored in recent years. Dawson’s Grove was eventually inherited by Richard Dawson’s son, another Richard, who in 1813 became Baron Cremorne.

Built for the Bride

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One of a pair of highly distinctive lodges with polygonal towers that flank the gates to Bridestown, County Cork. According to Mark Bence-Jones, these and the range of forecourt buildings behind were built in the middle of the 18th century by a local merchant Jonathan Morgan, to please his French bride who he had met while on business in Bordeaux. As he notes, ‘The towers at Bridestown are certainly rather French in flavour; they have round-headed windows and niches below elliptical oeils-de-boeuf, now blocked up.’ Originally both had pyramidal roofs although one of these is now gone, and the original house which stood at the back of the courtyard was replaced by another in the 1820s.

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Gateway to the New Year

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Situated on a quiet country backroad, this is the Volunteer’s Arch at Lawrencetown, County Galway. The monumental gateway was built in 1782 as the principal entrance to an estate called Bellevue owned by Colonel Walter Lawrence, an ardent supporter of the Volunteer movement and of Henry Grattan’s efforts to achieve legislative independence for the Irish parliament. Following the achievement of the latter, Lawrence erected the arch which consists of a main entrance flanked by smaller openings which in turn are connected to two-room lodges. The entrance is surmounted by a pediment topped with an urn and with a carved medallion beneath, while sphinxes rest on either side. A recessed panel directly beneath the pediment bears a Latin inscription which translated reads ‘Liberty after a long servitude was won on the 16th April 1782 by the armed sons of Hibernia, who with heroic fortitude, regained their Ancient Laws and established their Ancient Independence.’ Bellevue is long gone and the gateway, together with a couple of follies, is all that remains of Colonel Lawarence’s efforts. The lodges have recently been restored and perhaps in the coming months might find a use or occupant. And the local authority might like to straighten, or better yet remove, the telegraph pole that mars the appearance of this delightful structure.
The Irish Aesthete takes this opportunity to thank all readers for their invaluable support and interest during the past twelve months, and to wish them a very Happy New Year. There will be lots more of Ireland’s architectural heritage to explore and share in 2014.