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.
Tag Archives: Monument
Marooned
Located on the outskirts of Piltown, County Kilkenny, this early 19th century octagonal neo-gothic tower was erected by the third Earl of Bessborough as a monument to his second son Frederick Cavendish Ponsonby who was presumed to have been killed in battle during the Napoleonic Wars. The story is told that work began c.1810 when the young man was reported dead while participating in the Peninsula Campaign. However, it seems more likely that the tower was constructed in 1815 after Ponsonby was gravely injured at the Battle of Waterloo. Among his injuries on that occasion, he was knocked off his horse and wounded in both arms, then stabbed in the back while lying on the ground, ridden over by members of the Prussian cavalry and beaten up by other soldiers looking for plunder. Somehow, he survived all this and was brought to Brussels where months of recuperation followed. Ponsonby later went on to become a Major-General and Governor of Malta. As for this building, it was left incomplete until the middle of the last century when another storey was added so that it could be used as a water tower. Today it stands marooned in the middle of a traffic roundabout.
Unmissable
One of Dublin’s best-known – and most visible – public monuments: the Wellington Testimonial in the Phoenix Park. Originally conceived in 1813 (in other words, two years before the Battle of Waterlook), this enormous obelisk faced in granite ashlar measures 220 feet from base to apex and is 120 feet square at the base. Designed by Sir Robert Smirke, funds of £20,000 for the monument were raised by public subscription. Work began in 1817 and was completed three years later, albeit without the three pedestal bas-reliefs. Finally unveiled in 1861, these represent, on the west, the 1799 Siege of Seringapatam (actually overseen by Wellington’s elder brother Richard Wellesley who was then Governor-General of India), on the south a celebration of the 1829 Catholic Emancipation (achieved while Wellington was Prime Minister) and on the north, the Battle of Waterloo. The east face carries a laudatory inscription to Wellington in Latin and English. The original intention was for an equestrian statue of the duke flanked by guardian lions to be placed in front of this side of the monument, but although the pedestals were erected, the figures never materialised.
All Ranks and Religious Distinctions
Dating from 1840 and designed by George Papworth, this is the Le Poer Trench Memorial in Ballinasloe, County Galway. An open-sided monument of limestone, above a raised base it comprises a fluted Doric column set on the diagonal of each square column directly behind, the whole supporting a deep frieze above which is set a domed roof with urn finials on top of the projecting corners. In the centre of the base rests a stone coffin, as the memorial was erected to commemorate the Venerable Hon. Charles Le Poer Trench who for many years served as Vicar of Ballinasloe (he was also Archdeacon of Ardagh) and who died in 1839. The Ven.Hon. Charles was a son of the first Earl of Clancarty (of the second creation) and originally, owing to its position atop a high mound, the memorial would have been visible from the family’s seat, Garbally which is located on the outskirts of the town. According to an inscription on one side of the memorial, it was raised thanks to ‘subscribers of all ranks and religious distinctions.’
