The Irish Aesthete

This is not an Oxymoron

[theirishaesthete]

Spot the Difference A little detail likely missed by most of the car drivers and pedestrians hurrying past the Garda Station at the junction of Pearse and College Streets....

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

A Reawakening

Regular visitors to this site will know that the Irish Aesthete is always delighted to learn of an historic property undergoing restoration, especially when this work is being tackled by private owners who intend to make the property a family home. Such is the case with the building seen here today: Knockelly Castle, County Tipperary. They have written a brief but helpful account of the site,…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Through the Gate

After Monday’s post showing the wonderfully restored walled garden at Glenarm Castle, County Antrim, here is the Barbican Gate. Located on the far side of a bridge leading into the village, the building dates from 1825 when designed by Sir William Morrison to accompany the transformation of the main house from a classical residence into a Tudoresque fantasy for his client, Anne Katherine Mac…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer’s Day?

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate: Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date; Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimm’d; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm’d; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

A Memorial

The remains of a late medieval church at Templecross, County Westmeath. The building was once part of the adjacent Tristernagh Abbey estate, granted by Elizabeth I to the soldier William Piers as a reward for his efforts to clear the Scots from Ulster. Tristernagh was then inherited by his son Henry, who despite marrying a daughter of Thomas Jones, Archbishop of Dublin, seemingly converted to…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

A Ducal Birthplace

There has sometimes been confusion over the likely birthplace in Dublin of the Hon Arthur Wellesley, future Duke of Wellington, since the location was given as Antrim House. The property known by this name stood at the junction of north Merrion Square and Lower Mount Street, a vast residence erected for the Earl of Antrim, often considered the most impressive such property in the area after…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Different Fates

The former Royal Irish Constabulary barracks in Mullinahone, County Tipperary dates from c.1850 and was variously occupied by that organisation, then the Black and Tans during the War of Independence before becoming the local Garda station. However, like many other such premises in small towns, it closed down some decades ago and then stood empty until bought in 2014 when work began turning the…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Making No Sense

In Ireland, there were a number of landed families with the surname Browne, not all of whom were related to each other. There were, for example, the Brownes who eventually became Earls of Kenmare and lived in County Kerry. Then there were the Brownes, Barons Oranmore and Browne, based in Castle MacGarrett, County Mayo. And in the same county were another family of Brownes, who became Marquesses…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Wilful Waste

Following Monday’s entry on St Loman’s Hospital in Mullingar, County Westmeath, nothing better exemplifies the Health Service Executive’s indifference to the condition of historic buildings supposedly under its care than the state of the property’s gatelodge. This charming little property, adjacent to a road leading into the centre of the town, dates from the last quarter of the 19th century and…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Squandering National Resources

On 13 September 1847, the Lord Lieutenant and Council of Ireland made an order that an Asylum for Lunatic Poor be constructed near Mullingar, County Westmeath, to accommodate 300 inmates and to be known as the Mullingar Lunatic Asylum. The following year a site for the building was established after 25 acres and nine perches of land on the edge of the town were purchased from a local man, Thomas…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Composed Of Different Parts

After Monday’s post about St Mary’s Cathedral in Tuam, County Galway which featured a High Cross, here is another of the latter, located to the west of the church in the hilltop village of Tynan, County Armagh. This one has a rather complex history. There may have been an ancient monastic settlement in Tynan, but the cross, having been moved at least twice, was only placed in its present position…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

In Three Parts

‘The cathedral movement has taken root in Ireland. Our readers must be familiar with the new cathedral at Kilmore, and the restorations in progress at S. Patrick’s, Dublin, ( though, we regret to say, without good professional advice) at the cost of Mr. Guinness; and at Limerick under Mr. Slater’s care. A scheme for a new cathedral at Belfast, for the diocese of Connor, has been brought before…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Resting in Peace

At the eastern end of the graveyard around St Owen’s church in Ballymore, County Westmeath and surrounded by tombstones going back several hundred years is this little mausoleum or mortuary chapel associated with the Magan family of Umma House which stands some five miles to the south. While the building dates from the 17th century, the doorcase and window are believed to have come from an…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Constantly an Object of Contention

‘The castle of Ballintober, the chief seat of the O’Conors, in which Felim [Felim Geancach O’Connor King of Connaught, 1406–1474] spent most of his time, deserves more than a passing notice. This castle…was one of the principal strongholds of the Irish and does not appear to have ever been for any considerable length of time in the possession of the English. No record remains to show when it was…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

The Butlers Did It (again)

A tower house dating from the late 15th or early 16th century, Grallagh Castle, County Tipperary, like so many other such structures in this part of the country, was for a long time associated with the Butler family: James Butler, tenth Baron of Dunboyne, bequeathed the property to his son in 1533. By the 18th century it had come into the possession of the Mansergh family. The partially ruined…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Having No Equal in the Three Kingdoms

Visiting Kilkenny Castle in 1699, English bookseller John Dunton enthused over the building’s gallery, writing that ‘for length, variety of gilded chairs, and the curious pictures that adorn it, has no equal in the three kingdoms, and perhaps not in Europe; so that this castle may properly be called the Elisium of Ireland.’ Were Dunton somehow to return to Kilkenny today, he would likely find the…

View On WordPress

[theirishaesthete]

Turneresque

Today a country house hotel, Marlfield, County Wexford dates from the mid-19th century when constructed as an agent’s residence for the estate of the Stopfords, Earls of Courtown who lived close by in Courtown House (since demolished). The family retained ownership of the property until 1977 when it was sold to Ray an Mary Bowe who subsequently opened it as an hotel. Of rubble stone with brick…

View On WordPress