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Home , Arthurstown, Ballymurn, Ballywilliam, Bunclody, County Wexford, Crossabeg

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD

Preface

The fine quality of the buildings of County Quotations from a number of these publi- Wexford has been appreciated since the early cations will appear in the following Introduction days of travel writing, when the redoubtable and illustrate how a nineteenth-century per- Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall completed their three vol- spective on the architectural heritage of ume guide to Ireland, Ireland: Its Scenery, County Wexford can, and often does still Character, &c. (1842). Reverend William apply. Hickey’s (1787-1875) Notes and Gleanings relat- County Wexford’s built heritage includes a ing to the County of Wexford in its Past and number of spectacular buildings including a Present Conditions (1868), written under the remarkable concentration of Catholic churches pseudonym Martin Doyle, is of particular local by the Gothic Revival architect, Augustus interest and George Henry Bassett’s Wexford Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52) whose County Guide and Directory (1885) contains a visionary aesthetic had a lasting impact on wealth of specific, almost inventorial, detail. church building in the county. The adventur- Although not a comprehensive catalogue, For the purpose of this Introduction the However, the most appreciative and insight- ous and flamboyant architect Daniel Robertson the National Inventory of Architectural spelling for all Parishes, Townlands and ful commentator on the county’s architectural (d. 1849) also worked intensively in County Heritage (NIAH) undertook, from 2005-9, the Towns is as set out in the Index to the heritage was the Wexford-born Thomas Lacy. Wexford, his contribution including Castleboro largest ever survey of the post-1700 built her- Townlands, and Towns, and Parishes and Having explored the country through his work House and Johnstown Castle. However, the itage of County Wexford, some highlights of Baronies of Ireland (1851). on the railway network, Lacy published the county’s contribution to Ireland’s architectural which are explored within this Introduction. traveller’s handbook Home Sketches on Both Sides heritage is not confined to cathedrals and fine It is hoped that, through a survey such as this, The NIAH Wexford County Survey can be of the Channel in 1852, and an expanded edi- houses. The sash-and-overlight glazing pattern a greater awareness of and appreciation for the accessed on the Internet at: tion, Sights and Scenes in Our Fatherland, in known as the ‘Wexford Window’ is a detail spe- architectural legacy of County Wexford can be www.buildingsofireland.ie 1863. Admitting his partiality and allocating cific to the locality, as is the attractive arrange- fostered. As custodians of this valuable far more space to Wexford than other parts of ment of arched shopfront openings often resource, it is the responsibility of the present the country, Lacy provided detailed, if some- referred to as the ‘Enniscorthy shopfront’. generation to ensure that it survives as a sus- times effusive, accounts of recent buildings. His These features are not high-flown architectural tainable legacy for the generations to come. evident delight in what proved to be a high statements but their visual appeal and unique point in the county’s architectural history is local character make a strong contribution to communicated through enthusiastic notes on County Wexford’s sense of place. ongoing projects, such as the ‘Twin Churches’ in Wexford.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD

Introduction

County Wexford is a maritime county situ- County Wexford has a range of aspects, from ated in the south east of Ireland, bounded to the great sweeps of sand at Curracloe beach to the south by the Atlantic Ocean with Saint the rolling and luminous hills along its eastern George’s Channel and the Irish Sea to the east. border. Each landscape has generated its own Topographically, the county shows a marked architecture and the buildings tell the story of difference between its northern and southern the landscape and the people who worked it. In halves. While the north merges into the hills a county with good arable soil and a kind cli- and valleys of Wicklow, the south is low lying mate it is interesting to note, for example, that and windswept. The Wicklow Mountains form the mills were largely powered by wind in the a natural barrier to the north and the Backstairs south and by water in the north. Mountains to the west, the middle part of the The name Wexford derives from the Norse, county has a scattering of volcanic and Waesfjord, the fjord of the mudflats, and the quartzite hills, including Vinegar Hill, Irish name for both town and county, Loch Enniscorthy. Garman, also refers to the broad haven of The River Slaney enters the county at Wexford Harbour. The name may derive from Bunclody in the north and flows through the legend of Garman, thief of the queen’s gold Enniscorthy to reach the sea at Wexford diadem, who paused to drink at a spring well Harbour; the River Barrow marks the boundary which, outraged at his crime, burst forth in with Counties Kilkenny and Waterford to the anger and covered the whole of the harbour west and merges with the River Suir at area, drowning Garman in the process. Waterford Harbour. Prior to the development of Wexford’s coastline and its proximity to a road and rail network, the Slaney was the Britain have decisively shaped the county’s set- basis of trade between the northern and south- tlement patterns, and both Norse and Normans ern parts of the county. There are no lakes in have left their imprint on the landscape. The County Wexford with the exception of Lady’s following spread shows a range of the build- Island Lake and Tacumshin Lake in the south, ings associated with County Wexford’s archi- a part of the county that retained aspects of its tectural heritage prior to the eighteenth centu- traditional heritage far later than the rest of ry, which is the starting point of the National Leinster. Inventory of Architectural Heritage.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD Pre 1700

TINTERN ABBEY Pre 1700 Tintern (founded 1200)

A photograph illustrating Tintern Abbey as it appeared when presented to the State (1959) by Lucy Colclough (1890- 1986). Having lost (1562) and re-established (1575) ownership of the dissolved abbey, Anthony Colclough (1520-84), an officer in Henry VIII’s (1491-1547) army, adapted the crossing tower into a fortified house. Later additions over subsequent centuries, including the reconstruction of the nave in the Georgian Gothic style, produced a unique example of country house architecture in County Wexford. An ongoing conservation programme has gradually stripped back the abbey to its Cistercian form.

Courtesy of the Photographic Unit, Department of the Environment, Heritage and Local Government

DUNBRODY ABBEY by Sir Osborne Etchingham Dunbrody (d. 1546) or his descen- (founded 1171-5) dants. The ruins were HOOK HEAD much admired by Hickey LIGHTHOUSE The medieval Dunbrody Marshal spent some time, as ‘noble and beautiful… Churchtown Abbey exhibits planning the tower has a tier of They are truly magnificent. (extant 1245) and characteristics typical three rib-vaulted chambers The ruins of the Abbey are of the rich Cistercian tradi- Established by William accessed by a mural spiral unquestionably the finest tion in Ireland and includes Marshal (1146-1219) in the staircase ascending through in the county’. a nave, crossing tower, early thirteenth century, the thickness of the walls. chancel, and transepts, the Courtesy of the the ‘Tower of Hook’ was The lantern was installed southern of which displays Photographic Unit, maintained by a colony of (1864) as part of a pro- features dating from the Department of the monks to assist safe entry gramme of work also Tudor period when the Environment, Heritage and into Waterford Harbour. including two houses abbey was partly recon- Local Government Recalling contemporary (1867) for the lighthouse structed for domestic use castles in France, where keepers and their families.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD Pre 1700

MAIN STREET building survives in the Wexford form of the much-altered Kenny’s Hall, townhouse DUNCANNON FORT line of the present DUNCANNON FORT the nineteenth century, Although excavation Duncannon Duncannon of Colonel David Sinnott ramparts was completed, closed in 1919, and has uncovered subsurface along with a small (1724 and 1856) substantially damaged (d. 1649), Governor of The fortification of the archaeological remains garrison. A sporadic during the Civil War Wexford. Depicted as promontory at Duncannon The royal artillery dating back to the ninth programme of work, (1922-3). It was Sinnott and Sons in this was prioritised when an officers' barrack is the century in the area around carried out over the recommissioned during photograph from the invasion was staged by earliest surviving Main Street, the winding ensuing centuries, corre- 'The Emergency' (1939- William Lawrence Italians and Spanish at eighteenth-century street patterns in Wexford sponded more-or-less 46) and refortified with Collection (1880-1914), Smerwick, County Kerry, in building in the date from the medieval with the perceived level a quota of reinforced the ‘hall’ underwent 1580. Motivated to prevent compound and was period and were described of threat of attack. concrete pill boxes. further extensive a similar invasion into restored as an officers' by Hickey as ‘so narrow, Duncannon Fort was reconstruction in 1952. Waterford Harbour, work Courtesy of the mess in the mid that two vehicles can finally closed in 1986 commenced in 1587. By Photographic Unit, nineteenth century. The scarcely pass at some Courtesy of the National and is now a heritage 1591, following the threat Department of the fort was downgraded to places’. The last document- Library of Ireland centre. a military training ed medieval domestic of the Spanish Armada of Environment, Heritage 1588, the distinctive out- and Local Government ground by the end of

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD Pre 1700

BARGY CASTLE Bargy (post-1810 with 1591)

Bargy Castle retains the medieval Rossiter ‘castle’ (1591) at its core. The house was confiscated from the Harvey family as a penalty for the participa- tion of Beauchamp Bagenal Harvey (1762-98) in the 1798 Rebellion. It was restored to the family in KILLIANE CASTLE ENNISCORTHY CASTLE each angle'. The Irish Subsequently adapted as 1810 and subsequently Killiane Castle Hill, Builder (1869) indicates the Wexford County restructured. The ‘pointed’ (extant 1766) Enniscorthy that the castle was remod- Museum, Enniscorthy profile of the openings, (1588) elled as the Irish residence Castle is now being refitted In some instances, featuring a variant on the of Isaac Newton Wallop by the Office of Public particularly in the south of Occupying a site first forti- ‘Wexford Window’ glazing (1825-91), 5th Earl of Works with a view to the county, early defensive fied by Raymond le Gros, pattern, and the toy fortifi- Portsmouth. However, a reopening in 2010. structures exist cheek-by- Enniscorthy Castle was cations all belong to the later date stone (1903) jowl with later ‘gentrified’ constructed in 1588 by Sir Courtesy of Wexford County Georgian Gothic tradition. records that the castle was houses. A watercolour Henry Wallop (c.1540-99) Council Archive Department 'restored from ruin' as the illustrates the farmhouse and was described by townhouse of Patrick J. built by Reverend James Samuel Lewis as 'a venera- Roche (d. 1905), during Harvey (1676-1760) abut- ble quadrilateral building which time this photo- ting the fifteenth-century with a round tower at graph was taken. Killiane Castle.

Courtesy of the Knight of Glin

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD Pre 1700

BALDWINSTOWN BUTLERSTOWN CASTLE CASTLE HOUSE Butlerstown Baldwinstown (Tomhaggard) (1810) (1820)

A view of the farmhouse Anecdotal evidence of built by Reverend William a ‘modern’ house in the Stafford (1768-1848) in the grounds of Butlerstown shadow of a tower house Castle dates back to the described by Hickey as eighteenth century but ‘seventy feet high… [with] discrete figures above one a wide cleft on the top window record 1820 as and a fissure to the the first period of recon- bottom… Mr. Herbert Hore struction. Decorative timber [Wexford-born work suggests a later archaeologist and historian Victorian intervention. (1817-65)] states that The house was once again undoubtedly it was built remodelled in 1902, after by the first scion of the this photograph was taken, great house of when the height of the Montgomery’. The first floor was reduced and farmhouse remained the roof was replaced with in the original Stafford a high pitched gabled family ownership until the profile. death of Maureen Stafford (d. 1984), midwife to Courtesy of the National Queen Elizabeth II Library of Ireland (b. 1926).

DUNMAIN HOUSE Dunmain (1690/2 and 1850)

A late seventeenth-century house exemplifying the transition from fortified residences to houses without an overt defensive component and therefore more suited to a gentleman farmer. Although an annotation on the first edition of the Ordnance Survey (published 1841) confirms the estate had been neglected, Dunmain House was subsequently reconstructed from ruins and displays a slate hung surface finish regarded as a feature of the built heritage of County Wexford.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD The Eighteenth Century

(ﬁg. 1) The Eighteenth Century BALLYMORE HOUSE Ballymore Demesne (1670 and 1721)

The origins of Ballymore House lie in a smaller seventeenth-century house, (fig. 2) reputedly thatched. It was MONART reconstructed in the early Bessmount eighteenth century and the (1733-40) pedimented doorcase was The earliest and arguably installed as part of further the finest neo-Palladian ‘improvements’ in 1740. house in the county, Additional ranges intro- Monart was described by By the second quarter of the eighteenth The size and pretensions of fine country duced in 1830 were Hickey as ‘handsome… century the new Protestant ruling class began houses were intended to reflect the aspirations removed following a fire in [looking], in the expressive 1955, in response to which phrase “as if it had a to express its hegemony by restructuring the of the owners. The architectural tastes of Britain a house (1956), visible in grandfather”‘. The elegant county around a new system of estates. The big and Europe filtered through to County Wexford the background, was ‘sweeps’, originally screen- built as emergency ing yards, now minimise house and demesne, its authority symbolically and the fashion for Classical architecture in accommodation. the visual impact of the underpinned by a Protestant church, replaced both proportion and detailing is reflected in ranges introduced (2004-6) when the house was the castle as the focus of the rural community. many of the larger buildings of the period. Neo- adapted to commercial The comparative stability of the period meant Palladianism, a variant on Classicism, was intro- use. that the rich no longer had to defend their duced to Ireland in the work of Sir Edward Reproduced courtesy of homes and began to show an interest in the Lovett Pearce (d. 1733) and Richard Castle (d. Monart Destination Spa latest architectural fashions. However, the fine 1751). The style, which derived from the theo- country residences of the period were often ries of the Italian architect Andrea Palladio built on sites that had previously housed defen- (1508-80), who worked mainly in the former sive structures. This both established a link Venetian Republic, usually manifested as a cen- with the medieval past and affirmed the own- tral residential block linked by wings to pavil- ers’ rights to estates acquired as the wages of ions. These, not unlike the Venetian prototypes, war in the seventeenth century. Ballymore tended to house the kitchen and utilitarian House (1670 and 1721) was built within ranges. By mid century, the interest in neo- grounds that once featured a motte and an Palladianism had spread to County Wexford and ‘ancient church held in great veneration’. The Monart (1733-40) survives as the earliest and house was first built for Major John Dennison prime example of the style (fig. 2). An elegant (fl. 1659-78), a Cromwellian officer, and was country pile on a surprisingly modest scale, the extended in the early eighteenth century to house adheres to the Palladian prototype in that produce its present composition (fig. 1). a central residential block extends into curved Aspects of the design, including the high screen walls terminating in pavilion blocks. pitched roof profile, and the symmetrical Although a Classically-correct centrepiece com- arrangement of the garden front centred on a posed of a bold Gibbsian doorcase, a Venetian simplified pediment framing a Diocletan win- window over, and a Diocletian window in the dow, have been compared to the ‘Planter top floor indicates a skilled designer, the archi- Houses’ of Ulster. tect responsible for Monart is unknown.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD The Eighteenth Century

(fig. 3) Monksgrange House (1769), near Rathnure, (fig. 4) MONKSGRANGE HOUSE WOODBROOK HOUSE Grange Demesne also adheres to the Palladian plan form Woodbrook Demesne (1769) although the present composition evolved over (1780) Monksgrange House a considerably longer period of time (fig. 3). An A country house reputedly appears to have originated completed by Reverend in the mid eighteenth impressive central block once again extends Arthur Jacob (d. 1786) on century as a three-storey through curved sweeps into somewhat insub- the second attempt; the pile. The Palladian compo- first attempt, begun in sition only emerged after stantial pavilions. The first edition of the 1752, was destroyed by numerous attempts at Ordnance Survey (published 1841), however, fire. The house suffered fur- improvement over two ther damage during the centuries. The northern indicates that only the northern wing was then 1798 Rebellion, and the ‘sweep’ was in place by in place. Work on the southern wing, termi- present composition may the mid nineteenth centu- well result from a subse- ry. The southern ‘sweep’ nating in a neo-Classical pavilion intended as quent programme of was begun by Edward R. the ‘new’ entrance front, was begun in the ear- repair. It displays an ele- Richards-Orpen (1884- gant arrangement of tiered 1963), stalled at the out- ly twentieth century and was eventually com- ‘Wyatt Windows’ on break of the Great War, pleted only in 2003. each floor, a feature popu- and again during the lar in early nineteenth-cen- Second World War, with Nearby, the handsome but unpretentious tury domestic architecture. work finally completed Woodbrook House (1780) is a fine example of in 2003. a late eighteenth-century gentleman’s country seat (figs. 4-5). It is of substantial size and follows Classical tastes of balance and proportion. The house has a symmetrically-planned principal block, centred on a relatively insubstantial portico sheltering an elegant doorcase. The generous tripartite windows on each floor are in the manner of James Wyatt (1746-1813), the architect attributed, if only by tradition, as the

designer of the house. (ﬁg. 5) WOODBROOK HOUSE Woodbrook Demesne

While drawing attention to the fact ‘not a great deal [can] be said about staircases [in Irish country houses]’, Maurice Craig points out Woodbrook House as an exception CASTLE TALBOT Following the death of describing it as ‘a spiral Castletalbot Major William Talbot ‘flying’ staircase…a tour- (1753) (b. 1789), Lacy described de-force of the carpenter’s the house as ‘a modern craft’. Castle Talbot shows a edifice of three stories [sic] variant on the Palladian Courtesy of Giles and in height…at present in a style with a principal block Alexandra FitzHerbert neglected state’ and the extending into curved screen walls may have ‘sweeps’, each with niches been introduced as part centred on a carved gran- of a programme of repair. ite shouldered doorcase.

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In fact the architect or builder of eigh- Roberts is also widely accepted as the archi- (fig. 7) SAINT IBERIUS’ CHURCH teenth-century buildings, public or private, in tect responsible for the reconstruction of Saint Main Street North, County Wexford can rarely be traced with any Iberius’ Church (1766) in Wexford (figs. 7-11). Wexford (1766) certainly. The attribution of a building to a cer- The church was built on a long-standing eccle- A painted glass panel tain architect is frequently deduced from recur- siastical site which, before the construction of illustrates the original ring motifs or stylistic features rather than doc- a formal quay at the turn of the nineteenth temple-like exterior of a church that was described umentation, which has often been lost. Such is century, merged with the Slaney Estuary. In a by Lacy as ‘a spacious the case with Rosegarland House (extant 1777), dextrous response to the limitations of the site building…of a strong and comparatively plain near Clongeen, which was rebuilt by Robert the nave of the church is wider than it is deep, appearance, in the Doric Leigh (1729-1803) in the later eighteenth cen- centred on a shallow apsidal chancel. It origi- style of architecture’, and dismissed by Hickey as tury (fig. 6). The building abuts an earlier house nally presented a sober temple-like frontage on ‘[presenting] no appear- and stands in the shadow of the medieval to the street, but was ‘improved’ by an ance whatsoever of an ecclesiastical character’. Rosegarland Castle, a tower house that was sub- unknown hand at some stage in the late nine- sequently turreted as a picturesque folly. The teenth century. The resulting Venetian Gothic house may be the work of the architect John frontispiece makes an interesting foil to the ele- Roberts (1712-96), based on the evidence of an gant Classicism of the interior where the grace- elegant doorcase and top-lit cantilevered stair- ful Corinthian chancel arcade recalls Roberts’ case, both very similar to Roberts’ work at the work at the Church of Ireland (1774-92) and contemporary Morris House, now the Chamber Catholic (1792-6) cathedrals in Waterford City. of Commerce in neighbouring Waterford City.

(ﬁg. 8) SAINT IBERIUS’ CHURCH Main Street North, (ﬁg. 6) Wexford ROSEGARLAND HOUSE Rosegarland A drawing (1867), (extant 1777) signed by William Gillespie (1812?-96?), outlines Rosegarland House has proposals for a new seating traditionally been attributed system that corresponds to John Roberts. It shares with the original ‘temple’ features in common with layout of the church and his design for Morris confirms that the Venetian House, now the Waterford Gothic frontage was City Chamber of completed some time Commerce: both houses thereafter. have similar Tuscan door- cases and comparable © Representative Church top-lit cantilevered Body Library staircases. The ground floor windows on the entrance front appear to have been ‘dropped’ at a later date in line with the Victorian taste for allowing maximum sunlight to enter the room.

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(fig. 10) (fig. 12) (fig. 9) SAINT IBERIUS’ CHURCH KILLURIN CHURCH SAINT IBERIUS’ CHURCH Main Street North, (Killurin Parish) Main Street North, Wexford Killurin Wexford (1781-5) Arguably the best-pre- A photograph from the served eighteenth-century The standardised nature Lawrence Collection illus- interior in the county, the of the Board of First Fruit trates the remodelled focal point remains the churches was often offset entrance front. The work elegant arcaded chancel by unique internal features. may have been motivated screen, recalling Roberts’ At Killurin, the Lieutenant by the second 'Wexford work at the Church of Colonel H. Jervis-White Riots' (1883) during which Ireland and Catholic cathe- memorial window (1910) The Irish Times noted that drals in Waterford City. was installed to a design the church 'was again The interior was sensitively by Alfred Ernest Child attacked, and any portions restored in 1990, during (1875-1939). A wall of the windows that were which the serpentine com- monument dedicated to left whole from the previ- munion railing was Lieutenant Thomas ous night were smashed'. salvaged from Saint Kynaston Walker (1897- George’s Church (1808- 1916) of Tykillen House Courtesy of the National 14), Hardwicke Place, was salvaged from the Library of Ireland Dublin. deconsecrated Kilpatrick Church in 1971 and joins an existing collection of Classical funerary sculpture. NIAH (fig. 11) SAINT IBERIUS’ CHURCH Main Street North, Wexford

The interior features an impressive collection of It is not known how the construction of power by the ruling class. Although relatively elegant Classical wall monuments. One in particular Saint Iberius’ Church was financed, but later imposing in the rural landscape, many of the has often been mistaken churches were supported by the Board of First churches were plain structures, built of inex- for a recycled chimney- piece, but on closer inspec- Fruits (fl. 1711-1833), a body established to pensive materials, with simple Gothic detail- tion displays artillery detail- assist the reconstruction or repair of Church of ing. Killurin Church (1781-5) is a good exam- ing symbolic of the military exploits of William Perceval Ireland churches and glebe houses. Sometimes ple of the Board of First Fruits prototype and (1792-1813), ‘Late Master’s money was also raised by contribution from the adopts the customary nave-with-tower plan Mate in the Royal Navy’, killed on board the frigate congregation and the site donated by a local form (ﬁg. 12). The ecclesiastical nature of the HMS Havannah off the landowner, either close to or taken from the building is, also typically, communicated coast of Istria, Croatia. family estate. The resulting churches, often tow- through architectural details, in this case ering over small settlements largely populated Churchwarden glazing patterns and ‘toy forti- by Catholics, can be seen as an expression of fications’ ornamenting the parapet.

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From the consolidation of English power in 1691 until well into the nineteenth century a set of deliberately sectarian statutes known as the Penal Laws drove the Catholic tradition underground, with enormous consequences for the architectural legacy of the Church. The leg- islation also curtailed the civil rights of the Presbyterians and the Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) and eighteenth-century Dissenter buildings are scarce. A rare example, the Enniscorthy Religious Society of Friends’ Meeting House (1760), shows a simple architectural harmony in accordance with the Quaker ethos (ﬁg. 15) while the Cooladine Religious Society of Friends’ Burial Ground (opened 1799) is a quiet reminder of the part that the Quaker community once played in the complex social fabric of the county (ﬁg. 16).

(fig. 13) (fig. 14) (fig. 15) SAINT MARY’S CHURCH SAINT MARY’S CHURCH ENNISCORTHY (Newtownbarry Parish) (Newtownbarry Parish) RELIGIOUS SOCIETY OF Church Street, Church Street, (fig. 16) FRIENDS’ MEETING Bunclody Bunclody COOLADINE RELIGIOUS HOUSE (1775-6 with 1869 SOCIETY OF FRIENDS’ Spring Valley/ A view of the Hall-Dare and 1877-8) BURIAL GROUND Wexford Road, Memorial Front designed Cooladine Enniscorthy A once-modest parish by William Burges (opened 1799) (1760 and 1869) church designed by (1827-81) and dedicated The meeting house shows Thomas Cooley (c.1742- to Robert Westley (1840- One of a small number of two distinct periods of 84), considered by James 76) of Newtownbarry burial grounds established construction. The domestic Gandon (1742-1823) as House and his brother by the Religious Society of quality of the eighteenth- one of only two architects Charles (d. 1876). The Friends in rural County century building expresses ‘properly so called’ in memorial was ultimately Wexford with further the modest ethos of the Dublin. The church was never fully realised and the examples at Ballinclay Quakers, but may have A surviving portfolio of drawings suggests redeveloped in the mid frieze retains the ‘tempo- (opened 1778) and New also been dictated by the nineteenth century with rary’ dedication stating Ross (opened 1731). A prevailing Penal system. that Saint Mary’s Church (1775-6), Bunclody, financial assistance from ‘These Stones Shall Be burial ground was opened The later hall displays an was built entirely at the expense of Robert the Ecclesiastical For A Memorial’. (1666) by the Quakers at Commission, and Corlican, near Killurin, understated ecclesiastical Maxwell (c.1720-79), 1st Earl of Farnham and ‘improved’ by the new within the banks of a ring- theme with Churchwarden glazing patterns recalling landlord of the town then known as proprietors of fort known as Rahiniska. Newtownbarry in The burial ground at Forest the earlier Georgian Gothic Newtownbarry. However, a restrained Gothic 1877-8. (opened 1783), outside tradition. composition not unlike the Board of First Fruits Taghmon, has been neglected and the simple standard prototype is discernable in the build- headstones have been ing, despite later alterations (figs. 13-14). trampled by cattle.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD The Eighteenth Century

LADY’S ISLAND Our Lady’s Island (ob. 1775)

The tradition of erecting headstones took hold in the eighteenth century, with numerous rural graveyards centred on ruins or sites of medieval origin. James Byrne (fl. 1775-1819) of Clone was by far the most prolific artist in the ‘Irish Churchyard Sculpture’ tradition, his work defined by scenes of The Calvary flanked by the sun and the moon or, as pictured, by busts with ‘aureoles of rayed locks’.

As the Penal Laws were relaxed towards the end of the eighteenth century, Catholic (fig. 19) church attest to the churches were built in greater number, TOMHAGGARD presence of a medieval Tomhaggard congregation, while a although their imposed status as a ‘chapel’ and (post-1731) modest church (1813) was the prohibition of towers confirmed The architectural legacy of built in anticipation of the Catholic Relief Act, 1829. Catholicism as secondary to the Established Tomhaggard shows the A thatched mass house (fig. 17) history of Catholic worship Church. The Church of Saint Francis of Assisi (fig. 18) survives from the interven- CHURCH OF SAINT CHURCH OF SAINT in the village since the ing period during which (1784), Wexford, reputedly incorporates the FRANCIS OF ASSISI FRANCIS OF ASSISI earliest of times. A holy the Penal Laws were Francis Street/ Francis Street/ well and the ruins of an gradually repealed. fabric of a Franciscan priory (founded 1230) School Street, School Street, early fourteenth-century and was the sole place of worship for the Wexford Wexford (1784 with 1812 Catholic congregation in the town for almost and 1861-2) The interior was remodelled by Patrick a century (figs. 17-18). Although largely rede- The Franciscan church, Byrne (c.1783-1864) and SAINT EDAN’S veloped in the mid nineteenth century, the ori- twice redeveloped in the the Doric colonnades CATHEDRAL nineteenth century, retains replaced with the present (Ferns Parish) gins of the church as a single-cell ‘barn chapel’ Ferns Upper, a late eighteenth-century Ionic colonnades, ‘their Ferns ‘barn chapel’ at its core. enriched capitals, and remain discernible to the present day. Work Such churches were the exception to the (ob. 1791) Lack of space motivated handsome volutes [support- also began on the Church of the Blessed Virgin rule. Rural congregations continued to worship the introduction of a ing] beautiful panelled ceil- An impressive collection of Mary, Saint Anne and Saint Joseph (1798- transept in 1812, followed ings… also in the enriched primarily in modest mass houses which, look- Irish Churchyard Sculpture by internal galleries in Grecian style’. The contrac- survives in the graveyard 1802), Kilmore, which, in form and appearing more like houses than churches, were 1827, while later work tor responsible for the surrounding Saint Edan's ance, seems to have been inspired by the included the addition of a restoration of the church inconspicuous and thus tolerated by the Cathedral and includes handsome tower, the sum- was Patrick O’Connor, work signed by James Wexford church. One of the earliest rural Protestant ascendancy. A mass house (post- mit of which was described according to Lacy, ‘a very Byrne and his son, Patrick parish churches in the county to continue in by Lacy as ‘[partaking] in rising and clever young 1731) in Tomhaggard survives as a legacy of Byrne (fl. 1795-1848). A some degree of the man whose character and number of the headstones active use, it was designed by William Day (b. the Penal system and resembles a traditional Chinese character’. talents as…a worker in rich display damage from gun- and ornamental stucco, 1724), a local architect of Gallagh, with a ‘barn’ Courtesy of the National vernacular cottage with stout wall masses, con- shot, however, resulting have been tested… in the from a less than noble nave extending into a later transept (1898). Library of Ireland structed in a combination of fieldstone and splendid decorations of episode of the 1798 Johnstown Castle’. mud, surmounted by a thatched roof (fig. 19). Rebellion.

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(ﬁg. 20) (ﬁg. 21) POLLWITCH MURPHY’S COTTAGE Mayglass Milltown (1703 or 1723 (Kilscoran) and 1831) In a pattern characteristic Fragile, like most vernacular of the county, a thatched houses, the farmhouse house is positioned at Pollwitch began to perpendicular to the road, deteriorate rapidly fronting on to a courtyard following the death of the enclosed by a collection of last owner in 1996. It has outbuildings. The courtyard been thoroughly restored is entered by a gateway by the Heritage Council with cylindrical piers, the (1998); the walls repaired shape allowing for the use with handmade mud or of unrefined fieldstone in ‘daub’ bricks, the roof the construction. rethatched using the traditional County Wexford ‘fletch’ technique, and much of the original wallpaper in the parlour cleaned and restored.

Few Penal mass houses survive intact. Some In Notes and Gleanings Hickey refers to a were subsumed by later churches and others description from The Irish Farmer’s Journal have succumbed to decay. The poor materials (1814): walled farmhouse displays a ‘lobby entry’ plan Just as certain building types are recognised used in their construction were liable to dete- Their habitations, though built of clay, are form with a central hearth dividing the house as typical of a region, the way in which they riorate without proper maintenance and repair. neat…and commodious; stone is not to be had into two. The side wall of the hearth features are arranged is often specific to the locality. Similarly, although once widespread through- here, except at great expense, but the expertness a ‘spy hole’ allowing persons seated inside to The pattern of a thatched house, perpendicu- out the country, few of the thatched homes of with which this [material] is handled makes a observe who was entering. The farmhouse is lar to the road, fronting on to a courtyard the eighteenth-century rural population remain quarry altogether unnecessary. With a compost of said to have been extended in 1831 and many enclosed by outbuilding ranges is characteristic intact. The buildings of the poor were fragile moistened clay and straw, without plumb, square houses in the county show a comparable of County Wexford. The neat ensemble that structures composed of stone and clay walls or level…every man is capable of erecting a house organic evolution. Unlike most other examples, includes Murphy’s Cottage, near Tagoat, fol- with straw and hedge cuttings in the roof. But, [which is] compact and perpendicular… The house, the house at Pollwitch was never modernised lows this configuration with the farmyard protected by a good roof, and by numerous when plaistered [sic]…and whitened with lime, and has no electricity or indoor plumbing. The entered by way of a gateway featuring charac- coats of limewash, a well-made mud walled looks fully as well as if composed of stone, and last inhabitant, Séamus Kirwan (d. 1996), teristic cylindrical piers (ﬁg. 21). Both house house will stand for centuries. Vernacular struc- exudes the air better than ill-executed walls of that maintained his property using the tools he had and outbuildings were built using unrefined tures are important in that they embody the material. inherited, patching and repairing when neces- local materials and the frames of the small win- history of the ‘ordinary’ rather than the Most vernacular houses are difficult, if not sary. The farmhouse, particularly the interior, dows are now caked with generations of paint. ‘important’ people. Despite their lack of formal impossible to date, but it is said that the farm- represents an astonishing survival of tradition- The thatched roof displays the simple hipped architectural style their simple proportions, house at Pollwitch, Mayglass, was built either al architecture against the odds and is consid- profile traditional to the county, although the built with local materials, integrate well with in 1703 or 1723 (ﬁg. 20). An excellent exam- ered to be one of the most important vernac- windbreak and outbuildings are now roofed in their environment. ple of the traditional Wexford style, the mud ular sites in the country. corrugated-iron, a material that was often adopted as the successor to thatch around the country.

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(fig. 22) W. DOYLE GRAYROBIN WADDINGTOWN Clonamona Lower, (extant 1779) Craanford A farmhouse in As thatch was often a by- Waddingtown clearly A thatched house could product of farming, an displays two periods of fulfil a range of different examination of the com- construction with an functions and the example pacted layers can reveal elongated thatched range in Craanford shows a changes in agricultural giving way to a later and later Classically-detailed activity, with crops such taller portion finished with (fig. 23) timber shopfront (pre- as wheat later giving way a ‘permanent’ purple slate YOLETOWN 1904) that contrasts with to oat thatch. Water reed roof. (Tacumshin) the informal nature of the imported from Eastern house. Europe has recently An examination of archival superseded the indigenous photographs confirms that cereal thatch. the roofs of even the largest of thatched houses were free of ornamentation. Although decorative ridge work has become an increasingly prevalent motif in County Wexford, the tradition of bobbin- making is now almost extinct. The Irish Farmers’ Journal refers to finials ‘eighteen inches high, and twelve inches at the base’ once terminating the roofs Vernacular houses sometimes evolved, or of both house and out- were partially altered, as the fortunes of their building. owners rose over time. An eighteenth-century thatched farmhouse at Waddingtown displays a later slate-roofed addition that appears distinct from the earlier body of the house, but also in keeping with its humble origins (fig. 22). Others, particularly in the Baronies of Forth and Bargy in the south of the county, were built on a scale considered fitting for a gentleman farmer. The impressive ‘thatched mansion’ at Yoletown, near Tacumshane, is relatively large with a window arrangement recalling Classical tastes of con- CLIFF COTTAGE temporary architecture (fig. 23). The farmhouse CLIFF COTTAGE buildings, with decorative Cullenstown Cullenstown has earthen walls, sufficiently deep to accom- shell work in elaborate A detail of the decorative geometrical patterns. The Once a modest thatched shell work featuring motifs modate built-in interior cupboards, and forms house, which is colloquially house, Cliff Cottage was of local maritime interest known as ‘Shell Cottage’, the centrepiece of a substantial farmyard com- transformed by its owner, including Tuskar Lighthouse was repaired in 2006 with Kevin L. Ffrench (1921- and "The Mexico", a plex including a ‘columbarium’ that combines financial assistance from 2003), who encrusted Norwegian schooner run the Heritage Council. the functionality of outhouse and dovecote. almost every exterior sur- aground on the Keeragh face, and the adjacent out- Islands in February 1914.

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WOODLANDS

An eighteenth-century house presents an attractively eccentric profile: one half thatched and the other half slated. The original house was extended in the later nineteenth century in a manner that was sympathetic to the existing building without trying to emulate it.

GREEN STREET Wexford

A photograph from the two surviving thatched Lawrence Collection shows houses in Wexford, in Saint the ‘thatched cabins’ that John’s Drive and Batt once lined the narrow Street, were demolished in streets leading into the the 1990s. centre of Wexford, with similar vistas in The Faythe Courtesy of the National and John Street. The last Library of Ireland

(ﬁg. 24) BARRY HOUSE entrusted, without and While the countryside witnessed an town, is usually associated with the architect DELARE HOUSE Pollrane within, with lime-mortar, unprecedented boom in construction, the Sir Richard Morrison (1767-1849) and his son South Street, neatly thatched, and have Remarking on the thatched New Ross solid chimneys’. Thatched towns of County Wexford underwent a similar, and collaborator William Vitruvius Morrison houses of south County (1790) houses were not solely the BALLYNASTRAW Wexford, Mr and Mrs Hall if more gradual transformation. Sophisticated (1794-1838) but, since they were responsible homes of the poor, and The townhouse of the (1842) commented: ‘The Barry House was once the houses replaced the thatched cabins that pre- for few commissions in County Wexford, none Tottenham family, landlords A thatched house aspires dwelling-houses… are far seat of the Barry family, of New Ross, Delare House to ‘gentrified’ architecture more convenient and viously flanked the streets, although only a in the vicinity of New Ross, there is no clear including John Barry was adopted as a convent with a pretty radial fanlight comfortable than most Irish (b. 1845), elected Member scattering of the buildings that capture the link between the architects and the popularity by the Religious Order of and a surface finish that houses. They are generally of Parliament for South the Sisters of Mercy in the mimics ashlar stone work. clay built, but dashed, or Georgian character of this period survive. of the doorcase in the town. Delare House orig- Wexford in 1885. mid nineteenth century Delare House (1790) in South Street, New Ross, inated as the townhouse of the Tottenham and was subsequently used is a striking townhouse centred on a ‘Morrison family and was possibly built by Charles as a school. Now in commercial use, the house doorcase’ defined by concave reveals framing a Tottenham (1716-95) who presided over the boasts a wealth of timber architrave and decorative fanlight town not only as landlord, but also as Member decorative plasterwork ceilings. (ﬁg. 24). This style of doorcase, prevalent in the of Parliament.

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(ﬁg. 25) (ﬁg. 26) NEW ROSS MARKET WEXFORD MARKET HOUSE HOUSE Quay Street/ Cornmarket, South Street, Wexford New Ross (1775) (1749 and 1806) The market house in The ‘tholsel’ at New Ross Wexford may have been originally had an open motivated by an attempt arcade at street level, to reorganise trade in a supporting an assembly central position in the room overhead. A date town. However, as casual stone confirms the trade continued in four building’s mid eighteenth- separate locations around century origins and Main Street the ‘New identifies an obscure Market’ was opened ‘Carpenter and Architect’, (1871) in The Bullring, and John Robinson (fl. 1806- the market house was 20), as responsible for the repurposed as the town rebuilding in 1806, when hall. the stone work was dismantled, numbered, and reassembled according to the original design.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

(ﬁg. 27) WEXFORD MARKET HOUSE Cornmarket, Wexford

A view of the ‘Pillar Room’ shows the system of elegant granite ashlar Tuscan columns supporting the assembly room overhead. The market house was The Penal Laws, which limited religious (fig. 25). The market house was rebuilt in 1806 reopened as the first activity outside the Established Church, also by John Robinson (fl. 1806-20), ‘Carpenter and dedicated arts centre in Ireland in 1974 and the excluded non-conformists from the Grand Jury, Architect’, and is now the town hall. The assembly room has been an elected committee of wealthy landowners, Wexford Market House (1775), Cornmarket, adapted as a theatre. farmers, and merchants who functioned as now the Wexford Arts Centre, also occupies a local government authorities and administra- central position in the town, emphasising its tors of justice. Charles Tottenham and two oth- role as a lynchpin in the local agricultural (fig. 28) WEXFORD MARKET er Members of Parliament, John Cliffe of economy (figs. 26-28). As at New Ross, the HOUSE Mulrankin Castle and John Leigh of openings at street level originally formed an Cornmarket, Wexford Rosegarland House, are recorded as the builders open market arcade with an assembly room The decorative plasterwork ceilings were introduced in of the eighteenth-century New Ross Market overhead. Improvements carried out in the the nineteenth century House (1749), also known as The Tholsel, the nineteenth century included the introduction when the assembly room and adjoining office were name stemming from two old English words: of decorative plasterwork ceilings. adapted as a ballroom and ‘toll’, meaning tax; and ‘sael’, meaning hall supper room.

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Two important early institutions founded by are also credited with responsibility for charitable sponsorship survive in New Ross. Enniscorthy Bridge (1775), which, according to The Hospital of the Holy Trinity (1772), South Samuel Lewis in 1837, was 'being widened and Street, a pair of almshouses for elderly women, its roadway lowered, partly at the expense of was rebuilt by Charles Tottenham as part of an Lord Portsmouth's trustees and partly by a ongoing royal charter (1584) granted to Grand Jury presentment' (fig. 32). Thomas Gregory, merchant, during the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (fig. 29). A gatehouse (1809) in nearby Houghton Place survives as the last remnant of a fever hospital ‘founded by the munificence of the late Henry Houghton [d. 1800] of Ballyane [sic] House’. Interestingly, NIAH coinciding with the gradual easing of the Penal (fig. 31) Laws, the Board of Management for the hospi- SCARAWALSH BRIDGE Coolnahorna/ tal consisted of Catholic and Protestant mem- Scarawalsh (1790) bers. (fig. 30) Transport systems of the time were general- BALLYCARNEY BRIDGE The ferry that operated Tomgarrow/Ballycarney, at Scarawalsh in 1714 was ly poor, although an organised coaching sys- Ballycarney later superseded by a tem was developed as the century progressed. (1780) timber bridge, subsequently washed away by the A late eighteenth-century The two great rivers in County Wexford, the ‘inundation’ of 1787. The bridge and the later present Scarawalsh Bridge Slaney and the Barrow, encouraged a legacy of Ballycarney Church (1834) is distinguished by the form a pastoral ensemble. fine bridges, largely financed by the Grand stepped sequence of the The bridge has triangular elegant arches, which rise Jury. The northernmost in the county, Slaney cutwaters extending to to produce a pronounced parapet level to protect Bridge (between 1790-9), Bunclody, at the con- hump back profile. pedestrians when fluence of the River Slaney and the minor River encountering approaching Clody, clearly shows two periods of construc- traffic. (fig. 32) (fig. 29) ENNISCORTHY BRIDGE tion, the bridge having been widened in 1875. HOSPITAL OF THE Enniscorthy Further downriver, the elegant Ballycarney HOLY TRINITY (1775 and 1837) South Street, The Oriel Brothers’ original Bridge (1780) displays two distinguishing char- New Ross bridge over the River (1772) acteristics: pointed cutwaters extend to parapet Slaney in the centre of level as pedestrian refuges while corbels on the One of a pair of charitable Enniscorthy was later houses established for eld- widened and its roadway underside of the bridge, at springing level, sur- erly women, the present lowered. However, its vive as evidence of the timber formwork Hospital of the Holy Trinity diminished hump back dates from the eighteenth profile still accommodates employed to construct and shape the arches century. A prominent the sporadic swelling of (fig. 30). Scarawalsh Bridge (1790), a hump plaque records in copper- the river. This consideration plate lettering: ‘Trinity has often been ignored back bridge that has never been widened, Hospital/Erected in the during the design of replaced an earlier crossing swept away in the year/1772/Chars. modern bridges, which Tottenham Esqr./Master/ have therefore been floods of 1787 and was built by the Oriel Give Alms of thy subject to frequent Brothers of Hampshire (fig. 31). The brothers Goods/And never turn thy flooding. face/from a Poor Man’.

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(ﬁg. 33) Wexford’s abundant supply of rivers and mills identified on the first Ordnance Survey BALLYSESKIN (1749) strong arable farming tradition encouraged were concentrated in Counties Down and

One of a small collection milling from the earliest times. Many stone Wexford. Surviving windmill towers fall into of eighteenth-century cylin- built mills, mostly ruinous, remain on the one of two categories: cylindrical and tapering. drical windmills in south County Wexford, rivers and their tributaries, along with traces of A rough hewn date stone confirms the mid Ballyseskin was once the impressive systems of weirs and culverts eighteenth-century origins of the windmill crowned by a pivoting roof, probably thatched. once required to turn the millwheels. The tra- (1749) at Ballyseskin (fig. 33). The ruined tow- The ruined tower also dition of using windmills was strong in south er appears as a three-stage cylinder with oppos- features opposing doorways allowing the miller to Wexford, especially Forth and Bargy, where ing doorways and gun loop-like windows. enter and exit, irrespective there are good wind conditions and little Although they give the impression of a defen- of the position of the sails. waterpower. The earliest known windmill in sive structure, the windows were shaped in this Ireland was operating in 1281 at Kilscanlan, way to ensure that the grain and flour Ballynabola, while the majority of the wind- remained dry. The industrial legacy of the county’s most famous windmill, the truncated tower on Vinegar Hill above Enniscorthy, has long been eclipsed by its association with the 1798 Rebellion that brought the eighteenth century to a dramatic close. Politics in the last years of the century were dominated by the efforts of United Irishmen to remove Irish affairs from English control. In 1793, while two townspeople who had refused to pay tithes were being escorted to prison, a violent clash took place between their sup- porters and loyalist soldiers at Windmill Hill, The impact of the insurrection on County and small, were subject to arson and looting, (fig. 34) Wexford. Amongst the casualties was Major VALLOTTON Charles Vallotton (1746-93) who is commemo- Wexford cannot be over-emphasised and, in and numerous chapels were destroyed, the MONUMENT Wygram Place, rated by an elegant limestone obelisk erected many ways, it has been the defining event in thatched roofs proving particularly com- Wexford (1793) (1793) by the Corporation (fig. 34). Known var- its history. Its effect on the architectural lega- bustible. The small harbour at Fethard (1777; iously as the ‘Wexford Riots’ or ‘The First cy was considerable. During the conflict the repaired 1798), a facility crucial to the pros- An elegant obelisk commemorates Major Charles thatch was stripped from the houses of perity of the area, was bombarded by naval Rebellion’, the incident can be interpreted as Vallotton (1746-93), while part of a pattern of unrest that was to culmi- Wexford to prevent the spread of fire, and gunboats, the Louisa and the Pakenham, during standing testimony to the Wexford Riots (1793), Samuel Lewis records the burning of the only maritime episode in the conflict. The nate in the 1798 Rebellion, of which County which fuelled the political Wexford became the unexpected epicentre. Enniscorthy and the destruction of New Ross damage was promptly repaired by the agitation that would culminate in the 1798 Rebellion. following ‘a most sanguinary conflict between Government in the aftermath of the rebellion. While the rising in Dublin and surrounding Although long erased, the counties was largely suppressed by government the king’s troops and the insurgents’. Quite Conditions in the county only stabilised when monument was inscribed: To the memory of Major apart from the buildings destroyed during the local magistrates began to curb the activities of forces, the Wexford rebellion was initially suc- Charles Vallotton murdered cessful, although ultimately defeated at Vinegar conflict, the years that followed the rebellion the night raiders. at Wexford in Ireland July 15th 1793 whilst in the act were dogged by night-raids. Houses, both large Hill. of expostulating with a law- less mob.

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The Nineteenth Century

(ﬁg. 35) WEXFORD COUNTY GAOL Spa Well Road/ Hill Street, Wexford (1807-12)

The women’s prison provides the best insight into the original appearance of the Wexford County Gaol complex. It features substantial wall masses, in the pink conglomerate stone widely used throughout Wexford, with a regular pattern of openings retaining cast-iron bars in monolithic granite frames. The internal galleries also survive intact, alongside barrel-vaulted cells and faded signage instructing ‘Silence’. In 1916 and during ‘The Troubles’ (1919-23) some cells were reopened for political prisoners.

The consequences of the 1798 Rebellion sessions house’. Three remarkably similar court- reverberated on a national scale. Instead of houses of the period survive in Gorey (1819), achieving freedom from English rule, the upris- Enniscorthy (1820), and New Ross (1832), indi- ing hastened the consolidation of the existing cating that an unrecorded architect may have regime, which was cemented by the Act of been working for the Grand Jury. Each is Union passed in the summer of 1800. In defined by a sober Classical theme, as if Wexford this manifested as a building pro- emphasising the gravitas of the judicial system. gramme, much of it related to government In Wexford, Sir Richard Morrison was com- administration. This was the period of con- missioned (1802) by the Grand Jury to design struction that defined the shape of the coun- the County Courthouse (1803-7; destroyed ty’s towns and villages, many of which 1921), Commercial Quay, and Parliamentary (ﬁg. 36) Mid nineteenth-century replaced an earlier gate- WEXFORD COUNTY improvements to the gaol way, may have been part remained largely unchanged until the prosper- Papers (1808) indicate that Morrison was also GAOL complex were described in of this programme. ity of recent years. Most followed a recognis- responsible for the contemporary County Spa Well Road/ the Parliamentary Gazetteer Inscribed lettering above Hill Street, (1846) as 'amply facilitating the gateway recalls a peri- able pattern centred on a church, a police sta- Gaol (designed 1807; built 1812), Spa Well Wexford the adoption of the newest od of reinvention when the tion or ‘barrack’, and a courthouse or ‘petty Road (ﬁgs. 35-36). (1842-4) and most approved prac- County Gaol was recon- tices of prison discipline'. structed (1909-10) as Saint It is likely that the impres- Brigid's Female Certified sive gatehouse, which Inebriates' Reformatory.

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(ﬁg. 37) The coastguard system established in DUNCANNON MARTELLO TOWER Ireland in the 1790s was largely concerned (SOUTH) with the prevention of smuggling, and coast- Duncannon (1816) guard stations were established at strategic

One of two Martello points along the coastline. A flurry of illegal towers positioned on activity in the mid nineteenth century moti- high ground overlooking Duncannon Fort, this is the vated an improvement of the coastguard net- last of the three surviving work under the auspices of the Office of Public in the county to retain its original composition. Works. Ballymoney Coastguard Station (1874- Although it had been 5) conforms to the national standard of a long ‘dismantled’ by 1837 it knew two later periods of two-storey range accommodating domestic military activity: one in the quarters and terminating in a watch room (ﬁgs. aftermath of the Fenian Rising of 1867 and the 38-39). other when the tower was adapted by the Irish Army as a look-out platform during ‘The Emergency’.

(ﬁg. 38) (ﬁg. 39) BALLYMONEY BALLYMONEY COASTGUARD STATION COASTGUARD STATION NIAH Ballymoney Lower Ballymoney Lower (1874-5) A view of the rear eleva- A selection of the 'exam- tion showing the porches ined copies' signed-off by defining each unit, which Fears of a French invasion during the Norman invaders, while Lacy records that a Enoch Trevor Owen contained a kitchen and (c.1833-81), Assistant living room at ground floor Napoleonic Wars (1803-15) motivated the fourth tower, on Rosslare Point, had fallen into Architect of the Office of level, the bedrooms over- improvement of defences along the Irish coast- the sea due to coastal erosion. In tandem with Public Works. The coast- head interconnecting to guard station was originally allow access to the watch line. Waterford Harbour was considered vulnera- the improvements being made to Duncannon designed to accommodate: room. ble, and Duncannon Fort was strengthened and Fort, a military road was built to allow the '1 chief boatman; 4 men; watch room and store; Courtesy of the National remodelled, including the addition of two ‘bomb speedy transfer of troops, poor communication general wash house'. Archives of Ireland

proofs’ (1815), barrel-vaulted ammunition stores. having been blamed for the initial success of the Courtesy of the National A pair of Martello towers (1816) was built on United Irishmen in 1798. By the time that the Archives of Ireland high ground overlooking the fort. These com- road was completed the Napoleonic threat had pact, squat, two-stage circular structures, slightly abated and two bridges (1815) crossing the tapering and with elevated doorways, followed Owenduff River were named to commemorate the common pattern (ﬁg. 37). A further Martello the victories of Nelson and Wellington at the tower survives on the promontory at Baginbun Battles of Trafalgar (1805) and Waterloo (1815) Head, the legendary landing site of the first respectively.

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(ﬁg. 40) SAINT MARY’S CHURCH (Old Ross or Saint Mary’s Parish) Millquarter, Old Ross (1800)

With an understated ‘barn’ composition, the battered profile of the church suggests a much earlier building within the deep wall masses. It was ‘new- roofed and repaired’ in 1800, following an attack (1799) in the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. A bicentennial monument (1998) in the graveyard marks the site of a mass grave opened for victims of the Scullaboge Barn Massacre, widely considered the low-point of the 1798 Rebellion in Ireland.

Ironically, the efforts made to improve nav- (1786) by Reverend Christopher Harvey igation around Wexford’s treacherous coastline (d. 1796) in the grounds of Lonsdale House, might have assisted both smugglers and poten- near Wexford, commemorating the ‘exertions tial invaders. In 1807 a survey of the and patriotism’ of General George Ogle MP county’s coast mentioned the ‘terrible list of (1742-1814) who vehemently opposed the shipwrecks caused through lack of a light- reforms that would culminate in Emancipation house’. Construction work on the elegant (1829). Similarly, the building programme tapering tower designed for the unlit Tuskar financed by the Board of First Fruits, tentative NIAH Rock by George Halpin Senior (c.1779-1854) at first, accelerated considerably and each parish began in 1812 but was hampered by tragedy was provided with a ‘repaired’ or entirely new SAINT SELSKAR’S Paul’ and from the CHURCH Catholic population who, when eleven workers were lost during a severe church by mid century, as if to consolidate the medieval origin. Several Church of Ireland Temperance Row, under a ‘cess’ [rate] churches in the county were built alongside Wexford fundraising system, were storm in 1813. A similar storm in the winter increasingly precarious position of the Church (1825-6) obliged to make a contri- of 1852-3 led to the abandonment of a light- of Ireland as the Established Church. Saint medieval counterparts in an attempt to estab- Abutting a medieval tower, bution towards the cost of house on Coningbeg Rock, off the Saltee Mary’s Church (1800), Old Ross, the only lish a link between the Anglican faith and pre- adapted as a vestry and construction. The ‘modern’ church has been attributed Islands, which never progressed beyond foun- Anglican church in the county destroyed in the Reformation Christianity. Saint Mary’s Church bell tower, the chapel- of-ease to Saint Iberius’ to John Semple (1801-82) dation level. aftermath of the 1798 Insurrection was ‘new- (1813), New Ross, not only abuts the transepts Church met with opposi- citing stylistic similarities with his ‘idiosyncratic series The gradual dismantling of the Penal system roofed and repaired’ (ﬁg. 40). A distinct battered and chancel of the medieval Saint Mary’s tion from those who lamented the destruction of churches’ including was met with degrees of resistance from the wall profile suggests that the church may retain, Abbey, but also retains portions of the existing of the ‘ancient monastery Feighcullen Church (1829), County Kildare. Ascendency, as witnessed by an obelisk erected as its basis, a much older structure, possibly of nave. Saint Edan’s Cathedral (1816-7), Ferns, of Saint Peter and Saint

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(ﬁg. 41) SAINT EDAN’S CATHEDRAL (Ferns Parish) Ferns Upper, Ferns (1816-7)

A church and monastery retains some of its fabric. were founded at Ferns by The cathedral was once Saint Mogue (d. 625) and again ‘restored’ in 1901 a later, thirteenth-century when the Chapter House cathedral was destroyed in was adapted as a vestry. 1575. Following successive attempts at reconstruction, the cathedral was dismissed as ‘small, and quite plain’ in a report in 1810. The present cathedral is aligned on an axis with its

NIAH medieval predecessor, and

(ﬁg. 43) (ﬁg. 44) SAINT EDAN’S SAINT EDAN’S CATHEDRAL CATHEDRAL (Ferns Parish) (Ferns Parish) Ferns Upper, Ferns Upper, Ferns Ferns (ob. 1835) (1902)

A wall monument A view of the Jervis White dedicated to Thomas memorial window supplied (ﬁg. 42) Elrington (d. 1835), Bishop by Heaton, Butler and SAINT EDAN’S of Leighlin and Ferns, and Bayne (established 1862) CATHEDRAL signed by John Smyth of London, featuring a (Ferns Parish) ARHA (c.1773-1840) of thirteenth-century French Ferns Upper, Dublin. quatrefoil pattern. Ferns

The 'restoration' by James Franklin Fuller (1835-1924) might well be called a total reconstruction and occupies a site with ecclesiastical origins dating as ‘a small structure, in the later English style’, entailed the construction of an elegant chancel arch, back to the seventh century and incorporates the pointed profile of the openings was a fur- the remodelling of the 'East the fabric of a reconstructed medieval nave ther attempt to convey a long-standing eccle- Window' as five stepped lancets with vesicae [point- (rebuilt 1577) (ﬁgs. 41-44). Despite its status, siastical legacy but, lacking true archaeological ed lozenges] overhead, and the cathedral conforms to the standard Board conviction, the style of architecture is today the installation of a distinctive pitch pine roof con- of First Fruits pattern, apart from a Chapter defined as Georgian Gothic or ‘Gothick’. struction. House adjoining the tower. Described by Lewis

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The Board of First Fruits was also responsi- House (1798-9) survives as a prime example of (fig. 45) (fig. 46) KILLANN GLEBE HOUSE KILLINOR GLEBE HOUSE ble for financing the glebe houses or rectories the type (fig. 45). The present gable-fronted Killann Glebe that accompanied each church, and most composition of Killinor Glebe House (1819), (1798-9 and 1829) (Limerick) (1819) parishes were provided with a suitable resi- which was occupied by the rector serving at This fairly typical glebe house was praised by A more unusual glebe dence by the end of the first quarter of the Kilpipe Church in neighbouring County Hickey as having ‘much house, the appearance nineteenth century. However, where most Wicklow, displays a vaguely Tudor Revival grand mountain landscape of which likely stems from within its view…giving to ‘improvements’ undertaken nineteenth-century churches were built in the theme that probably stems from later improve- the principal side of the in the later nineteenth Gothic style, glebe houses tended to adopt a ments to the original construction (figs. 46-47). house the style of century, the vaguely Tudor ‘mansion’; and a little gabled roofline evoking serene Classical appearance. Killann Glebe pond…distinguishing it comparisons with later from the ordinary fashion rectories at Kilrush (1870) of glebe houses’. and Ballycarney (1914).

(ﬁg. 47) KILLINOR GLEBE HOUSE Glebe (Limerick)

A detail of the ‘Wexford Window’ glazing pattern, characteristic of the county and appearing as a standard sash window with a fixed overlight. The design probably had a practical origin, allowing for the even distribution of weight in the sashes.

KILLANN SCHOOL Killann (1823)

One of the earliest- surviving purpose-built schools in the county, Killann School later received support from the Church Education Society (established 1839), an organisa- tion formed by members of the Church of Ireland as an alternative to the Commissioners for National Education (established 1831). The school knew a period of military activity on two occasions; in 1833 as an outpost established in response to agrarian unrest by a local faction known as ‘The Whitefeet’, and in 1923 as an outpost for Free State Forces.

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Emancipation in 1829 allowed for an unpar- Pugin’s most important English patron, John (ﬁg. 48) SAINT PETER’S COLLEGE alleled spate of Catholic church building and Talbot (1791-1852), 16th Earl of Shrewsbury. Summerhill Road, Lacy remarked on ‘…witnessing the erection of A seminary for the training of Catholic Wexford (opened 1819) so many houses of worship within such a com- priests in the Diocese of Ferns had been found- One of the most paratively brief space of time…’ While the ed in 1811 but the college quickly outgrew its impressive architectural modest ‘barn’ churches of the countryside modest accommodations in Michael Street, ensembles in County Wexford, the complex reflected the relative poverty of the rural pop- Wexford. In 1818, with the assistance of Talbot, features the earliest urban ulation, those built in the towns spoke of a the Redmond house (1790) in Summerhill Road chapel built in Ireland by Augustus Welby Northmore new Catholic prosperity. The county has an was purchased and extended, and the new Pugin. The adjoining unusually fine legacy of nineteenth-century Saint Peter’s College was opened in 1819 collegiate wing (1832-7) was undergoing ecclesiastical architecture, most notably the (ﬁgs. 48-49). Through Talbot, Pugin secured the completion to a design by churches of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. design of the college chapel (1838-41) and the Richard Pierce (1801-54) when Pugin visited the A convert to Roman Catholicism, Pugin saw his architect was present at the laying of the foun- town to attend the architecture as an expression of faith, and was dation stone in 1838. The large Gothic Revival blessing of the foundation stone of the chapel: Pierce, a strong proponent of the correct revival of building is solidly built in local sandstone with as clerk-of-works, oversaw ancient architecture with a profound love of minimal ornamentation apart from an impres- the construction of all of the Pugin projects in medieval Gothic in its purest form. Pugin sive rose window. The single-cell plan, and Ireland from that point arrived in Ireland at the invitation of John slender lancet windows between prominent until 1850. A substantial wing (1934-8), seen on Hyacinth Talbot MP (1794-1868), of Ballytrent buttresses set the chapel apart from contempo- the left, was built to a House, who was related through marriage to rary churches. design by Thomas Joseph Cullen (1879-1947).

CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION Clonmore, Bree (1838-9)

Pugin’s simplest Irish church (ﬁg. 49) was nevertheless set apart SAINT PETER’S COLLEGE from its ‘barn’ contempo- Summerhill Road, raries by a liturgically cor- Wexford rect east-west alignment, (1838-41) and the expression of the nave and polygonal apse A view of the interior under two separate roofs. missing its rood screen, The external stone work has removed in 1958, but been concealed, however, a retaining the highly-gilt move that would have been altar regarded by Roderick criticised by the architect O'Connor as Pugin's 'most who noted ‘We should nev- important surviving church er make a building erected furnishing in Ireland'. to God appear better than Overhead, the rose it really is by artificial window is believed to have means. These are showy been cut by James Foley worldly expedients, adapted (fl. 1818-53), a local only for those who live by mason, and was filled with splendid deception, such as stained glass by Michael theatricals, mountebanks, O'Connor (1801-67) of

quacks, and the likes’. NIAH Dublin.

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SAINT MARY’S CHURCH Grahormack, Tagoat

Since the sanctuary of Saint Mary’s escaped extensive reordering following the Second Vatican Council, the interior of the church has been less altered than those of the other Pugin churches in County Wexford. Alongside decorative encaustic tile work supplied by Herbert Minton (1795- 1858) of Stoke-upon-Trent, the church retains a small collection of stained glass supplied by John Hardman and Company (founded 1838). This Birmingham- based church furnishings SAINT MARY’S CHURCH company was in such Grahormack, demand in Ireland, Tagoat following promotion by CHURCH OF SAINT CHURCH OF SAINT A photograph illustrating 1858 when the baptismal (1843-8) Pugin, that a branch office MICHAEL THE MICHAEL THE the Byzantine-like ‘diaper font designed by Pugin was opened in Dublin in ARCHANGEL ARCHANGEL work’, or stencilling, once was replaced: it now Pugin’s great Irish 1853. Saint Michael’s Road, Saint Michael’s Road, embellishing the elegant stands, lichen-covered, benefactor, John Hyacinth Gorey Gorey Romanesque arcades and adjoining the sacristy. Talbot MP, was not only (1839-42) crossing. The destruction responsible for securing the Courtesy of the National of the original decorative commission for the new The church at Gorey Library of Ireland represented a departure scheme began as early as church at Tagoat, but also for Pugin, resurrecting the paid for it, which is why Romanesque style for the such a large-scale project third, and ultimately last, could coincide with the time in his career. outbreak of the Great Although a sermon given Famine. Again, the church at the dedication of the is set apart by the arrange- church in 1843 suggested ment of its individual that Pugin drew on components with the nave separated from the chancel Dunbrody Abbey for inspi- CHURCH OF THE not by the expected ration, the church arguably BLESSED VIRGIN MARY bears closer comparison to crossing, but by an LORETO ABBEY AND SAINT ALPHONSUS uninterrupted transept lit Tintern Abbey, particularly Saint Michael’s Road, LIGUORI at each end by a ‘Trinity’ in the ‘Irish’ battlements Gorey Ballygowman, window arrangement embellishing the crossing (1842-4) Barntown tower. Further indigenous reputedly modelled on (1844-51) detailing includes the Pugin’s first and only Dunbrody Abbey. Described by Roderick ‘Round Tower’ tourelle domestic commission in O’Donnell as ‘the only adjoining the north the county, the design for complete expression in transept. an ‘abbey’ for the Loreto order recalls his contempo- Ireland of one of Pugin’s rary scheme (1841-8) for favourite building types, the Presentation order in the small village parish Waterford City. church’, the design for the church at Barntown was Courtesy of Wexford County reputedly based on the Council Public Library medieval Long Church at Service Stanton, Cambridgeshire.

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(ﬁg. 50) Pugin’s influence on the Gothic Revival in county. One of his earliest attributable com- SAINT AIDAN’S CATHEDRAL County Wexford continued long after his missions, Saint Mary Magdalene’s Church (com- Cathedral Street, untimely death, reputedly from exhaustion, and pleted 1831), Kilmyshall (ﬁg. 52), and the lat- Enniscorthy (begun 1843) was initially reflected in the work of Richard er All Saints’ Church (1840-2), Castledockrell,

One of just two Irish Pierce, who was introduced to the English archi- both adhere to the simple ‘barn’ plan form with cathedrals undertaken tect at Saint Peter’s College and supervised all ‘pointed’ detailing, a style firmly rooted in the by Pugin, Saint Aidan’s Cathedral is cited as the of Pugin’s projects in Ireland until 1850. Pierce’s Georgian Gothic tradition and in keeping with best example of the archi- developing architectural maturity can be traced many contemporary churches throughout the tect’s work on a monu- mental scale in Ireland. The in the progression of his church designs in the county. cathedral, modelled ‘after’ Tintern Abbey, Wales, is built in an attractive blue- green stone salvaged from the ruins of the Franciscan Friary (founded 1460; dismantled 1843-7) in nearby Abbey Square. Lacy’s account of the cathedral notes ‘the spire…has still to be added, which, when completed, will be the consummation of a work of which…the entire Catholic population of the diocese, will have reason to be proud’. In light of concerns pertaining to the stability of the crossing, (fig. 51) James Joseph McCarthy SAINT AIDAN’S (1817-82) supervised a CATHEDRAL reconstruction of the tow- 1850. Occupying a constrained site, the cathe- Cathedral Street, er, eliminating the top dral is a beautiful example of Pugin’s Gothic Enniscorthy (fig. 52) stage, although preserving Revival style with buttresses, piers, and spire – SAINT MARY the profile that Pugin had Following piecemeal MAGDALENE’S CHURCH intended. the latter completed at the second attempt in ‘improvements’, the interior Ballyphilip, was described by Maurice Kilmyshall 1873 to a modified design – combining to cre- Craig as ‘all white plaster (completed 1831) ate an impression of soaring verticality. Pugin, except for the granite shafts… The roof is all Richard Pierce’s earliest Pugin’s most important commission in the who found that the Irish clergy did not share black and white’. A surviving church conforms county was for Saint Aidan’s Cathedral (begun his respect for historical correctness, wrote to restoration of the cathedral to the ‘barn chapel’ tradi- was completed in 1994 tion and is entered 1843), Enniscorthy (figs. 50-51). The brainchild his English patron: and reinstated the through a Georgian Gothic frontispiece surmounted by of Bishop James Keating (1783-1849), the The cathedral I built, at Enniscorthy, has been decorative ‘diaper work’, using archival photography a simple cut-granite bell- cathedral was built in the medieval manner completely ruined. The new bishop has blocked up and paint tests to cote. The church is similar to Pierce’s later All Saints’ around its deteriorating predecessor (1808-9), the choir, stuck the altars under the tower!! and determine the original vibrant colour scheme. The Church (1840-2), which continued to serve until the nave and the whole building is in a most painful state of cathedra [bishop’s throne] Castledockrell, and the lost Saint Mary Magdalene’s transepts of the new church were completed. filth… I see no progress of ecclesiastical ideas in and pulpit were reinstalled, and some decorative Church (1825-6), Bunclody, The older structure was then removed. Work Ireland… It is quite useless to attempt to build Minton encaustic tile work during the demolition of which in 1970 the inscrip- on the cathedral was suspended in 1846, due them true churches, for the clergy have not the least was revealed. tion ‘Rd. Pierce’ was dis-

to the Great Famine (1845-9), and resumed in idea of using them properly. NIAH covered behind the altar.

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(fig. 53) In 1851, as the country emerged from the near-identical facsimiles. According to The CHURCH OF THE ASSUMPTION famine years, Father James Roche (1801-83) Builder (1858), this was ‘to prevent jealousy and Joseph Street/ commissioned Pierce to build Wexford’s ‘Twin Bride Street, unpleasant comparisons amongst the town Wexford Churches’ (1851-8), the Church of the people’. Both are clearly indebted to Pugin’s (1851-8) Assumption, colloquially ‘Bride Street Church’ Gothic Revival style and boast impressive spires Pierce’s education in the (figs. 53-55), and the Church of the Immaculate Gothic Revival during his that have become a hallmark of the Wexford employment on the Pugin Conception, or ‘Rowe Street Church’ (figs. 56- skyline. The churches were completed posthu- churches had dramatic 57). The churches were, on the instruction of repercussions on his mously under the direction of James Joseph designs for the ‘Twin Bishop Myles Murphy (d. 1856), intended as McCarthy, since styled the ‘Irish Pugin’. Churches’. In contrast to the simplified ‘barn’ chapels previously defining his rural output, large urban congregations necessitated a comparatively complex arrangement featuring an oblong nave extending through arcaded (fig. 55) screens into side aisles with CHURCH OF THE each aisle allocated a ASSUMPTION porch. Although none of Joseph Street/ the Irish Pugin churches Bride Street, Wexford features a comparable (1919) entrance tower, the ‘West Window’ above the deeply Among the surviving rebated splayed doorcase is artistic highlights in the a near-direct quotation of church, the Lieutenant the ‘West Window’ at Saint William Henry O’Keefe Aidan’s Cathedral; the ‘East Memorial Window (1919) Window’ elicits similar is considered an early comparisons. masterpiece by the renowned Harry Clarke (1889-1931). Depicting Our Lady and Child adored (fig. 54) limitations of a mono- by Saint Aidan of Ferns and CHURCH OF THE chrome reproduction. Saint Adrian, the diptych ASSUMPTION The sanctuary was radically has been described Joseph Street, reordered in the wake of by Nicola Gordon Bowe Bride Street, the Second Vatican as the epitome of Clarke’s Wexford Council, with results that work in the Art Nouveau (fig. 56) The porches in the side A photograph from met with such disapproval CHURCH OF THE style where ‘the intricacy aisles are approached by (fig. 57) ed to the decoration of the Lawrence Collection from the parish that similar IMMACULATE of detail is never sacrificed perrons of cut-granite steps CHURCH OF THE the interior space and, illustrates the original work proposed for the CONCEPTION to the fluid integrity of the and the sacristy is elevated IMMACULATE included in his meticulous sister church was dramati- John Street Lower/ decorative scheme at Bride composition’. above a raised basement. CONCEPTION cally scaled back. Rowe Street Upper, description of the church, Street Church, including Echoing Pugin’s stance on John Street Lower/ Courtesy of Lynda Harman Wexford Lacy notes ‘the decoration the intricate Puginian sten- the use of local materials, Rowe Street Upper, Courtesy of the National (1851-8) and embellishments of the cil work, the vibrancy of Library of Ireland both churches are built in Wexford interior have been carried which transcends the Although regarded as a tuck pointed pink con- The interior of Rowe Street out by the celebrated ‘Twin Churches’, the chal- glomerate stone from the Church was subject to a Birmingham artisans, under lenges posed by the steep quarry at Park, near less radical interpretation of the immediate direction of gradient of the site for Ferrycarrig, with dressings the liturgical reforms of the Mr. Early [Thomas Earley Rowe Street Church in a contrasting granite Second Vatican Council (1819-93)], of the firm of demanded a number of from neighbouring County than its twin. Pugin’s Hardman and Company’. significant differences. Wicklow. influence on Pierce extend-

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CHURCH OF THE In 1860 Pugin’s son, Edward Welby Pugin ASSUMPTION AND SAINT MALACHY (1834-75) entered into partnership with George Ballymurn Lower, Coppinger Ashlin (1837-1921) and together Ballymurn (1860-1) they designed the Church of Our Lady of the

Pugin and Ashlin were also Assumption (1863-4), Our Lady’s Island, in the responsible for the mau- Gothic Revival style with a lofty nave opening soleum commissioned in memory of John Maher into an apse, and side aisles defined by point- (1802-60) of Ballinkeele ed arch colonnades (ﬁgs. 58-59). A tower, ris- House. In scale and silhouette the mausoleum ing to an abbreviated spire, surmounts the evokes memories of indige- main entrance while the interior shows a nous Early Christian orato- ries but with ‘medieval’ sophisticated rib vaulted ceiling. detailing rooted firmly in the contemporary Hard Gothic fashion. The interior was furnished by Hardman and Company and features an array of wall monuments and stained glass dedicated to successive generations of the Maher family. NIAH

SAINT ANNE’S CHURCH Grange Upper, Rathnure (1859-60)

An emphasis on the bellcote as an agent of ornamentation was taken (ﬁg. 59) to unusual lengths in the CHURCH OF OUR LADY grounds of Saint Anne’s (ﬁg. 58) OF THE ASSUMPTION Church, one of five CHURCH OF OUR LADY Eardownes Great, churches built in the OF THE ASSUMPTION Our Lady’s Island region with financial Eardownes Great, A view of the interior assistance from the Carew Our Lady’s Island family of Castleboro House. (1863-4) shows the vaulted ceiling with slender ribs resting on In contrast to the church, The working relationship Midleton red marble a simple ‘barn’ with between Pugin and Pierce colonettes. At the time of modest Gothic was briefly revived by the photography the stained embellishment, the next generation for the glass had been removed Triumphal gateway is a new parish church at Our from the sanctuary for celebration of the so-called Lady’s Island. Designed by repair by the Abbey ‘Renaissance Revival’ style Pugin’s son, Edward Welby Stained Glass Studios and rises in crow-stepped Pugin in partnership with (founded 1944) of Old tiers to a bellcote, each tier George Coppinger Ashlin, Kilmainham, Dublin, as terminating in cut-granite the contractor responsible part of an extensive finials. for overseeing the con- restoration of the church, struction was Pierce’s son, financially assisted by the Richard Pierce (1831-64). Heritage Council.

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(ﬁg. 60) (ﬁg. 61) KILPATRICK CHURCH SAINT JAMES’ CHURCH (Kilpatrick Parish) (Horetown Parish) Kyle Upper Horetown South (1844) (1856-9)

One of a spate of An excerpt from the churches built following surviving folio of drawings the establishment of the for the new ‘Horetown Ecclesiastical Commission Church, Diocese of Ferns’ (1833), the church signed by Joseph Welland, succeeded the medieval architect to the Kilpatrick Church in the Ecclesiastical grounds of Saunders Court: Commissioners. it is on record that © Representative Church Christopher George Harvey Body Library (b. 1797) who donated the new plot did so ‘under the proviso that no burials take place within the church grounds’. While the porch, or ‘narthex’, is almost certainly a later addition, provisions for a transept, indicated by an elegant Tudor relieving arch in dressed granite, were never (ﬁg. 63) fully executed. SAINT JAMES’ CHURCH (Horetown Parish) Horetown South

A contemporary photograph shows Saint James’ Church after a sympathetic Pugin’s influence on ecclesiastical architec- Once capitalisation was not restricted to restoration programme ture in County Wexford extended also to financial assistance from the Commission, assisted by the Heritage Council. Anglican and Dissenter churches. After the abo- church buildings began to display a greater lition of the Board of First Fruits in 1833, freedom in their architectural forms. The cre- church building for the Established Church ative potential of church building that became devolved to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners possible in the latter half of the century is (fl. 1833-71) and the support of local landlords. exemplified by three churches in the county, Two churches built in the immediate aftermath each the work of a renowned architect. Saint of the reorganisation, Saint David’s Church James’s Church (1856-9), co-sponsored by (1840-3), Mulrankin, and Kilpatrick Church Strangman Davis-Goff (1810-83) of Horetown (1844), off Kyle Crossroads (fig. 60), exemplify House, was built to a design by Joseph Welland (fig. 62) Amongst the collection of Reproduced courtesy of SAINT JAMES’ CHURCH photographs by Strangman Sir Robert Goff the gradual transition from the Georgian (1798-1860), architect to the Ecclesiastical (Horetown Parish) Davis Goff is one of the Gothicism of the Board of First Fruits church- Commissioners (appointed 1843) (figs. 61-63). Horetown South existing church; the new church complete to foun- es. Solidly constructed in distinctive ‘Old Red The contemporary Church of Saint John the Saint James’ Church is dation level (dated May one of a few nineteenth- 28th 1857); the walls Sandstone’, both churches display slender Evangelist (1860-2), near Riverchapel, was century buildings in undergoing completion lancet window openings and a minimum of designed by George Edmund Street (1824-81), County Wexford where (May 7th 1858); and the contemporary photography roof awaiting the slate ornamentation limited to a granite ashlar cor- famed for his work on the Royal Courts of documents the various finish (June 11th 1858). belled bellcote. Justice (1868-82), London, and was one of only stages of construction.

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(ﬁg. 64) (ﬁg. 65) CHURCH OF SAINT CHURCH OF SAINT JOHN THE EVANGELIST JOHN THE EVANGELIST (Ardamine Parish) (Ardamine Parish) Middletown Middletown (1860-2) A view of the interior The diminutive church, features an array of wall dramatically sited on a cliff- monuments and stained top, shows polychromatic glass (1859-64) supplied by stone work characteristic of Clayton and Bell (formed the High Victorian period 1857) of London. These, matched by alternating following the destruction of

NIAH bands of fish scale-profile nearby Ardamine House in and square-cut purple slate 1921, recall the original four projects completed by him in Ireland CHRIST CHURCH CHRIST CHURCH in the roof. A blind arcade status of the church as a (Gorey Parish) (Gorey Parish) on the north front, memorial to the Richards (figs. 64-65). The church is small, but excep- Main Street, Main Street, intended to be punched- family. Gorey Gorey tionally pretty, with opus incertum stone work, through into an aisle to (1858-61) make more space within Among the commemora- Knockavocka stone dressings, and Courtown the church, ultimately In many respects Saint tive stained glass in the proved optimistic red brick detailing. It is dramatically sited on James’ Church can be church is the window in light of a diminishing interpreted as a reduction (1922) dedicated to the cliffs overlooking Saint George’s Channel. Church of Ireland of Welland’s contemporary Percival Lea-Wilson (1887- congregation. The last of the three churches, All Saints’ Christ Church, taking the 1920), District Inspector Church (1877-8), near Duncannon, also dis- place of a Board of First with the Royal Irish Fruits church (1819) Constabulary, assassinated plays a lively appearance with ‘Old Red condemned by Lacy as outside his home on the (fig. 66) restoration and retains a ‘of a vague and unseemly orders of Michael Collins Sandstone’ walls offset by silver-grey granite ALL SAINTS’ CHURCH wealth of stained glass character’. Forming the (1890-1922). Working to (Killesk Parish) including work by Franz dressings (fig. 66). The only Anglican church centrepiece of the unofficial a commission by Maria Clonsharragh Meyer and Company ‘English Quarter’ in Gorey, Lea-Wilson (1887-1971), built in the county following the (1877-8) (founded 1847) of Munich, the church references the the window was designed an elegant ‘Rose Window’ Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland Catholic church at the by Harry Clarke and All Saints’ Church is the (1884) by Clayton and opposite end of the town depicts Saint Stephen, only Anglican church built (1871), the design was prepared by James Bell of London, and the by way of the ‘round the first Christian martyr. in County Wexford follow- Donegall Memorial Franklin Fuller (1834-1924) and the project was tower’ turret. ing the Disestablishment Window (1997) by Meg of the Church of Ireland Lawrence (b. 1953). financed largely by Harry Spencer Chichester in 1871. It has recently (1821-1906) of nearby Dunbrody House. undergone a sympathetic

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(ﬁg. 67) (ﬁg. 68) WEXFORD HYDE PARK HOUSE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH Hydepark Anne Street, (1807) Wexford (1843-4) An understated neo- Classical villa built to A photograph from the a design by Sir Richard Lawrence Collection illus- Morrison, Hyde Park was trates the creeper-covered admired by Lewis as ‘a Presbyterian church, the handsome mansion, in last of three Dissenter grounds tastefully laid out, churches built in Wexford and commanding a fine following the Methodist view of the sea, and of the church (1835) and the escarpment of Tara Hill’. Religious Society of Friends’ The restrained interior Meeting House (1842; features decorative plaster- closed 1927). Both the work attributable to James Presbyterian and Methodist Talbot (fl. 1801-16), the churches were designed by stuccadore favoured by Thomas Willis (c.1782- Morrison for domestic 1864), a Protestant commissions. architect and builder who subsequently designed Saint Ibar’s Church (1855), Castlebridge.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

The resulting country villa is characterised by an elegantly restrained Classical theme, with a (fig. 69) CLOBEMON HALL granite porch supported by four Doric columns Clobemon and Wyatt type windows in elliptical recesses, (1820) and has been favourably compared to A watercolour, dated August 20th 1826, illus- Morrison’s work in other parts of the country. In contrast to the imposing structures of the Assured of their position in society follow- trates the new family seat On a picturesque site commanding views over at Clobemon Hall. Built to county’s main denominations, Methodist and ing the Act of Union, the landed gentry con- a design by Tomas Alfred the River Slaney, Clobemon Hall (1820), near Presbyterian churches tended to follow an tinued to develop their properties. Although Cobden, the house is Ballycarney, was built for Thomas Richards De regarded as the finest exceedingly plain architectural pattern with existing houses were sometimes ‘improved’ to example of the chaste Rinzy (1785-1869), one-time High-Sheriff of their ecclesiastical role indicated by the subtlest keep pace with current trends, the majority Greek Revival style in County Wexford (fl. 1809) (fig. 69). Lewis’ County Wexford, based on of Gothic detailing. The simple design of the opted to build anew, often using a well-known a resurgence of interest in description of the house as ‘a handsome mod- Presbyterian Church (1843-4), Wexford, a sin- architect. On succeeding to the estate in 1802, the Doric and Ionic periods ern mansion of the Grecian Doric order, erect- of Hellenic architecture. gle-cell hall, is lifted by pointed window open- John Christopher Beauman (1764-1836) com- ed from a design by Mr. Cobden’, identifies Reproduced from the The ings with cut-stone dressings framing timber Y- missioned Sir Richard Morrison to prepare O’Grady Collection courtesy Thomas Alfred Cobden (1794-1842) of Carlow mullion glazing bars (fig. 67). designs for Hyde Park House (1807) (fig. 68). of Eliza Lloyd and London as the architect.

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EDERMINE HOUSE Edermine

The architect responsible for the private chapel at Edermine has long been disputed and it has been attributed to Edward Welby Pugin and James Joseph McCarthy respectively. Citing intermarriage between the Power and the Talbot families as evidence, it has lately been suggested that the chapel is creditable to the elder Pugin and that the construction, belatedly begun by Sir James Power (1800- 77), was supervised by his son or by McCarthy.

EDERMINE HOUSE EDERMINE HOUSE House was unenthusiastical- Pierce (1813-68) of the (extant 1860) cast by Edermine Edermine ly described by Lacy as Pierce Iron Foundry, Pierce for Castlebridge A view of the remarkably (1838) ‘erected more with a view Wexford. It originally House, Castlebridge. well preserved interior to internal comfort than housed a grapery and a The impressive collection Courtesy of the National retaining not only the rood external ornament’ but is peachery in wings centring of buildings at Edermine, Library of Ireland screen, a late medieval now considered a fine on a bowed conservatory once the estate of the feature reintroduced to example of the Greek with ‘a magnificent pyrami- famous Power distilling Ireland by Pugin, but also Revival style. The curvilin- dal stand of plants and family, is possibly the most the decorative ‘diaper ear glasshouse (extant flowers’ but, sadly, is now interesting domestic work’ embellishing the 1860) was designed by in ruins. A similar fate has architectural ensemble in walls and the complex Richard Turner (c.1798- met the renowned porte County Wexford. Edermine ‘medieval’ hammerbeam 1881) but cast by James cochère-cum-jardinière roof construction.

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(fig. 70) (fig. 72) JOHNSTOWN CASTLE JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown Johnstown (1836-72 with 1811-5) Granted unlimited An impressive nineteenth-centu- access to the interior of ry mansion stands as a monu- Johnstown Castle, Lacy ment to the enthusiastic renova- repaid his host with tions commissioned by Hamilton effusive praise of the Knox Grogan Morgan and his artistic virtues of the house. descendants. A surviving draw- He noted: ‘The entrance- ing indicates that James Pain hall has a fine appearance; (1779-1877) had some input in the oak panelling and the early development of the carving are of the most house. However, Daniel costly description; amongst Robertson, assisted by Martin other beautiful specimens Day (d. 1861), transformed the of carving, both by the existing house, externally and hand and by machinery, internally, into the present 'cas- are the Apostles and the tle' that is much admired today. family coat of arms. The bone fide medieval fabric Nothing can be more was dramatically depleted with truthful and natural than the demolition of a sixteenth- the apostolic figures; the century tower house; its posi- folds of the drapery will tion is marked on the entrance enable the most incompe- front by mass concrete quoin tent person to form a stones. On the garden front a judgment of their merit’. cylindrical turret has recently been the subject of some interest and archaeological investiga- tion might confirm or disprove the theory that it originated as the flanker tower of a bawn walled enclosure. (fig. 71) JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown County Wexford’s legacy of fine houses A drawing signed by built in the second quarter of the nineteenth Martin Day, labelled ‘Design of an Elevation for century was immeasurably enhanced by the North front of Johnstown work of the Scottish-born architect Daniel Castle – the seat of H.K. Grogan Morgan Esq.’, out- Robertson, a prolific designer of country hous- lines proposed improve- es, the majority in the Tudor style, a robust and ments. Its focal point, a tower featuring an oriel often castellated offshoot of the Gothic (fig. 73) window, was intended to Revival. Robertson arrived in Ireland in 1830, convinced that he was JOHNSTOWN CASTLE light the stair hall succeed- within the hall of some having left Oxford under a cloud, and it was Johnstown ing the original entrance grand castle or stately hall. The near symmetry of suggested that ‘the reason for his departure is Moving on to the central palace… This hall is the composition was inter- no subject for private discussion’. Robertson’s hall, Lacy remarked: ‘The surrounded by two rupted by the new wing grand hall presents a magnificent galleries, one introduced by Jane letters reflect a man of a charismatic but ill- massive and truly on each story [sic], formed Colclough Forbes (1840- disciplined character, both his propensity for characteristic appearance; of oak, and of the finest 72), intended to house the so much so, that if an workmanship; they are at maids’ rooms and nursery. sherry and affliction from gout have entered intelligent person was once strong and beautiful, Reproduced from the into lore, and his buildings seem to reflect brought thither in his and perfectly in keeping Sherwood Collection cour- sleep, he would, upon with the character of the tesy of John Sherwood some of this wayward personality. wakening, be at once Castle…’

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(ﬁg. 74) One of Robertson’s earliest undertakings in JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown the region was the reconstruction of Johnstown

Occupying the space of Castle (1836-72) for Hamilton Knox Grogan the old entrance hall, the Morgan (1808-54) (ﬁgs. 70-80). The project arcaded staircase was attributed by Lacy to aimed to unify an early sixteenth-century tow- Thomas Hopper (1776- er house with a neo-Norman house, begun 1856), ‘an English architect of no mean pretensions’. after the estate, confiscated from Cornelius The victim of dry rot, the Grogan MP (1738-98) as punishment for his staircase was among the first features of Johnstown support of the 1798 Rebellion, was restored to Castle to be dismantled the family in 1810. Johnstown Castle today is upon the transferral of ownership of the house to an impressive, slightly immoderate, nine- the Department of teenth-century castle with innumerable battle- Agriculture. The portrait (1833) of the Grogan ments and turrets articulating the skyline. The Morgans now hangs in the Morgans, irrepressible builders with an annual dining room and is signed by Edmond Thomas Parris income of £20,000 at their disposal, continued (1793-1873), ‘Historical to embellish the house into the 1860s, at Painter To Her Majesty Queen Adelaide’. which time Lacy documents the completion of

Reproduced courtesy of Patrick Bowe and Irish Arts Review

(ﬁg. 75) JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown

The grand drawing room also elicited an effusive appraisal from Lacy who stated: ‘Among the latest ornamental decorations of the interior of the castle are a series of splendid Parisian mirrors, three in number… They are set in magnificently carved frames, manufactured by machinery in London, and richly gilt by Barnascone, (ﬁg. 76) grand drawing room by way (ﬁg. 77) bosses, labelled ‘Bishop’, JOHNSTOWN CASTLE JOHNSTOWN CASTLE an Italian artist, for some of 'an ingeniously-contrived ‘Baron’, ‘Nun’, ‘Baronet’, and Johnstown Johnstown years resident in Wexford, door, the front of which is a ‘Knight’ contribute to the large mirror. A stranger medieval or ‘Norman’ theme and are probably the A view of the ceiling of the An unsigned drawing, would never imagine that while evoking connotations largest to be seen in this adjoining 'second drawing- entitled ‘Section of the chim- an entrance existed'. with chess, a popular pas- country…’ room' which originally ney sides of the Boudoir at time with the leisurely gen- opened en suite from the Johnstown Castle H.K. tlemen of the period. Grogan Morgan Esquire’, outlines the decorative Reproduced from the scheme for the boudoir Sherwood Collection courtesy opening off the ‘second of John Sherwood drawing-room’. The portrait

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(ﬁg. 78) (ﬁg. 79) JOHNSTOWN CASTTLE JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown Churchtown (Rathaspick)/ A view from the fishing Johnstown turret looking over the lake (between 1811-40) to the garden front of the castle. Robertson’s reputa- A mid nineteenth-century tion as a landscape archi- photograph shows the tect in Ireland, where original neo-Norman house and gardens are theme of the ‘grand treated as a holistic entity, gateway’ praised by Lacy is second only to Edwin in 1852 as ‘rich and Landseer Lutyens (1869- peculiar in appearance’. 1944) and the grounds Writing in 1885, George surrounding Johnstown Henry Bassett noted that Castle reveal the architect’s the gateway ‘formerly a theatrical expertise at very picturesque struc- manipulating picturesque ture…has been re-mod- vistas. elled’ and the lodges today present an understated Classical style.

Reproduced courtesy of Patrick Bowe and Irish Arts Review

(ﬁg. 80) JOHNSTOWN CASTLE Johnstown (1846)

A drawing, signed by Day, illustrates the gateway and porter’s lodge proposed to adjoin a new network of walled gardens on the Johnstown estate. The design recalls Robertson’s contemporary ‘turret’ lodge (pre-1840) at Shankill work on a ‘ball-room [occupying] the lower sto- Castle, County Kilkenny.

ry [sic] of the new building erected by the late Reproduced from the Mr. Morgan for a laboratory, he being adept in Sherwood Collection courtesy of John Sherwood chemical science’. In the tradition of scientific experimentation, Johnstown Castle was gifted to the State under the Johnstown Castle Agricultural College Act, 1945. Although the medieval tower house was deemed unsafe and demolished, and the interior considerably altered, much of the internal decorative detailing survives together with a small quantity of the original fittings and furnishings.

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(ﬁg. 81) (ﬁg. 83) CASTLEBORO HOUSE CASTLEBORO HOUSE Castleboro Demesne Castleboro Demesne (1840-58) A photograph from the The existing eighteenth- Lawrence Collection depict- century 'modern mansion' ing the entrance front in a (1783) having been sparse parkland setting. destroyed by fire in 1839, The most impressive fea- Robert Shapland Carew ture of the house, the (1787-1856) commissioned porte cochère, was also one Robertson to reconstruct of its greatest failings: fac- and extend the house. ing north, and with a solid The resulting mansion was roof, the double-height oddly archaic in form, the entrance hall behind was neo-Palladian arrangement almost always in perpetual considered passé by the darkness. turn of the nineteenth century. Despite the £84,000 Courtesy of the National expenditure on the project, Library of Ireland the balustraded parapets in this drawing signed by Day were never completed.

Reproduced from the Sherwood Collection courtesy of John Sherwood

(fig. 82) CASTLEBORO HOUSE Castleboro Demesne (fig. 84) A drawing of the reverse CASTLEBORO HOUSE front, centred on a hand- Castleboro Demesne some half-octagon that A photograph from the recurred as a favourite A.H. Poole Collection motif throughout (1884-1945) showing the Robertson’s career, reverse front and once irrespective of the impressive gardens admired architectural style chosen by George Henry Bassett, by his patrons. The who remarked: 'Seen from centrepiece had previously the river, at the back, the appeared in a battlement- effect [of the house] is very ed Gothic form at fine, the Corinthian pil- Johnstown Castle, would lars…and a landscape gar- feature as a graceful bow den of seven great ter- at Ballinkeele House, and in races, connected by granite a Tudor Gothic guise at steps, aiding it very much. The magnificent, but now ruinous through a half-octagonal central bow on the Cahore House. The garden is really the Castleboro House (1840-58), near Clonroche, is reverse, or garden front, so that the sequence Reproduced from the sight of Castle Boro. It is the result of a lavish unusual among Robertson’s houses in that it of terraces descending to an artificial lake could Sherwood Collection courtesy of John Sherwood expenditure'. was designed in the Classical style, although its be properly admired. This aspect of the com- Courtesy of the National theatricality is entirely in keeping with the position recalls Robertson’s contemporary gar- Library of Ireland body of his work (figs. 81-86). An impressive dens (begun 1843) at Powerscourt House, porte cochère defines the official entrance front, County Wicklow. although the owner preferred visitors to enter

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(ﬁg. 85) (ﬁg. 87) CASTLEBORO HOUSE CASTLEBORO HOUSE Castleboro Demesne Castleboro Demesne (1815) A view of the impressive ruins of Castleboro House The earlier stable complex regarded by Maurice has traditionally been Craig as ‘one of the most attributed to Martin Day, magnificent ruins in albeit without documentary Ireland’. Left empty but evidence. It displays an for a minimum of house- elegant Classical formality hold staff and identified as belying the functional pur- a potential garrison for pose of the ranges and Free State troops, the arguably represents a more house was destroyed by satisfactory interpretation of arsonists on the 5th of neo-Palladianism than is February 1923. seen at the nearby country house.

(ﬁg. 86) CASTLEBORO HOUSE Castleboro Demesne

A view of the ruined garden front includes the remnants of the terraces. A tiered fountain, which once marked the midpoint of the terraces, now stands in the grounds of Park House, near Wexford. The gateway (1862) was moved to Farmley House, north of Enniscorthy, where the intertwined double ‘C’ monogram of Carew and Cliffe, or Carew and Castleboro, can still be seen.

(ﬁg. 88) CASTLEBORO HOUSE Castleboro Demesne

A view of the carved stone dressings contributing to the surprising formality of the stable complex.

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Robertson was assisted at Johnstown and Robertson’s death. Robertson was probably Castleboro by Martin Day (d. 1861), the Gallagh- entirely responsible for Ballinkeele House (1840- born architect who also designed a number of 8), Ballymurn, a project that was completed projects under his own name, including within his lifetime (ﬁgs. 89-91). Like a smaller Horetown House (1840-3), near Foulkesmill. Day version of Castleboro House, Ballinkeele House, has been credited with the earliest work on both which remains in the original family ownership, projects, including the stable complex (1815) at is dominated by a heavy porte cochère and a gar- Castleboro (ﬁgs. 87-88) and the neo-Norman den front centred, in this instance, on an ele- nucleus of Johnstown, and ultimately supervised gant bow. completion of work on both houses following

(fig. 89) employing the Doric order, BALLINKEELE HOUSE and an elegant bow on Ballinkeel, the garden front. The Ballymurn prototype suggests that (1840-8) Robertson was more (fig. 90) (fig. 91) reluctant to experiment Ballinkeele House, designed BALLINKEELE HOUSE BALLINKEELE HOUSE with Classicism than with for John Maher (1801-60), Ballinkeel, Ballinkeel, the Gothic and Tudor is a scaled-down version of Ballymurn Ballymurn styles. Castleboro House with The elegantly restrained A view of the staircase hall which it shares a number Courtesy of John and entrance hall features a featuring a cantilevered of defining features includ- Margaret Maher scagliola Corinthian staircase terminating in a ing an impressive porte columnar screen. pedestal upholding a cast- cochère, in this instance bronze Winged Mercury.

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WELLS HOUSE In a letter to a client in 1835, Robertson Wells (1836-45) appears to take credit for introducing the Tudor

Wells House, Robertson's Revival style to Ireland. However, he is likely only known brick-faced to have been familiar with the earlier house and the only one in the Elizabethan Manorial Coolbawn House (1823-39), a spectacular (ﬁg. 92) 1923, an account in The style, is distinctly English in building designed by Frederick Darley junior COOLBAWN HOUSE Irish Times noting that the character. The client, Coolbawn Demesne mansion was ‘composed of Robert Doyne (1782-1850), (1798-1872) and not far from Castleboro (1823-39) fine cut stone, and had previously deliberated (ﬁg. 92). Faced entirely in granite ‘procured on elaborately ornamented over proposals for a The ruins of the impressive with pinnacles and spires… Classical house (1819) by the neighbouring mountains’, Coolbawn’s house built to a design by it was locally known as Cobden and a 'vaguely Frederick Darley junior ruinous carcase is distinguished by battlement- “Bruen’s Folly”, so much Jacobean' house (pre-1836) (1798-1872) in a pictur- money was spent on its by Morrison. As at ed and gabled parapets and a plethora of slen- esque Tudor Revival style. erection’. Castleboro House and der minarets. The house was burnt in Johnstown Castle, Robertson was responsible for an integrated setting including a straight avenue, on axis with the centre of the house, and an Italianate terrace in the garden. NIAH

CAHORE HOUSE Cahore (1841-4)

Cahore House, designed for John George QC (1804-71), gives the mis- leading impression of an archaeological antecedent, centring on a 'tower house' with a faintly battered profile and battlemented parapets. In form and appearance, the house is the best County Wexford example of the 'modest' Tudor Gothic villas that Robertson designed in neighbouring counties, including Castletown House (pre- 1835) and Ballydarton (pre-1835), both in County Carlow. NIAH

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Where great houses have fallen victim to (ﬁg. 95) KILTENNELL CHURCH decay or vandalism, they are often survived by (Kiltennell or Courtown ancillary structures like farm buildings and gate Parish) Courtown lodges, which often remain as the only tangi- (1770 and 1879-80)

ble record of past estates. An impressive farm- One of the earliest rural yard quadrangle (1834) near Caim has outlast- Church of Ireland churches in active use in County ed Ballyhighland House, the seat of the Howlin Wexford, Kiltennell Church family, which was vacated in 1926 and demol- underwent extensive reconstruction in the late ished thereafter (fig. 93). Although Courtown nineteenth century. On House (1726; demolished 1948-9) has also been both occasions the cost was defrayed by the pre- lost, a fine Classical gate house (extant 1840) siding Earl of Courtown. recalls an estate that once ranked as the third The church retains evidence of its ‘primitive’ largest landholding in the county (fig. 94). The Georgian Gothic origins gate house is part of an evocative grouping of with later appendages displaying a mature, buildings, including the eighteenth-century archaeologically-grounded Kiltennell Church (1770) (figs. 95-96), at what Gothic Revival theme. was once the main entrance to the grounds. A pretty cottage orné (1865-7) has been attributed to the architect William Burn (1789-1870), who carried out improvements to Courtown House in the mid nineteenth century (fig. 97). NIAH

(fig. 96) KILTENNELL CHURCH (Kiltennell or Courtown (fig. 94) Parish) COURTOWN HOUSE Courtown Courtown (1846) The 'chantry' intended by James Stopford (1823- (fig. 97) A drawing, signed in an (fig. 93) 1914), 5th Earl of COURTOWN HOUSE illegible hand, outlines a BALLYHIGHLAND HOUSE Courtown, as a memorial to Courtown proposal to transform the Ballyhighland his mother. An effigy (1865-7) Classical gate screen at the (1834) (1836) depicting the recum- entrance to the grounds of A thatched cottage display- bent Lady Stopford was Although Ballyhighland Courtown House with ing refined characteristics – executed by Thomas House has long since Georgian Gothic a construction using red Campbell (1798-1858) disappeared, a handsome embellishments mirroring brick, a ‘blind arcade’ while, overhead, an opus quadrangle centred on the adjacent church. framing the window open- sectile diptych (1894) fea- a stately pedimented gate- However, the scheme was ings, and an overhanging tures a design by Ada way remains, its fine never realised. roof profile – which set it Currey (1852-1913). aesthetic indicating the apart as belonging to the architectural quality of the Reproduced courtesy of the orné [ornamental], rather © Representative Church country house built for Molumby family of Gorey, than the vernacular County Wexford Body Library NIAH John Howlin (1797-1857). tradition.

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THE DEEPS originally In contrast to the wealthy landowners, who contemporary range in Blackwater is unusual NEWTOWN HOUSE Newtown Lower were in a position to experiment with the lat- in that its exterior walls are encrusted with

The only documented est architectural trends, the modest houses of shells, arranged in an artistic but loosely exe- example of pattern book the rest of the population continued to follow cuted pattern (fig. 99). A comparatively sub- design in County Wexfordcan still be seen in long established patterns. An example at stantial house at Ballyhought was once a the grounds of The Deeps. Cooladine is typical of the county and shows prominent stop on the mail coach route Inspired by Retreats (1827), published by James a rectilinear range with expressed lobby, and a between Wexford and Dublin, its lack of Thomson (1800-83), the hipped roof with oat thatch finish (fig. 98). A enclosed curtilage a reminder of a time before "Rustic Lodge" was 'designed not merely to provide for the absolute necessities to human existence, but to characterise the hospitable hand for which the English country gentleman is so eminently distinguished'. Although now a neglected ruin, much of the detailing survives including 'a pair of large grotesque cantilevers made to support a lean-to covering, under which is placed a bench for the recreation of its owner'. The ornamental quality of the lodge reflects, on a diminutive scale, the distinctive appearance of the main house nearby; dating back to the mid eighteenth century, The Deeps was 'improved' in the nineteenth century, possibly in 1836, and presents itself as a Colonial villa with a Classical garden (fig. 98) (fig. 99) colonnade terminating in COOLADINE BALLYNAGLOGH mild Gothic glazing panels. Blackwater A nineteenth-century A restoration of the house thatched house displays a Although lacking the and estate has been limewashed finish that not artistry seen at the underway since 2003. only maintained the ‘neat’ earlier Cliff Cottage in © The British Library Board appearance of the Cullenstown, decorative (788.f.7) farmyard, but was also shell work singles this promoted by the Cholera house out as a picturesque Board (created 1832) as an landmark in the centre of effective disinfectant Blackwater. preventing the transmission of cholera, an outbreak of which devastated the survivors of the Great Famine in 1849.

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(ﬁg. 101) CLOUGHEAST COTTAGE Clougheast (1826)

Marrying symmetry of form and Classical proportions with a traditional thatched roof finish, (fig. 100) Clougheast Cottage was BALLYHOUGHT reputedly built by John A roadside house conforms Waddy on his return from to the typical vernacular self-imposed exile in house outlined in The Irish Bermuda following the Farmers’ Journal: ‘The scale 1798 Rebellion. During the varies with the circum- Rebellion an incomplete house adjoining the motorised traffic (fig. 100). The larger vernacu- (fl. 1838-1925) established a new vernacular in stances of the proprietor; (fig. 102) the elevation never. It in medieval Clougheast lar houses of the nineteenth century were often the form of social housing built under the WOODTOWN Castle, visible in the back- general consists of two sto- (Mayglass) ground, was torched. built in styles that mimicked the work of con- Labourers (Ireland) Act, 1883, often in remote ries [sic]…every house has a (extant 1903) porch…and in the centre, rural settings. A pretty example at Woodtown temporary architects and Clougheast Cottage invariably, rises a chimney A Board of Guardians' 'cot- (1826), near Carne, is a prime example of the (extant 1903), near Mayglass, shows a simple of brick…the roof is of a tage' showing two charac- steep pitch, thatched in teristics of the vernacular but distinctive design aesthetic with a window so-called ‘thatched mansion’, designed to a general with wheaten straw, tradition in County Classical plan form but built in the traditional on either side of an expressed central porch and with as much attention Wexford: a central wind- to the neat appearance as break-like porch below the (fig. 102). materials of mud and straw (fig. 101). As the to the durable execution of chimneystack, and lime-

century drew to a close, the Board of Guardians the work.’ NIAH washed cylindrical piers.

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The economic gulf between rich and poor was tragically highlighted by the Great Famine. Although County Wexford was not as badly hit as other parts of the country, the population still fell from 202,033 in 1841 to 104,104 in 1901. Many landlords operated relief initiatives within their own estates and Robert Shapland Carew, addressing the House of Lords in 1847, commented: ‘there is general distress [in County Wexford], and this distress is daily increasing among the small farmers…[but] there has not been an unemployed able-bodied pauper in this district for two and a half years’. Drainage and road improvement schemes also provided employment to the poor and the impressive Ballinatray Bridge (1847) was constructed as part of a famine relief measure organised (1846) by James Thomas Stopford (1794-1858), 4th Earl of Courtown (fig. 103). As the crops failed, and in search of alternative methods of feeding the poor, there were attempts to promote fishing by improving harbour facilities along the coastline. Harry Spencer Chichester (1821-1906) applied for Government assistance to improve the harbours on the Dunbrody estate and new or improved piers were developed at Arthurstown, Ballyhack and Duncannon. Slade Harbour (fig. 104) Nimmo’s design. Despite (1847), on the Hook Peninsula, was similarly COURTOWN HARBOUR concentrated efforts to developed. In 1822 a subscription fund was Ballinatry Lower/ complete the harbour dur- Seamount, ing the Great Famine the established in England for the Relief of Distress Courtown expected maritime trade (1834-47 with 1824-5) in Ireland, and specifically for loans for fishery (fig. 103) relief measure consisting of failed to materialise. BALLINATRAY BRIDGE ‘drainage and making of a Instead, the village purposes. Two years later, the population of Although a design by Kilbride/Courtown/ road southward from Alexander Nimmo (1783- prospered as a fashionable (1783–1832) proved problematic as the harbour Courtown, under the direction of the Earl of Ballinatray Lower, Ballymoney Crossroads to 1832) was approved in seaside resort with Hickey Courtown silted up while still under construction, and join Gorey and Courtown 1819, royal assent was noting ‘the influx of Courtown, applied for Government funding for (1847) Harbour Road’. required before work could bathers in the summer had been partially washed away by 1833. The season has induced… harbour facilities so that the fishermen could A postcard captures the commence on Courtown Courtesy of Wexford County houses of good description present Courtown Harbour (1834-47) was built densely wooded setting Harbour in 1824. A report land their catches for transport to convenient Council Public Library being erected’. surrounding the viaduct- (1825) by George Halpin under the direction of the engineer Francis markets. An initial scheme drawn up by Service like bridge built by James correctly predicted that the Courtesy of Wexford County Giles (1788-1847) but was not deep enough for the prolific engineer Alexander Nimmo Thomas Stopford, 4th Earl silting of harbour would Council Public Library of Courtown, as a famine result in the failure of Service merchant ships (fig. 104).

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(ﬁg. 105) WEXFORD COUNTY WEXFORD UNION LUNATIC ASYLUM WORKHOUSE Killagoley, Carricklawn, Enniscorthy Wexford (1863-6) (1840-2) A network of district When George Wilkinson lunatic asylums was (1814-90) was assigned established across Ireland (ﬁg. 106) responsibility for designing as an extension of the Irish WEXFORD UNION and supervising the Poor Law system. While WORKHOUSE construction of the work- most asylums adopted an Carricklawn, houses, his brief stated: Wexford institutional Tudor Revival ‘The style of building is theme akin to the union intended to be of the An extract illustrating the workhouse, that built by cheapest description com- ‘Main Building’ shows all James Bell (1829-83) and patible with durability… of Wilkinson’s hallmarks James Barry Farrell (1810- all mere decoration being including symmetry of 93) overlooking the River studiously excluded’. form, mullioned windows, Slaney outside Enniscorthy An extract from a set of and a gabled roofline is distinguished by a drawings for the proposed ‘framed’ by eye-catching Classical style and the Wexford Union Workhouse water towers. Adapted as construction using vibrant includes the now-lost the County Hospital in the red and yellow brick. ‘Front Building’ once early twentieth century, the Meanwhile, the eye-catch- containing administration workhouse has been the ing towers were likely offices with a meeting victim of neglect and van- adopted as a symbol of room for the Board of dalism since its closure in patriotism, the Italianate Governors overhead. 1992. tower having been popu- larised following its appear- Courtesy of the Irish Courtesy of the Irish ance at Osborne House Architectural Archive Architectural Archive (1845-51), the royal summer house on the Isle of Wight.

Apart from a poignant scattering of paupers’ design by George Wilkinson (1814-90) in a for- burial grounds across the county, the union bidding institutional Tudor Revival style, the workhouses are the most enduring architectur- complexes tend to occupy elevated positions in al legacy of the poverty of the time. Under the the outskirts of the towns and follow a recog- Irish Poor Law Relief Act, 1838, County nisable pattern of entrance and administration Wexford was divided into four Poor Law block, accommodation block, chapel and din- Unions, namely Enniscorthy, Gorey, New Ross, ing hall, and infirmary with ‘Idiot Wards’. and Wexford (ﬁgs. 105-106). Built to a standard

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The economic turmoil was not limited sole- (fig. 107) The period of economic recovery following WELLINGTON BRIDGE ly to the poor, and a number of the landed CONSTABULARY the Great Famine was interrupted by sporadic gentry entered into insolvency. Under pressure BARRACK outbreaks of political unrest, including the Maudlintown, from a dramatic reduction in rent from tenants Wellington Bridge Fenian Rising of 1867, which precipitated a (1863) and in debt from ill-timed improvements to programme of constabulary barrack building their estates, a number of owners ceded their In an attempt to improve barrack at Wellington throughout the county (fig. 107). International relations with a hostile Bridge was in place to properties under the Incumbered Estates community, the Irish respond to the Fenian conflict also impacted the county by default, (Ireland) Act, 1848, among them Camolin Park Constabulary introduced Rising (1867), the efficient and a monument (1857-8) erected on high a number of policies suppression of which was House (sold 1852), Macmine Castle (sold 1852), including the construction recognised by the confer- ground overlooking the River Slaney at Woodfield (sold 1854), and Farmley House of barracks in a domestic ring of Royal status on the Ferrycarrig commemorates Wexford-born style appropriate to a constabulary by Queen (sold 1855). village setting. A date Victoria. soldiers lost during the Crimean War (1853-6) stone confirms that the (fig. 108). However, for the vast majority, life settled into a routine that would remain unchanged until the early twentieth century.

(ﬁg. 108) CRIMEAN MONUMENT Newtown (1857-8)

Occupying a picturesque outcrop overlooking the River Slaney, the Crimean Monument illustrates the contemporary fixation with indigenous architecture and was described by Lacy as ‘a fac-simile of the ancient round towers of Ireland’. Built to a design by Edwin Thomas Willis (1835-1905), the monument can claim an archaeological legacy by default; the stone work used in its construction was uprooted from the FitzStephen ringwork on the site, described by the Mr and Mrs Hall as ‘the first castle that was built by the Anglo-Normans in Ireland’.

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The shifting sandbanks and shallow Improvement Company, championed by John (fig. 110) A contemporary programme of work in the The earlier (1810) partial canalisation of the SALT BRIDGE entrance of Wexford Harbour, with its tenden- Edward Redmond MP (1806-65), set about Seafield/Gibberwell/ south of the county was initiated by John Rowe River Sow at Castlebridge, forming a shortcut cy to silt, have been recorded throughout the enclosing the north slob of the harbour. Under Riverstown/Blackstone (b. 1809) of Ballycross House with a view to into the Slaney at high tide, allowed sailing (1850-3) history of the port, which was described (1937) the direction of James Barry Farrell (1810-93), reclaiming the land in the district of Ballyteige. cots to transport grain to Wexford with the Land reclamation was also by Robert Lloyd Praeger (1865-1953) as ‘an County Surveyor, and with the construction of undertaken at Ballyteige by A five mile-long canal (1850-3), branching off benefit of avoiding tolls on Wexford Bridge. extensive mud-filled arm of the sea, suitable for a pumping station, by 1849 the North Slob had John Rowe who was, as Ballyteige Canal to the south, and Castlebridge immediately flourished as a corn Hickey noted, ‘the origina- the Norsemen’s shallow ships, but fit for steam- been won from the sea (fig. 109). Similar work tor of the undertaking in Bridgetown Canal to the west, is remarkable for milling industry so successful that, in 1837, the ers only of small draught’. Proposals for the was completed on a smaller scale on the south the famine period, when a series of bridges whose fine stonework gives grainstores were able to hold 40,000 barrels of public and private works improvement of the harbour were divided slob in the 1850s including the construction of were of paramount necessi- them a distinctive presence in the landscape corn (fig. 111). As the century progressed the between those concerned with its commercial a pumping station (1857) at Bogganstown ty, in order to employ the (fig. 110). The canal not only helped to drain main activity in the village changed from distressed peasantry’. Two development for shipping, and those focused Lower. Although in terms of land reclamation canals draining the the land but also aided the transport of ‘sea- milling corn to malting barley. on the reclamation of the land to either side. the project was largely successful it is probable reclaimed land encouraged sand and seaweed…fish…and coals’ towards the construction of a col- Early attempts to reclaim the mudflats of that the project contributed to the further silt- lection of handsome convenient markets. Wexford Harbour had been defeated by high ing of the harbour. bridges, including Salt Bridge, which recalls the tides but in 1846 the Wexford Harbour contemporary bridge (1854) crossing the Drinagh Canal outside Wexford. (fig. 104) (fig. 111) NORTH SLOB PUMPING CASTLEBRIDGE MILLS STATION Castlebridge North West Slob (1806) (1846-52) A date stone records thus created could not pre- Attempts to reclaim land N. [Nicholas] Dixon as the vent the bankruptcy of the from Wexford Harbour builder of the present Dixons in 1826. In 1837, dated back to the early Castlebridge Mills. The when Lewis noted ‘an nineteenth century when a mills, combined with the extensive trade in bank constructed (1814) canal cut by James Dixon, corn…[with] very extensive along the south wing by encouraged farmers from stores, mills, and malt the Thomas Brothers the entire northern district houses’, the business was proved unstable and was of the county to deposit then owned by Patrick breached by high tide in their crops at Castlebridge. Breen. 1816. Having attained an However, the monopoly Act of Parliament in 1846, the Wexford Harbour Improvement Company successfully enclosed the north wing. Engineering work included the construction of a pumping station to ensure the satisfactory drainage of the reclaimed land. Restored by the Office of Public Works in 1991, the pumping station features a replacement set of mechanisms installed in 1967-9. NIAH

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Increased ease of transportation stimulated functional redundancy. A mill (1876) at The strong winds on the exposed southern The site was reopened (1871) as the Drinagh (fig. 115) DRINAGH CEMENT the industrial development of the county espe- Kilcarbry has an unusually sophisticated tower- coast of the county powered the windmill (1846) Cement Works, manufacturing ‘Portland WORKS cially, in rural areas, the construction of mill like profile and an elegant arrangement of at Tacumshane, a tapering circular tower that Cement’ and ‘Roman Cement’, and proved so Drinagh South (opened 1871) buildings. Foulkesmill Corn Mill (1851) was openings accented in red brick (fig. 113). The was restored as a functioning national monu- successful that the Associated Portland Cement A tapering octagonal chim- erected by Richard Purcell as the successor to complex knew two phases of reinvention in the ment in 1952 (fig. 114). Wind power was also Manufacturers Company (founded 1900), a ney rising from dense an eighteenth-century mill (1743) in the early twentieth century when adapted first as essential for the limestone works at Drinagh, in London-based syndicate, purchased and prompt- undergrowth survives as a monument to the Drinagh grounds and retains a fine waterwheel (fig. a generator providing power to the County the southern suburbs of Wexford, where a ruined ly shut down the complex to prevent competi- Cement Works opened by 112). Some mills of the period incorporated Lunatic Asylum and, secondly, as an Orinoco tower (pre-1840) survives as part of an engine tion to production along the Thames and Harry Cooper (fl. 1871- 1918) for the manufacture decorative elements which give the surviving tobacco curing station prior to its closure in house required for the drainage of the quarries. Medway estuaries (fig. 115). of ‘Portland Cement’ and buildings an aesthetic value that outlives their 1939. ‘Roman Cement’. (fig. 114) FENCE Tacumshane (fig. 113) (1846) KILCARBRY CORN MILL Sweetfarm A mid nineteenth-century (1876) windmill belonging to the tapering prototype, as indi- Described in the 1970s by cated by the pronounced Craig as ‘a massive, derelict battered silhouette. A group of mill buildings’, thatched conical roof hous- the once impressive indus- es the vertical shaft driving trial complex at Kilcarbry two sets of milling stones has since been subject to below and retains the tail piecemeal demolition. pole and wheel necessary The last built mill survives to pivot the sails. Industrial largely intact and displays activity at Tacumshane an uncommonly formal ended only in 1932 and architectural quality with the windmill was restored Italianate arched openings in 1952 by the Office of that reference the profile of Public Works as the first the now-lost waterwheels. functioning National Monument in Ireland.

CAIM LEAD MINES Aughathlappa, Caim (ﬁg. 112) stone, inscribed ‘MC 1743’, (1836) FOULKESMILL CORN appears to have been MILL salvaged from an earlier A pair of tall tapering red Raheenduff, mill in the grounds. One brick chimneys survives as Foulkesmill of the last working mills in a reminder of the lead (1851) County Wexford, a cast- mines reopened by John iron breast shot Howlin at the edge of his A cut-limestone plaque waterwheel survives intact estate at Ballyhighland. records Martin Bowes as although the timber blades Hickey notes that, as a by- the builder responsible for have begun to deteriorate product of the mining the handsome nineteenth- since the complex was process, gravel thrown up century corn mill at closed in the late twentieth during excavations was Foulkesmill and identifies century. ‘drawn away to the numer- Richard Purcell as the ous avenues and garden proprietor. A rough hewn walks of the gentry…who use it as the best material for gravelling, from its anti- NIAH vegetating quality’. NIAH

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The economic prosperity of the countryside shopfronts (fig. 116). The shopfront of J. Byrne, (ﬁg. 117) (ﬁg. 118) JAMES BYRNE J. BAILEY had a considerable impact on the commercial 13 Quay Street, shows a typically understated 13 Quay Street, 59 South Street, development of the towns of County Wexford, ornamentation (fig. 117) while that of J. Bailey, New Ross New Ross the streets of which were transformed by a pre- 59 South Street, follows a Classical theme with The impressive collection of Surviving nineteenth- traditional shopfronts in century shopfronts often vailing fashion for carved and brightly painted fluted Ionic columns framing the display win- New Ross was noted by reveal a degree of fine shopfronts. New Ross, which has escaped the dows and doorways (fig. 118). Maurice Craig, who com- craftsmanship. Elegant mented that ‘there seem fluted Ionic columns, seen rigorous changes of more prosperous parts of to be more classical in this example in South the county, is particularly rich in decorative shopfronts in New Ross Street, are a recurrent than in any other town in motif in the town Ireland… They seem to be suggesting the output appreciated and well of a skilled local carpenter looked after, and certainly or joiner. deserve to be as they are a distinctive mark of local identity’.

(ﬁg. 116) SOUTH STREET New Ross

Commenting on a visit to New Ross, Mr and Mrs S.C. Hall noted in 1842 that the failure to develop the port as a viable com- petitor to the port at nearby Waterford was imped- ing the commercial inter- ests in the town. However, a report in The Event: Bassett's Illustrated Paper for the County of Wexford (1897) noted that 'the improvements [to the town] have been confined to the re-modelling of shop-fronts. A fair amount of such improvements has been done'. A photograph from the Lawrence Collection illustrates a fine collection of resplendent shopfronts, many of which survive.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

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(ﬁg. 121) McDONALD 21 Slaney Street, Enniscorthy

A particularly fine example of the so-called ‘Enniscorthy shopfront’ featuring separate entrances for the household and the public centred on an elegant display window retaining the increasingly-rare protective timber shutters with traditional painted lettering overhead. NIAH

J. HOGAN 69 South Street, New Ross

A Classically composed shopfront retaining both the slender glazing bars often missing from neighbouring display (ﬁg. 119) (ﬁg. 120) windows, and the 19-20 MARKET SQUARE 19-20 MARKET SQUARE increasingly rare Enniscorthy Enniscorthy ‘marbleised’ lettering. (1844) A detail of the distinctive A terrace of six near- and elegant shopfronts uniform houses was considered a feature constructed (1840-4) on unique to Enniscorthy, the the south side of Market shopfront arcades referenc- Square, each one with a ing earlier trading centres date stone bearing the such as the nearby market initials of the respective house (extant 1813). The ‘Enniscorthy shopfront’, a local pattern lease holder. The terrace FRENCH characterised by a series of elliptical- or round- may have been the McNULTY’S 28 Main Street, outcome of a 27 South Street, Gorey headed openings at street level, has become reorganisation (1822) of New Ross An eighteenth-century increasingly rare in that town. A few fine the Portsmouth estate to include the setting up of One of a terrace of four townhouse adapted to examples remain: 19 and 20 Market Square ‘plots of ground for identical units built with commercial use at street commercial space at street level in the later nineteenth (1844) each show a series of four elliptical- building…at very low rents…provided good level and residential century with the headed openings on cut-granite piers (figs. 119- buildings were erected on accommodation overhead. introduction of a pair of Each retains its original Classically-detailed 120). The shopfront at McDonald, 21 Slaney such plots’. The harmony of the terrace was shopfront with angular shopfronts. The attractive Street, displays a similar rhythmical pattern of interrupted by the panelled consoles framing painted lettering overhead the fascia. survives as evidence of a openings and apparently retains the original construction of the branch office of the Munster and once-popular, but joinery throughout (fig. 121). Leinster Bank (1923-5). increasingly endangered, method of advertising.

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(ﬁg. 122) (ﬁg. 124) The county’s banks date largely from the BANK OF IRELAND NATIONAL BANK Crescent Quay/Custom OF IRELAND later nineteenth century and were often built House Quay, Custom House Quay, using Italianate detailing that links the build- Wexford Wexford (1832) (1864) ings to the Florentine origins of banking. The

A survey drawing from an Appointed architect to the earliest surviving purpose-built bank in the album by Sandham Symes National Bank of Ireland in county, the Bank of Ireland (1832) on the cor- outlines the plan and ele- 1853, William Francis vation of the Wexford Bank Caldbeck was responsible ner of Crescent Quay and Custom House Quay, of Ireland, designed by for an impressive collection Wexford, is a handsome building constructed, John Howard Louch (1797- of banks throughout the 1867) of Dublin. Apart country and, like Symes, according to Lacy, entirely of silver-grey gran- from the triangular pedi- his tendency to build to a ite ‘brought from the neighbourhood of ment above the central formula is reflected in the first floor window, the similar design of the Dalkey, near Dublin’ and with a Wyatt-style tri- design is a near facsimile branch offices at New Ross partite window pattern at street level (fig. 122). of Louch’s earlier scheme (1861) and Wexford. (1826) for a branch office It was not unusual for later banks to follow a at Newry, County Down. standardised prototype and the Bank of Ireland Lacy suggests that the bank was in turn the inspi- (1860), New Ross, is almost identical to its lat- ration for the nearby er counterpart (1875) in Waterford City. Chamber of Commerce (1838). Sandham Symes (1807-94), resident architect

Courtesy of the Irish (ﬁg. 125) for the Bank of Ireland, was responsible for the Architectural Archive NATIONAL BANK branch office (1878-80) in Enniscorthy, which OF IRELAND Custom House Quay, had appeared earlier (1868) at Arklow, County (ﬁg. 123) Wexford BANK OF IRELAND Wicklow (fig. 123). Similarly, the National Bank Abbey Square/Mill Park Underling the impact the of Ireland (1864), Wexford, was built to a Road, maritime activities on the Enniscorthy opposing quays had on design proposal by William Francis Caldbeck (1878-80) the commercial success of (c.1824-72) (figs. 124-125) and recalls his con- the bank, each doorcase A further extract from the not only features a 'rope temporary branch (1861) in New Ross. album of survey drawings twist' moulding, but also a illustrates the branch office Not every bank building adhered to this Riverine keystone recalling at Enniscorthy, the design the Custom House (1781- sober interpretation of Classicism. The for which had previously 91) in Dublin. appeared (1868) at Arklow, Provincial Bank of Ireland (1881-2) on the cor- County Wicklow. The bank ner of Custom House Quay and Anne Street, is distinguished by the combination of silver-grey Wexford, attributed to Sir Thomas Newenham granite and vibrant red Deane (1827-99), displays an eclectic variety of brick, the latter material supplied by the Courtown Classically-derived features applied with a the- Brick and Tile Works atrical panache and executed in a polychro- (established 1847) opened by the 4th Earl of matic blend of red brick and granite. Courtown as a famine relief measure.

Courtesy of the Irish Architectural Archive

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The rise of the merchant middle class from contractor who inherited a company from her SELSKAR STREET/ GEORGE’S STREET the mid nineteenth century also changed the husband and oversaw the construction of ter- LOWER pattern of existing urban centres with the raced townhouses and suburban villas in the Wexford (1894) building of smart townhouses continuing apace outskirts of Wexford. Glena Terrace (1891-2), a At the behest of her alongside the development of the suburbs. An collection of eight not-quite-uniform houses in brother-in-law, the solicitor early scheme of four terraced townhouses Spa Well Road, exemplifies the late Victorian Michael J. O'Connor (1863- 1937), Mrs. O'Connor (1838) in Henry Street, New Ross, was named urban style and features fashionable bay win- entered into the Victoria Place in honour of the coronation dows extending through two floors (fig. 126). commercial field with the construction of a purpose- (1837) of Queen Victoria (1819-1901). A later The nearby Ardruadh (1893) is a flamboyant built office to a design by group of five terraced houses (1864) in Rowe rendition in the High Victorian style, built in Joseph Kelly Freeman (b. 1865). The office met Street Upper, Wexford, reputedly instigated as distinctive yellow brick with decorative terra- with considerable favour a speculative venture by the Rowe family of cotta and timber work dressings. Its plan form from The People, which noted it as '[effecting] a Ballycross House, is enlivened by the finish in encompasses many projections including pic- wonderful improvement in render at street level with red brick overhead. turesque battlemented bay windows, and an that particular part of the street [Main Street]… A Brightly coloured brickwork defines the out- expressed entrance incorporates a distinctive magnificent red brick put of Mary O’Connor (1837-1927), a building oversailing canopy. building…the front "made out" in Bridgewater [sic] first quality brick, the corbelling being in white Bridgewater [sic] to correspond… [It] is domestic Gothic in design freely treated…' The office uncovered in its (ﬁg. 126) construction 'old walls of GLENA TERRACE particularly ancient Spa Well Road, construction…supposed to Wexford belong either to an old (1891-2) abbey or to have been the sea walls of the quays'. A Having advertised a ‘China minimalist extension (2006- Glass and Earthenware 7) designed by Mahon Fox SELSKAR STREET/ Establishment’ in the shows clean geometric GEORGE’S STREET Wexford Independent lines and expansive glazed LOWER (1880), Mary O’Connor surfaces standing in Wexford (née Maguire) entered into contrast to the intricate A detail of the ‘white the building trade on the detailing of the original Bridgewater’ dressings, death of her husband in late Victorian design. 1881. One of the earliest imported from Bridgwater, projects attributed to Mrs Somerset, contributing to a O’Connor is the elegant vibrant visual palette Glena Terrace built on the characteristic of the late Spa Well Fields. Glenavilla Victorian period. (1891), the first house completed, is distinguished from the remainder of the scheme by the symmetrical composition centred on a handsome bay window.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

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(ﬁg. 127) NEWTOWNBARRY HOUSE Carrhill, Bunclody (1863-9)

In contrast to the eclectic designs of many of the great houses in the nineteenth century, Newtownbarry House displays a solemn Italianate restraint. It is constructed in rock-faced Mount Leinster granite with sheer dressings providing an interplay of light and shade in the otherwise mono- chromatic palette.

Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

Although the landed gentry continued to (ﬁg. 128) NEWTOWNBARRY refine or redevelop their properties, they did so HOUSE at a decelerated rate. Woodfield, the Maxwell Carrhill, Bunclody ancestral seat described by Lacy as ‘of cottage- A view of the impressive like character, in the Grecian style top-lit stair hall featuring a of architecture’ was acquired in 1854 by screen of elegant Tuscan columns, recalling the con- Samuel Ashton, a Manchester-based speculator, temporary output of the through the Encumbered Estates Court but was firm of Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon at Stradbally Hall RAMSFORT HOUSE house is nevertheless Kirk commissioned Thomas drawing suggests it was allowed to deteriorate thereafter. In 1862 (1866-7), County Laois. Ballyteganpark remarkable as a testimony Henry Wyatt (1807-80) to once contemplated to to the Victorian preoccupa- extend the house in an embellish the entire house Robert Westley Hall-Dare (1817-66) bought the An extraordinary architec- tion with the latest archi- idiosyncratic style described with similar esoteric Newtownbarry estate from Ashton. The new tural mélange, Ramsfort tectural trends. The origi- as 'severe François Premier'. detailing. House was once described nal house, a Regency villa The house was once again Newtownbarry House (figs. 127-128) was by Hickey as 'a handsome built by Stephen Ram extended (1871-2) by Courtesy of the National designed by Lanyon, Lynn and Lanyon (formed structure…embellished by (1818-99), is recognised by Benjamin Thomas Patterson Library of Ireland taste in every portion'. If half-octagonal bows. (1837-1907) in a compos- 1860) of Belfast with an elegant restraint. no longer regarded as Having purchased the ite style known as Italianate quite so beautiful, the estate in 1870, William M. Tudor and a surviving

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Occupying an elevated position overlooking of the High Victorian era. Although compara- (ﬁg. 130) LOFTUS HALL the River Slaney outside Enniscorthy, tively chaste in external appearance, the pub- Loftushall Brownswood (1894-6) was built to a design lic response to Loftus Hall (1870-1), the new (1870-1) (1889) by William Mansfield Mitchell (1842- seat of John Henry Wellington Graham Loftus Upon succeeding to the title in 1857, the 4th 1910) when Eveleen Smith (née Pounden) (1849-89), 4th Marquess of Ely, proved con- Marquess of Ely proceeded (1841-1918) succeded to the title Lady Gray tentious and prompted an attack (1882) on the to 'improve' the family seat at Loftus Hall, razing in the (fig. 129). The house draws from a variety of accompanying gate lodge during the so-called process the seventeenth- architectural styles, their features anarchically ‘Land War’ (fig. 130). century Redmond Hall (extant 1666), scene of the composed and rendered in the glaring palette notorious 'Legend of the Hall'. Styled the Irish Osborne House, the (ﬁg. 129) concept for Loftus Hall was BROWNSWOOD Brownswood reputedly suggested by (1894-6) Jane Loftus (1821-90), Dowager Marchioness of A gaudy country house Ely, who, until 1889, stands as a monument to served as Lady of the the questionable taste of Bedchamber to Queen its builder, Eveleen Smith, Victoria. Left idle, the Lady Gray. The little house was eventually admired house was once adapted as a convent, first the family home of the by the Benedictine order internationally-lauded (1916) and later by the architect and designer, Rosminian Sisters of Eileen Gray (1878-1976). Providence (1937). Although Gray never lived Opened thereafter as a in the house, and disposed seasonal hotel, the house of it at the earliest possible has lately been the victim opportunity, it has been of neglect and vandalism. suggested that the clean lines of her work as a Photograph by Bryan Meade Modernist designer were a courtesy of The Sunday reaction against her Times mother’s ostentatious excess at Brownswood.

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(ﬁg. 131) 1798 MONUMENT Kyle, Oulart (1898; unveiled 1901)

A centennial monument, erected in memory of Father John Murphy (1753- 98) ‘and the men of North Wexford who fought and won the Battle of Oulart Hill’, melds the Classicism of traditional commemorative sculpture, rendered with an intensity bordering on the Baroque, with distinctly Celtic Revival detailing. These details include, alongside the diminutive High Cross, a crossed camán and torch, a subtle shamrock motif throughout, and the Harp of Brian Boru. Unveiled in 1901, the monument occupied a politically provocative position in front of the constabulary barrack, later reopened (1927) as the Garda Síochána station.

(ﬁg. 132) from the Sack of Wexford (ﬁg. 133) 1798 MONUMENT (1649) by Oliver Cromwell 1798 MONUMENT The Bullring, (1599-1658) during which Market Square, Wexford 2,000 Irish troops and Enniscorthy (1903-5) 1,500 civilians were killed (1905-8) and much of the town An aquatinted postcard The monument erected in As the century drew to a close, the 1798 Enniscorthy respectively. In The Bullring, destroyed by fire. The cast- illustrates the 1798 the centre of Enniscorthy, bronze statue is discreetly Centennial was commemorated with the erec- Wexford, the monument (cast 1903; erected Monument shortly after its also cast by Sheppard, is in signed Oliver Sheppard RHA installation in front of the many respects a facsimile tion of several monuments around the county. 1905) is identified by the life-size ‘Pike Man’ Dublin 1903. ‘New Market’. The selected of the earlier statue in the The 1798 Monument (1898; unveiled 1901), bearing the agricultural instrument improvised site had strong political res- Courtesy of Wexford County county town. In this onances as the scene of instance the Pike Man is Oulart, is an eccentric concoction supporting a as a weapon during the insurrection (fig. 132). Council Public Library the massacre stemming Service accompanied and guided small High Cross and showing a clear Celtic Meanwhile, the later monument (cast 1905; by Father John Murphy of Boleyvoge [Boolavogue], a Revival influence (fig. 131). Two of the finest unveiled 1908) in Market Square, Enniscorthy, Catholic clergyman and 1798 commemorative pieces in the county, both once again features a ‘Pike Man’ accompanied by prominent agitator in the 1798 Rebellion in County by the artist Oliver Sheppard (1865-1941), RHA, the figure of Father John Murphy (1753-98), a Wexford. occupy central positions in Wexford and prominent leader during the rebellion (fig. 133). Courtesy of the National Library of Ireland

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(ﬁg. 134) (ﬁg. 135) The Twentieth Century NORTH STREET CASTLEELLIS New Ross (between 1881-1901) (between 1866-79) A ‘wall box’ post box A rare example of a supplied by W.T. Allen and distinctive type of post box Company (fl. 1881-1955) TEMPLETOWN CHURCH known as the ‘Penfold of London not only (Templetown Parish) Hexagonal’, designed by displays the royal cipher of Templetown John Wornham Penfold Queen Victoria, but also, in (ob. 1917) (1828-1909), survives in a curious juxtaposition, the New Ross. Following Saorstát Éireann monogram A number of so-called complaints that letters introduced by the Free ‘Commonwealth Graves’ were easily caught up in State in 1924. record the role of County the corners of the Wexford on the periphery hexagon, the model was of international conflict in superseded by the now- the twentieth century. familiar ‘pillar box’. The Amongst a small collection royal cipher and coat-of- in the graveyard at arms of Queen Victoria Templetown Church is a (1819-1901; r. 1837-1901) headstone dedicated to a remain clearly visible under deck hand identified as the numerous coats of T.M. Fyfe, killed aboard green paint applied H.M. Trawler “George following Independence in Milburn”, torpedoed on 1922. the 12th of July 1917. NIAH

(ﬁg. 136) (ﬁg. 137) SCHOOL STREET PRIESTHAGGARD Wexford Priesthaggard (between 1901-10) (between 1910-22)

A ‘pillar box’ post box A ‘lamp box’ post box, shows the royal cipher of intended for installation in King Edward VII (1841- remote villages requiring The twentieth century has not been kind to spate of post office building included branch 1910; r. 1901-10). The minimal postal service, base is embossed with the displays the royal cipher of the architecture of County Wexford. The early offices in New Ross (1904-5), to a design by stamp of the firm of King George V (1865- part of the century was marked by conflict, Thomas John Mellon (d. 1922) of the Office of McDowall Steven and 1936; r. 1910-36). While Company (fl. 1862-1909) the foundry is not both national and international, which did not Public Works, and Enniscorthy (1905-6) by of London and Glasgow identified, this type of post create an advantageous climate for building, B.W. Webster (fl. 1904-15). Contemporary post who operated the Milton box was primarily made by Iron Works in Falkirk, A. [Andrew] Handyside and while the latter half fostered a spate of con- boxes dispersed throughout the county survive Scotland. Company (fl. 1853-1933) struction that often failed to respect either its as interesting examples of mass-produced cast- of Derby and London, a firm later known as the antecedents or the surrounding landscape. iron work and make an inconspicuous contri- Derby Casting Company. Initially the accelerated building campaign bution to their surroundings (figs. 134-137). begun in the previous century continued and Furthermore, their insignia mark the progress much of the built heritage of the early twenti- of Ireland’s colonial past with raised lettering eth century can be interpreted as an attempt recording the reigns of Queen Victoria (1837- to put the finishing touches to outstanding 1901), King Edward VII (1901-10) and King projects, demonstrating continuity rather than George V (1910-22). departure in terms of architectural style. A

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Commercial premises tended to follow (ﬁg. 139) CHURCH OF SAINT established patterns with residential space over MARY AND SAINT the shop. 54 Main Street North (1919), MICHAEL Cross Street, Wexford, survives as an excellent example of New Ross (1894-1902) the period and retains a pretty shopfront with decorative timber work detailing (fig. 138). Despite Reverend Kavanagh’s penchant for Where the economic upheavals of the nine- the Romanesque, which teenth century had previously precluded was gaining a foothold as the preferred style for improvement or reconstruction, existing church building across the chapels, considered unfit for worship, were country, the Gothic Revival style was selected by replaced with new churches of suitable size and popular consensus for the architectural aspirations. Proposals for a new new church at New Ross, the robust embellishments church at New Ross had been made as early as defining Walter Glynn 1849, motivated by a desire for a worthy archi- Doolin’s scheme executed by John A. O’Connell of tectural peer to the churches of Enniscorthy, Saint Patrick’s Works, Cork.

Gorey and Wexford, but the chapel (1806) in Courtesy of the National South Street was deemed suitable for continued Library of Ireland use. It was therefore not until the 1890s that Reverend Michael Kavanagh (d. 1915) commissioned a new parish church and, upon completion, the Church of Saint Mary and Saint Michael (1894-1902) took the title as the largest church in the county, even surpassing the Diocesan cathedral in scale (fig. 139). Designed by Walter Glynn Doolin (1850-1902), who died without seeing his work completed, the church has been described by Jeremy Williams as giving ‘new vigour to an exhaust- ed elderly Gothic Revival’.

(ﬁg. 138) 54 MAIN STREET NORTH Wexford (1919)

An early twentieth-century shopfront features sizeable Staff Of Life' and records panes of plate glass for dis- the origins of the building play purposes and decora- as a bakery, while curvilin- tive mosaic work on the ear parapets represent a threshold inscribed: rare surviving example of 'Established/By/Mr & Mrs the 'Dutch' gables once MJ O'Connor/in/1860'. defining the streetscape in Raised lettering overhead the environs of The reads 'Bread Is Still The Bullring.

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Building on such as scale thereafter was no Moling’s Church (1912-3), Ballycanew, by (fig. 142) DEEPS BRIDGE longer viable and two parish churches begun George Luke O’Connor (d. 1947), not only Killurin/Deeps within a decade of New Ross illustrate a dra- exemplifies a parish church of modest size (1913-5) matic reduction in both scale and costly archi- stripped of all unnecessary embellishment, but The first reinforced concrete bridge in County tectural detailing. The Church of Saint Patrick also represents a rare experimentation in the Wexford replaced its deteri- and Saint Bridget (1912-18), Sion, the work of Romanesque style in County Wexford. The orating timber trestle predecessor (1842-4). The new William Henry Byrne (1844-1917), shows an interior is ornamental in comparison, with del- bridge at The Deeps was Edwardian perspective on the familiar Gothic icate stained glass panels reflecting a compli- built by the British Reinforced Concrete Revival style (fig. 140). The contemporary Saint mentary Celtic Art Nouveau theme (fig. 141). Engineering Company (formed 1905) and features a lifting span, now fixed, (fig. 140) supplied by the Cleveland CHURCH OF SAINT Bridge and Engineering PATRICK AND SAINT (fig. 141) Company (founded 1877) BRIDGET SAINT MOLING'S of Darlington. Sion CHURCH (1912-18) Ballycanew (1912-3) Courtesy of Wexford County Council Public Library Unsuccessful in securing A church at Ballycanew, Service the commission at New begun in 1840, was abort- Ross, William Henry Byrne ed in 1846. Reverend later designed the parish Nicholas Mernagh (d. church neighbouring 1937) staged a competi- Crossabeg. The church tion to select a new design shows a muted polychro- and George Luke matic palette with bands of O’Connor emerged as the granite and deep blue successful candidate. limestone dressings. The While the church repre- soft pink conglomerate sents a rare foray in the stone may have been sal- Romanesque style in the vaged from the demolished county, the stark exterior MOUNT GARRETT Saunders Court (demol- may have been an attempt BRIDGE ished 1891-2). to curb expenditure. Mountelliott (1925-30)

The age of the timber bridge in County Wexford came to an end during Deficiencies in transport infrastructure con- ‘The Troubles’ with the destruction in 1921 of the tinued to be identified and addressed and bridge (1794) designed by included a competition for the replacement of Lemuel Cox (1736-1806), an American-born engineer. the nineteenth-century timber trestle bridge Having proven his profi- (1842-4) built by James Barry Farrell at a cross- ciency at Deeps Bridge, Delap was awarded the ing over the River Slaney at Killurin and The contract for the present Deeps. The successful candidate for the new bridge distinguished by the eye-catching rolling-lift bas- Deeps Bridge (opened 1915) was Alfred Dover cule span patented by Delap (1871-1943) whose innovative design William Scherzer (1858-93) of Chicago. not only included a bascule lifting central section, but also a construction technique using

NIAH British Reinforced Concrete Fabric (fig. 142).

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Since attempts at improving the port at was ranked the longest bridge in Ireland at the (fig. 143) BARROW BRIDGE Wexford Harbour had proved unsuccessful, time of completion and remains the third Greatisland Rosslare Port was the best potential harbour for longest railway bridge in Britain and Ireland (1902-6) international shipping. As early as 1885, (fig. 143). It was designed by Sir Benjamin While most bridges on the Fishguard and Rosslare George Henry Bassett indicated that it was pro- Baker (1840-1907), with steel work supplied by Railway line mask their posed to develop the nascent port as the ‘New Sir William Arrol (1839-1913), a partnership mass concrete basis behind a conventional brick or Wexford’, replete with ‘stores, warehouses and that had proven its credentials with the inter- rendered finish, the impres- shops’. Traces of this, and earlier, work were nationally lauded Forth Bridge (1883-90) in sive Barrow Bridge proudly displays the complex largely eradicated by the redevelopment of the Scotland. Further east, the elegant Taylorstown rhythm of riveted steel harbour in the 1980s. Keen to exploit the Viaduct (1904-6), spanning the Owenduff River members at the heart of its construction, making an potential for cross-channel commercial and valley, makes a striking impression in a leafy unashamedly industrial passenger services, the Fishguard and Rosslare setting with lofty arches springing from slen- statement against a rural backdrop. Railways and Harbours Company was formed der piers supporting parapets with corbelled Courtesy of Wexford County in 1894 with a view to opening a railway con- pedestrian refuges (fig. 144). The vibrant red Council Public Library nection with the city and port of Waterford. brick, however, masks the innovative construc- Service The development of a railway network in tion technique employing mass concrete, as County Wexford had been underway since the opposed to reinforced concrete, a hallmark of mid nineteenth century when a station was the engineering projects supervised by Sir opened (1862) at Ballywilliam. A piecemeal Robert 'Concrete Bob' McAlpine (1847-1934), approach to the network, however, meant that contractor, who was entrusted with responsi- a direct service to and from Dublin opened bility for the construction of the line. In con- only as far as Enniscorthy in 1863, finally trast to such bold engineering statements, evi- reaching the county town almost a decade lat- dence of thrifty economy elsewhere can still be (fig. 144) (fig. 145) TAYLORSTOWN VIADUCT WELLINGTON BRIDGE er in 1872. Lacy noted in the interim that it seen at Wellington Bridge Railway Station Taylorstown/ RAILWAY STATION Loughnageer Ballyowen, had been contemplated to link Enniscorthy (1906), the last station surviving intact on the (1904-6) Wellington Bridge and Wexford via a canal along the River Slaney. line (fig. 145). A timber-frame structure, the (1906) The vibrant red brick finish Work began on the Fishguard and Rosslare station is clad in corrugated-iron, a building largely conceals the innova- An ‘island platform’ station tive mass concrete con- survives as the last manned Railway line in 1902 and, upon completion in material generally intended as a temporary struction at Ta ylorstown. stop on the Fishguard and 1906, an array of bridges and impressive measure but which, thanks to successive layers The sharpness of the Rosslare Railway line engi- impost detailing has erod- neered by James Otway viaducts made a dramatic statement in the low- of paint, has endured long beyond its project- ed considerably while the (1843-1903). Archival pho- lying south County Wexford landscape. The ed lifespan. ‘hearting’ has also leeched tographs of the now-lost through, presenting as cas- complex at Bridgetown impressive Barrow Bridge (1902-6), Greatisland, cades of white upon the (1906; demolished post- piers. The viaduct was 1975) confirm that the sta- reconstructed (1923) fol- tion at Wellington Bridge lowing extensive damage was built to a standardised during ‘The Troubles’; evi- prototype with ‘economic’ dence of the attack corrugated-iron fixed on to remains to this day in a timber frame, and an debris scattered across the oversailing roof doubling as field below. a shelter for passengers.

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The 1916 Rising threw the existing social In anticipation of the conflict a number of (fig. 147) BELLEVUE order into turmoil and, like the 1798 Rebellion, Anglo Irish families had left for England, leav- Ballyhoge brought much destruction of property in its ing their properties unattended and several (1827-37 with 1737) wake. Many buildings in the county were houses in County Wexford were destroyed, the Bellevue was attacked on the 31st of January, 1923, damaged or destroyed during the War of arsonists condemned in an editorial in The and according to The Independence (1919-21) and the ensuing Civil People (1923) as forming ‘part of the campaign People ‘the flames spread through the building, and War (1922-3). Strategic targets like the con- against the Free State Government [making] in a short time the beauti- stabulary barracks at Gorey (burnt 1922) and Ireland distinctly poorer’. Castleboro House ful residence was reduced to ruins’. An extract from a Fethard (burnt 1923) were torched, while a was burnt in February 1923 and neighbouring set of drawings prepared Dublin Castle report (1921) recorded that the Coolbawn House met with the same fate by by H.M. Wood, chartered surveyor and valuer of County Courthouse was ‘bombed, set on fire, month’s end. Wilton Castle (1838-44), another Dublin, outlines the ground and destroyed’ in June 1921. The signal box at Daniel Robertson-designed house, was also floor apartments of the house in support of a suit Enniscorthy Railway Station was attacked burnt (fig. 146). All three houses survive as lodged under the Damage (1922) to prevent the transfer of Government magnificent ruins and have been described as to Property (Compensation) Act, 1922. troops from Rosslare Harbour to Dublin; Inch of greater architectural interest now than when It would appear that a Railway Station was damaged on two separate they were complete. reconstruction was never considered and a notice occasions; and a bomb intended to destroy just published within a month one arch of the Taylorstown Viaduct ultimate- of the fire advertised the sale of architectural salvage ly led to a near-total collapse of the bridge. including ‘Building Material, quantity of Lead…Windows, Timber (fig. 146) WILTON CASTLE and Slates’. Wilton Courtesy of Wexford County (1838-44) Council Archive Department An impressive nineteenth- (fig. 148) architect responsible for the century castle, built to a BELLEVUE chapel has long been dis- design by Daniel Ballyhoge puted, a notice in The Robertson, absorbed an (1858-60) Building News (1859) claimed that: ‘A new eighteenth-century house The report in The People church has lately been that Hickey criticised as also mentions that, on erected by A. Cliffe…from being ‘in the dull style of converting to Catholicism the designs of A. Welby the period of William and in 1856, the Cliffes had Pugin; it is designed in the Mary’. Attacked on the 5th built a chapel for private Early Decorated period and of March, 1923, The Irish use, which ‘the armed is well executed by a local Times recorded: ‘Nothing men detached…[so] the builder’. remains of the beautiful fire was contained to the building but smoke- building proper’. While the begrimed, roofless walls, broken windows, and a heap of smouldering debris’. The picturesque Bellevue (1825-37; burnt 1923), Ballyhoge, ruins have now been partially reconstructed with was subsequently demolished (figs. 147-148), as support from the Heritage were Ardamine House (1842; burnt 1921), near Council. Riverchapel, and Upton House (1873-4; burnt 1923), Kilmuckridge. Other houses damaged

NIAH during ‘The Troubles’ were rebuilt or replaced.

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(ﬁg. 149) (ﬁg. 150) ARTRAMON HOUSE BALLYNESTRAGH HOUSE Artramon Ballynestragh Demesne (1928-32) (post-1767)

Another casualty of ‘The A photograph from the Troubles’, the attack on Lawrence Collection illus- Artramon House destroyed trates the eighteenth-centu- the eighteenth-century Le ry Esmonde seat, Hunte ancestral seat ‘improved’ over the course described in The Irish of the nineteenth century. Weekly Times (1923) as: Adopted as a postcard for ‘one of the finest two- distribution worldwide, it storey structures of its kind conveyed the prestige of in the county’. One of the the Irish landed ascendan- few houses in County cy. Likewise, the smoulder- Wexford expressly targeted ing ruins of the mansion, with the intention of attacked on the 9th of removing the estate from March, 1923, came to the ownership of the symbolise the end of the English landlord, a report old order and the emer- in The People (1923) gence of an independent remarked: ‘There was an Ireland. agitation in the immediate Courtesy of Wexford County neighbourhood for a distri- Council Public Library bution of the lands of Service Artramont [sic], and a grazing auction advertised to be held proved abortive’.

(ﬁg. 151) BALLYNESTRAGH HOUSE Ballynestragh Demesne (1937)

Having initially taken the news of the destruction of his house philosophically, describing the event as ‘all in a day’s work’, Senator Sir Thomas Henry Grattan Esmonde grew increasingly frustrated with the protract- ed legal dispute arising from his claim for compensation. Sir Laurence Grattan Artramon House (1771-83) was reconstructed Esmonde (1863-1943) later adopted the project, comis- (1928-32) to a design by Patrick Joseph Brady sioning Dermot St John (d. 1936), apparently on the footprint of Gogarty to design an entirely new house in the its eighteenth-century predecessor (fig. 149). conservative neo-Georgian Ballynestragh House (post-1767), however, was style, but with a colonnade of recycled granite ashlar built anew (1937) to a design by Dermot St pillars from the portico of

John Gogarty (b. 1908) (figs. 150-151). NIAH the old Ballynestragh House.

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WHITE WALLS On the foundation of the Irish Free State in village setting. Carrickbyrne Garda Síochána Ballymoney Lower (1933) 1922 the Royal Irish Constabulary was dis- Station (1936), built to a standardised design

In the light of the national banded and the Garda Síochána took over the supplied by the Office of Public Works, epito- reluctance to embrace responsibility of policing the nation. The 1930s mises the somewhat regressive tradition and Modernism, the wave of innovation transforming saw the construction of stations to accommo- displays a Classical theme underpinned by contemporary European date the new police force, which are among the traditional Georgian-style glazing patterns architecture, White Walls was considered a 'radical' earliest purpose-built civic institutions estab- (fig. 152). The insistence on nostalgic design departure. While the clean lished following Independence. The fledgling loosened as the century progressed and, unlike Cubist lines are today regarded as an exemplar of state, however, did not express its authority by many of its counterparts, New Ross Garda the International Modern using new architectural styles and appeared to Síochána Station (1952), Cross Street, refer- style, the house met with disfavour from the builder’s adhere to the Irish Constabulary policy of ences the Modern Movement in many of its nephew, Niall Rudd (b. building in a domestic style integrated with a characteristics (fig. 153). 1927), who remarked that ‘in the setting of Ballymoney, Whitewalls was an embarrassing lapse of taste. Luckily there was a (ﬁg. 153) line of trees…which hid it NEW ROSS GARDA from passers-by’. SÍOCHÁNA STATION Cross Street, New Ross (1952) NIAH The Office of Public Works (ﬁg. 152) was responsible for a spate CARRICKBYRNE GARDA of new urban buildings in SÍOCHÁNA STATION the mid twentieth century Scullaboge, including, at New Ross, a Carrickbyrne innovative station with an (1936) interesting plan form, var- At Carrickbyrne, a conser- ied wall surface finishes, vative neo-Georgian porthole and ‘strip’ win- ‘domestic’ station reflected dows featuring metal fit- the role of the Garda tings, and flat and curvilin- Síochána as an unarmed ear roof profiles, all show- civilian force; the prototype ing an awareness of the had previously appeared in contemporary Modern identical form at Campile movement. (1927) and Castlebridge (1932).

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Education and the provision of adequate contemporary European architectural develop- In the economic downturn of the mid twen- schooling facilities was one of the priorities of ments and Gorey Technical School (1932), the tieth century, significant architectural projects the new State, and primary schools were erect- work of the architectural partnership (formed were often ecclesiastical in nature and included throughout the county, most continuing to 1925) of John Joseph Robinson (1887-1965) ed Saint Bridget’s Church (1955-6), Clologe, the (ﬁg. 155) SAINT BRIDGET’S function under the National School system and Richard Cyril Keefe (c.1889-1965), displays successor to an early nineteenth-century chapel CHURCH Clologe Little, established in 1831. Again, those schools built symmetry, uniform proportions, and resurrect- (1801) in the village (fig. 155). Attributable to Clologe to designs approved or supplied by the Office ed the characteristic ‘Wexford Window’ glazing Herbert Thomas Coleman (b. c.1908) of the (1955-6) of Public Works tend toward a simple design pattern (fig. 154). An interesting footprint firm of Ashlin and Coleman (formed 1903), Superseding an earlier chapel (1801) on an adja- aesthetic with large windows, to ensure ade- aside, Adamstown Technical School (1935-6), Dublin, the church displays an attempt to mar- cent site, also dedicated to quate internal lighting, and separate entrances built at the height of International Modernism, ry long-standing liturgical traditions with con- Saint Bridget, the new church at Clologe merges for boys and girls. Private practices, or their also conforms to a stolidly conservative neo- temporary detailing and conforms to a tradi- detailing belonging to the clients, were similarly reluctant to embrace Georgian aesthetic. tional ‘barn’ plan form with openings produc- so-called ‘Modern Pointed’ style with a traditional ing a so-called ‘Modern Pointed’ theme. It was ‘barn’ plan form.

(ﬁg. 154) GOREY TECHNICAL SCHOOL The Avenue, Gorey (1932)

Some very minor detailing aside, the design for Gorey Technical School by the partnership of John Joseph Robinson and Richard Cyril Keefe is symptomatic of Ireland’s overriding reluctance to embrace Modernism and shows a symmetrical plan form and uniform proportions rooted in the long-established Classical tradition. The school is distinguished by the revisitation of the ‘Wexford Window’ glazing pattern.

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(ﬁg. 156) As the twentieth century drew to a close, (ﬁg. 157) SAINT PATRICK’S TULACH a’ tSOLAIS CHURCH the bicentennial anniversary of the 1798 Oulart Ballygillane Little, Rebellion was commemorated by the erection (1998) Rosslare Harbour Village (1969) of a number of monuments. Tulach a’ tSolais A radical departure from the Celtic High Crosses The first church in the (1998), or ‘Mound of Light’, an austerely beau- and Pike Men previously Diocese of Ferns to tiful memorial on Oulart Hill designed by erected as symbols of the respond to the liturgical 1798 Rebellion, the bicen- reforms of the Second Ronald Tallon of Scott Tallon Walker tennial monument on Vatican Council, Saint Architects, with sculpture by Michael Warren, Oulart Hill appears as a Patrick’s replaced an obso- raised mound split through lete corrugated-iron chapel was awarded the Royal Institute of the by two cast-concrete fins, (1911) in neighbouring Architects of Ireland (RIAI) Gold Medal 2000 its aperture symbolically Rosslare Strand. The rein- aligned on an axis with forced concrete trusses pro- and was nominated for a Mies van der Rohe Oulart to the east and duce a distinctive pyrami- Architecture Prize in 2001 (fig. 157). Vinegar Hill, Enniscorthy, to dal silhouette, plunging the west. into the ground in an interesting play on the fly- Photograph by Peter Cooke ing buttresses of thirteenth- courtesy of Scott Tallon century French Gothic Walker Architects architecture.

Reproduced from Images of Ireland: Rosslare Harbour (2008) courtesy of Leo Coy, Brian Cleare, John Boyce, Brian Boyce and Rev. Diarmuid Desmond

not until the last quarter of the century, following the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Vatican Council (1962-5), that ecclesiastical architecture finally broke with tradition and began to adopt radical architectural forms. Saint Patrick’s Church (1969), Rosslare Harbour Village, is one of the earliest and most successful examples in the county (fig. 156). Square in plan, but pyramidal in profile, the church features a mosaic salvaged in 1968 from the Saint Andrew, a steamship that served as a hospital carrier during the Second World War.

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Conclusion

(ﬁg. 160) BROWNE CLAYTON COLUMN Carrigadaggan

A detail of the column following restoration shows new sections of Mount Leinster granite. The restoration, managed by Howley Harrington Architects, was awarded the Opus Architecture and Construction Aw ard for Heritage and the RIAI Best (ﬁg. 158) Practice in Conservation BROWNE CLAYTON Aw ard, both in 2005. COLUMN Photograph by Donal Carrigadaggan Murphy courtesy of Howley (1839-41) Hayes Architects Occupying a dramatic outcrop, the impressive column, known variously as ‘The Pillar’ or ‘The Pinnacle’, or derided as ‘Browne Clayton’s Folly’ or ‘Browne Clayton’s (ﬁg. 159) BROWNE CLAYTON The recent period of prosperity in Ireland Had the damage caused by lightning Nonsense’ was erected by COLUMN General Robert Browne has had a dramatic impact on the architectur- occurred at any other time in the twentieth Carrigadaggan Clayton (1771-1845). A al legacy of County Wexford and has reshaped century it is almost certain that the renowned testimonial to Sir Ralph The column was struck by Abercromby (1734-1801), lightning in 1994. It has the built environment with a vigour not seen Browne Clayton Column (1839-41) would have under whom Browne since been acquired by the since the aftermath of the 1798 Rebellion. been demolished (figs. 158-160). The formation Clayton had served in Wexford Monument Trust Egypt, the column was (established 2001) and was While it is possible to dwell on the negative of the Wexford Monument Trust in 2001, intended to be a facsimile restored in two stages. The effects of accelerated development on the grants from An Taisce, the Heritage Council, of the so-called ‘Pompey’s stabilisation and strength- Pillar’ (AD 297), Alexandria, ening of the undamaged architectural heritage of the county, it is impor- Wexford County Council, and the World and is cited as the only shaft was completed in tant to remember that, where a lack of finan- Monument Fund, and a careful restoration internally accessible 2002 and the repair of the Corinthian column in exis- damaged capital in 2003. cial resources might previously have made a under the supervision of Howley Harrington tence. Photograph by Donal restoration impossible, the economic boom has Architects, have all ensured that ‘The Pillar’ Photograph by Donal Murphy courtesy of Howley allowed for the sensitive repair of a small will command the attention of the passer-by Murphy courtesy of Howley Hayes Architects Hayes Architects number of houses and public buildings. for generations to come.

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(fig. 161) Having stood largely forgotten and forlorn, (fig. 162) stately Triumphal Arch, was RATHASPICK HOUSE SAUNDERS COURT described by Sean Rothery Rathaspick the gate screen was adopted by The Irish Saunderscourt as ‘one of the most endur- (1900) Landmark Trust and a restoration programme (between 1773-1815) ing architectural symbols since it was invented by Known variously as ‘The While Saunders Court is ongoing (fig. 162). Upon completion the gate the Romans in the first Chalet’ or ‘The Doll’s (demolished 1891-2) has century BC’. Adopted by House’, the gate lodge of screen, like other properties restored by the largely disappeared, the the Irish Landmark Trust, the seventeenth-century impressive gate screen Trust, will be adapted to self-catering holiday a restoration of the gate Rathaspick House is one of remains, albeit in poor screen is supported by the county’s most cheerful accommodation. repair and screened from both private and public buildings, presenting a public view by dense financial bodies, including medley of finishes, all undergrowth. The centre- the Heritage Council. painted in ice-cream piece of the gate screen, a colours, and a fanciful array of roof structures. A restoration of the somewhat deteriorated gate lodge is now underway, with assistance from the Heritage Council.

The Heritage Council has also assisted a number of smaller projects in the county through a series of grants for conservation or research and work is ongoing on the restoration the doll’s house-like gate lodge (1900) marking the entrance on to the grounds of Rathaspick House (fig. 161). The past glories of Saunders Court (demolished 1891-2), near Ferrycarrig, are recalled by a magnificent triumphal gate screen (between 1773-1815) and, writing in The Irish Tourist (1815), A. Atkinson noted the imposing character of the composition in his description of the abandoned estate: I proceeded toward Saunderscourt, the once respectable residence of the late Earl of Arran… I arrived within view of the splendid arch and lodges, which on an elevated position above the public road, form a grand outpost to this concern… I felt my heart impelled by a sentiment of sympa- thy…by the neglected and ruinous aspect of Saunderscourt, no longer the seat of nobility, nor of that munificence and national hospitality for which it was once so remarkable.

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AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD

The largest publicly-funded architectural (ﬁg. 163) cultural projects of recent tural significance of the CHURCH OF SAINT WEXFORD OPERA times’. Although the opera house was awarded PETER AND SAINT PAUL project of the twenty-first century so far, the HOUSE impact of the box-like sil- the Opus Award for Borleagh, Killinierin Wexford Opera House (2005-8), has already High Street, houette and skewed fly- Architecture and (1865-72) Wexford tower on the distinctive Construction 2008, the Remarking on work under- been recognised for its architectural merit, win- (2005-8) Wexford skyline has divided Royal Institute of British way at Killinierin to a opinion, the acoustics and Architects (RIBA) Award ning the Royal Institute of British Architects Built to designs by the design by the partnership visual aesthetics of the 2009 and the RIAI Best Office of Public Works of Pugin and Ashlin, the (RIBA) Award 2009 and the RIAI Best Cultural auditorium, clad entirely in Cultural Building Award Architects with Keith Dublin Builder noted (1865) North American black wal- 2009. Building Award 2009. The opera house will no Williams Architects, the that the new church was nut, have met with univer- Wexford Opera House has Photograph by Ros 'extremely severe and sim- doubt form part of the architectural heritage sal acclaim. Within a year been described as ‘one of Kavanagh courtesy of ple'. Anecdotal evidence of its opening the architec- we pass down to future generations (ﬁg. 163). Ireland’s most important Wexford Opera House suggests that the original internal decoration was compromised early in the twentieth century while the sanctuary was a casualty of an over-zealous interpretation of the liturgical reforms sanctioned by the Second Vatican Council. This drawing, one of a set of proposals by Sheridan and Tierney Architects, outlines a scheme for the restoration of the sanctuary in a style sympathetic to the Gothic Revival theme of the church and has been inspired in part by the contemporary Pugin and Ashlin church at Our Lady's Island.

Reproduced courtesy of Michael Tierney, Conservation Architect (RIAI)

133 wexford INSIDE*:master wicklow - english 14/12/2009 21:28 Page 134

AN INTRODUCTION TO THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE of COUNTY WEXFORD