[Illustration: CLONTARF CASTLE, COUNTY OF DUBLIN.]
There are few things that afford us a higher pleasure than to observe
our metropolis and our provincial cities and towns, despite of adverse
circumstances, increasing in the number and splendour of their public
buildings, for they are sure evidences of the advance of civilization,
with its attendant train of arts, amongst us, and that we are progressing
to the rank and dignity of a great nation. Yet we confess we enjoy a
still higher gratification when we see springing up around us great
architectural works of another class--those erected by individuals of
the aristocracy as residences for themselves and those who are to come
after them. Such architectural works are not merely interesting from the
gratifications they afford to the feeling of taste, and the epic dignity
and beauty which they contribute to landscape scenery, but have a higher
interest as pledges to the nation that those who have erected them have a
filial attachment to the soil which gave them birth, and which supplies
them, whether for good or evil, with the means of greatness; and that
they are not disposed to play the part of unwise and ungrateful children.
To us it little matters what the creed or party of such individuals may
be; however they may err in opinions, their feelings are at heart as
they should be. The aristocrat of large means, who is resident not from
necessity but from choice, and who spends a portion of his wealth in
the adornment of his home, is rarely, if ever, a bad landlord. Desiring
to see art and nature combine to produce the sentiment of beauty in
the objects immediately about him, he cannot willingly allow it to be
associated with the unsightly and discordant emblems of penury and
sorrow. To be indifferent about the presence of such accompaniments
would be an anomaly in human character, and only an exception proving
the general rule. It is this class of men that we want--men who seek
happiness in their legitimate homes, and the diffusion of blessings among
those to whom it is their duty to be protectors--lovers of the arts of
refined society, not the gross and generally illiterate pursuers of
field sports, which, by hardening the heart towards the lower animals
of creation, prepares it for reckless indifference to the wants and
sufferings of our fellow men. Had we more of such patriots--more of such
domestic architectural buildings starting into existence, evidencing
as well their refined tastes and habits as the sincerity of the love
they bear their native land, we should soon see the face of our country
changed, and peace and happiness smiling around us. We do not, however,
indulge in any feelings of despondence for the future. Very many
beautiful creations of the architectural art have recently been erected
in Ireland, and we have little apprehension that they will not increase
in number till our island shall rival any other portion of the empire
in the possession of such characteristic features of civilization and
beauty. Cheered by such pleasing anticipations, we shall endeavour to the
best of our ability to make our readers familiar with the architectural
styles of the chief residences of our nobility and gentry, as well as
with the general features of the scenery in which they are situated; and,
as a commencement, we have selected the seat of the Vernons--the recently
re-erected Castle of Clontarf.
The name of this locality, which is situated on the northern shore of
the Bay of Dublin, and about two miles from the city, must at least be
familiar to most of our readers, being memorable in history as the scene
of the most national and best contested battle ever fought in Ireland,
when in 1014 the monarch Brian Boru obtained a decisive victory over
the united forces of the Danish and Norwegian invaders of the British
islands, assisted by the Irish troops of a recreant King of Leinster.
This name signifies in English the lawn or recess of the bull, being
formed from two Celtic words, _cluain_, a lawn or pastoral plain, and
_tarbh_, a bull; the latter appellation expressing its contiguity to one
of the two great sand-banks of the bay, now called the North and South
Bulls, from the similitude of the sounds produced by the breaking of the
sea upon their shores, to the roar of animals of that denomination.
As it is stated that a church or monastery was founded here as early
as the year 550, it is probable that this name is of ecclesiastical
origin, and that the site of that ancient church is still marked by the
present parish one from which it was derived. But, however this may be,
immediately after the settlement of the Anglo-Normans, the lands of
Clontarf and Santry, constituting one knight’s fee, were granted by Hugh
de Lacy, Lord of Meath, to one of his followers, named Adam de Feipo, or
as the name is now written, Phepoe, by whom, as is generally supposed,
the Castle of Clontarf was erected, and its lands created a manor. This
manor, as well as its castle, appears, however, to have passed very soon
after into the possession of the Knights Templars, by whom a commandery
of the Order, dependent upon their splendid establishment at Kilmainham,
was placed here. Upon the suppression of the Templars, their manor of
Clontarf was granted, in 1311, to Richard de Burgo, Earl of Ulster, the
religious edifices upon it remaining in the king’s hands as a royal
house; and in 1326, Roger le Ken had a grant of the premises in Clontarf,
which he had heretofore occupied at will, to hold henceforth to him and
the heirs of his body. Towards the close of the same century, however, in
obedience to the Pope’s decree in reference to the lands of the Templars,
the manor passed into the possession of the Knights Hospitallers of St
John of Jerusalem, on which Clontarf became a preceptory of that Order,
and a chief seat of the Grand Prior of Kilmainham. It seems somewhat
probable, however, that the descendants of Roger le Ken still continued
to hold the manor as lessees of the Hospitallers till the dissolution
of the Order, as, immediately previous to that event, on an inquisition
taken, the Prior of Kilmainham was found seised of the manor, rectory,
tithes, and altarages of Clontarf, subject, however, to a lease made in
the year 1538 to Matthew King (a corrupted form perhaps of the name Ken)
of all the town and lordship, with the appurtenances, and also the pool
of Clontarf, and the island lying to the west side thereof, and all the
said rectory, tithes, &c. to endure for nine years. In this demise it
was provided that the lessee should repair the manor-house and maintain
a sufficient person to administer all sacraments to the parishioners at
their proper charges. On the suppression of the monastic order in the
thirty-second year of Henry the Eighth, Sir John Rawson, the Prior of
Kilmainham--a very distinguished man, who had at various periods held the
office of Treasurer of Ireland--having, with the consent of his Chapter
under their common seal, surrendered the hospital with its dependencies
into the King’s hands, he was created Viscount of Clontarf in 1541, on a
representation made to his majesty by the Lord Deputy, with a pension of
five hundred marks, in right of which dignity he sat in the parliament of
that year.
In the year 1600, the manor, territory, tithes, town, and lordships of
Clontarf, as enjoyed by the Priors of Kilmainham, were granted by Queen
Elizabeth to Sir Geoffry Fenton, who had filled the office of Secretary
of State for Ireland; and on his death in 1608 these premises were
further assured to his son Sir William, who had a confirmation of this
manor in 1637, under the commission for the remedy of defective titles.
Yet it appears that very shortly afterwards, the manor, however acquired,
was again in the possession of a member of the King family; for, on the
breaking out of the rebellion of 1641, the town, manor-house, &c. of
Clontarf, then the property of Mr George King, were burnt by Sir Charles
Coote as a punishment for the supposed participation of that gentleman
in a plunder made of a cargo from a vessel which lay there, by Luke
Netterville and his adherents. King was shortly afterwards attainted, a
reward of £400 offered for his head; and his estates, comprising this
manor, Hollybrook, and the island of Clontarf, containing, as stated,
961 acres statute measure, were bestowed by Cromwell on Captain John
Bakewell, who afterwards sold the estate to John Vernon, a scion of the
noble Norman family of the De Vernons, and from whose brother the present
proprietor descends.
In 1660, Colonel Edward Vernon, the son of John Vernon, passed patent
for this manor in fee, together with all anchorages, fisheries, creeks,
sands and sea-shores, wrecks of the sea, &c.; which right was saved in
subsequent acts of parliament, and still remains to his successors. And
in 1675, the king further enlarged the jurisdictions, tenures, and courts
of this manor, with a grant of royalties (royal mines excepted), power to
empark three hundred acres, with free warren, privilege of holding two
fairs, one on the 10th of April and the other on the 16th of October,
with customs, &c. These fairs have, however, been long discontinued.
We have thus briefly traced the origin, and succession of proprietors of
this castle and manor, as immediately connected with the subject of our
prefixed illustration; but our limits will not allow us to touch on the
general history of the locality on the present occasion.
Of the original castle erected here in the twelfth century, a square
tower, connected with additions of the sixteenth and subsequent
centuries, was preserved as a residence for the proprietors of the manor
till the year 1835, when the present noble structure was commenced from
the designs and under the superintendence of the late William Morrison,
Esq., the most eminent and accomplished architect whom Ireland has
possessed within the present century. With the good feeling as well as
refined taste for which this admirable artist was so distinguished, his
first desire in the re-edification of this castle was to preserve as far
as possible the original buildings; and while he increased their extent
in the necessary additions to them, to preserve and restore them as much
as possible to what might be supposed to have been their original state.
But it was found impracticable to do so. The foundations were found
to have sunk, and a nearly total re-erection was therefore necessary;
yet, in the new edifice, attending to the historical associations
connected with a spot so interesting, he so designed it as to exhibit
with historical accuracy what might be supposed to have been the forms
and features of the ancient buildings, and thus make it a consistent
commentary on and illustration of the past history of its locality.
With these remarks, which were necessary to insure a just appreciation of
the intention of the architect in the diversified character which he has
given to this architectural composition, we may describe it generally as
a structure in its character partly military, partly domestic, and to a
certain extent ecclesiastical. Its grand feature is a tower in the Norman
style of the twelfth century, which ascends to the height of seventy
feet, or with a smaller tower which is placed behind it, eighty feet:
it has turrets at its angles, and its windows as well as its interior
are enriched with decorations in harmony with its architectural style.
Connected with this tower, and placed on its west side, is the principal
portion of the domestic buildings, which present the purest specimen,
perhaps, of Tudor architecture to be found in Ireland. The entrance to
this range is placed beneath a small but lofty tower, beneath which a
vestibule leads into a spacious and lofty hall, fifty-one feet by twenty,
which presents much the appearance of a Gothic church, the walls being
panelled, and painted to imitate dark oak. This hall is floored with
Irish oak polished, and its roof is supported by principals springing
from richly ornamented corbels, or pendants--its beauty being much
increased by gilded bosses with which it is studded, and which, sparkling
among the dark tracery, have a singularly rich effect. The cornice is
also richly ornamented, and presents at intervals similar gilded bosses.
But the imposing feature of this great chamber is a magnificent staircase
of oak, placed at its eastern end, which leads, by two return flights,
to a gallery crossing the hall, and communicating with the principal
bed-chambers, and which would serve for an orchestra on occasions of
festivity. At the other end of the hall are doors leading into the
drawing-room, dancing-room, and library; and in the centre of this end is
placed a beautiful chimney-piece of black marble, surrounded by a canopy
of carved oak, the enrichments of which are in that peculiar style which
characterises the ornaments of Tudor architecture, containing the single
and double rose, stars, and other badges of that period. The hall is
lighted by five stained glass windows of an ecclesiastical character, and
level with the gallery; and on these windows are blazoned the arms of the
families with whom the Vernons have intermarried, comprising some of the
highest of the English and Irish nobility. Of the external architecture
of this portion of the building some correct notion may be formed from
our illustration, which exhibits the style of the gables and oriel or
bay windows which are placed both on its southern and western sides; and
we may justly apply to the whole of this range the description given by
Chaucer in his imaginary palace of “pleasaunt regarde:”
“The chamberis and parlers of a sorte,
With bay windows goodlie as may be thought,
The galleries right wele y wrought,
As for dauncinge and otherwise disporte.”
Branching from the northern and eastern sides of the great tower,
extensive ranges of building contain the servants’ apartments, and an
extensive suite of inferior bed-rooms, and the tower itself contains
a study, and above it a nursery, over which, again, a leaded platform
with parapets commands most extensive and diversified prospects of the
surrounding country.
The preceding description will, we fear, convey but an imperfect idea
of the plan of this interesting structure, nor will our illustration,
which only gives a representation of its southern front, give more than
a general idea of the architectural character of a building, the great
merit of which, next to the beauty and chronological accuracy of its
details, consists in the number of picturesque points of view which
it affords, from the irregularity of its plan and the variety of its
outlines.
We shall only add a few words in respect to its locality.
The Castle of Clontarf is situated in a district rich in pastoral beauty,
and at the head or northern extremity of the village of the same name,
which consists of a single but wide street composed of houses of a
respectable class, and extending from it in a right line to the sea. It
is surrounded by forest trees of great age and grandeur, through which
by vistas are obtained views of the bay and the mountain scenery of the
southern shore.
Upon the whole, we may truly say of this structure that its beauty is
no less striking than its moderate size and pretension are in happy
proportion to the rank and means of its owner; nor is it a lesser merit,
that--unlike too many of the lordly residences in Ireland--the close
propinquity of its situation to the village of which he is lord, is
characteristically expressive of the confidence and kindly familiarity
which should ever exist between the proprietor and the community holding
under him. Nor is it again a lesser merit, that--unlike most of the
mansion-houses to which we have alluded--it is not enclosed by churlish
and prison-like walls of stone, excluding it from the public eye, and
indicating but too truly the cold and heartless selfishness of their
owners, which would not allow to the many even the passing enjoyment of a
glimpse of the grandeur and beauty which they claim as their own.