MORE THAN 800 residents of Dunshaughlin, Co Meath, are appealing against the county council’s decision to grant the demolition of three historic buildings in the town to make way for a new shopping centre.
Last March Cusack Homes sought permission from Meath County Council for the development which includes a 4,239 sq m anchor retail unit, five smaller shops, two offices and 323 parking spaces on a site off Main Street.
The application sought permission for the demolition of a boundary wall but did not seek the demolition of any buildings.
However, last April the council sought revisions from the developer following concerns about traffic safety related to the proposed entrance off Main Street to the development.
Last September the applicants submitted proposals to allow for a changed entrance which included the demolition of mid- to late-19th century buildings including an old industrial building, dating from the 1860s, listed on the National Inventory of Architectural Heritage.
The revisions also include the demolition of two late 19th century houses known locally as Gogan’s home and pub.
The houses were in use until recently and while one is currently vacant the other is still occupied by an estate agent’s firm.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Showing posts with label conservation planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label conservation planning. Show all posts
Monday, 12 December 2011
Friday, 9 December 2011
Businessman told to halt demolition of listed mansion
A HONG Kong-based businessman has been ordered to stop demolition works at the 17th century listed Georgian house that inspired the paintings of a leading artist.
Local residents in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, were dumbfounded when they noticed that part of the back of the stunning Kilmurry House had been knocked down. It is the home where celebrated Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler, who was born in 1858 and died in 1941, lived for most of her life.
The property dates to 1690 when a Colonel Bushe built a seat on lands granted to him under the Cromwellian settlement. In the late 1800s the estate was bought by Ms Butler's father, Major Henry Butler of the renowned Anglo-Irish Butlers of Ormonde dynasty of Kilkenny Castle.
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Local residents in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, were dumbfounded when they noticed that part of the back of the stunning Kilmurry House had been knocked down. It is the home where celebrated Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler, who was born in 1858 and died in 1941, lived for most of her life.
The property dates to 1690 when a Colonel Bushe built a seat on lands granted to him under the Cromwellian settlement. In the late 1800s the estate was bought by Ms Butler's father, Major Henry Butler of the renowned Anglo-Irish Butlers of Ormonde dynasty of Kilkenny Castle.
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Businessman told to halt demolition of listed mansion
A HONG Kong-based businessman has been ordered to stop demolition works at the 17th century listed Georgian house that inspired the paintings of a leading artist.
Local residents in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, were dumbfounded when they noticed that part of the back of the stunning Kilmurry House had been knocked down. It is the home where celebrated Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler, who was born in 1858 and died in 1941, lived for most of her life.
The property dates to 1690 when a Colonel Bushe built a seat on lands granted to him under the Cromwellian settlement. In the late 1800s the estate was bought by Ms Butler's father, Major Henry Butler of the renowned Anglo-Irish Butlers of Ormonde dynasty of Kilkenny Castle.
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Local residents in Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, were dumbfounded when they noticed that part of the back of the stunning Kilmurry House had been knocked down. It is the home where celebrated Irish artist Mildred Anne Butler, who was born in 1858 and died in 1941, lived for most of her life.
The property dates to 1690 when a Colonel Bushe built a seat on lands granted to him under the Cromwellian settlement. In the late 1800s the estate was bought by Ms Butler's father, Major Henry Butler of the renowned Anglo-Irish Butlers of Ormonde dynasty of Kilkenny Castle.
Read the article @ The Irish Independent
www.bpsplanningconsultants.ie
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Minister casts doubt on plan to demolish protected shops
PLANS TO demolish a pair of historical buildings in Ennistymon, Co Clare, to make room for a roundabout on the road to Lahinch would be “contrary to the thrust” of the 2000 Planning Act, Clare County Council was told.
Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan said his department had advised the council that any proposal to demolish and rebuild the protected structures at Blake’s Corner, set back from the current building line, would “require strong justification”.
In a written reply to Michael McNamara TD (Labour), he said it would also require “a robust and detailed methodology that demonstrated that such an approach is both feasible and appropriate without any further loss of character than is absolutely necessary”.
The two mid-19th century buildings, with Liscannor-slated roofs and original shopfronts, were listed by the county council as protected structures several years ago after featuring in books on Irish vernacular architecture and posters of historical shopfronts.
Mr Deenihan said his department had also advised the council that “if the envisaged removal and set back were to proceed, a sustainable and suitable new use would have to be found for both structures” that took into account a potential increase in traffic.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Minister for Heritage Jimmy Deenihan said his department had advised the council that any proposal to demolish and rebuild the protected structures at Blake’s Corner, set back from the current building line, would “require strong justification”.
In a written reply to Michael McNamara TD (Labour), he said it would also require “a robust and detailed methodology that demonstrated that such an approach is both feasible and appropriate without any further loss of character than is absolutely necessary”.
The two mid-19th century buildings, with Liscannor-slated roofs and original shopfronts, were listed by the county council as protected structures several years ago after featuring in books on Irish vernacular architecture and posters of historical shopfronts.
Mr Deenihan said his department had also advised the council that “if the envisaged removal and set back were to proceed, a sustainable and suitable new use would have to be found for both structures” that took into account a potential increase in traffic.
Read the article @ The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 22 August 2011
Clare protest over landmark
Letter to the Editor:
Sir, – I noted with some dismay your article “Clare Protest over funding to save buildings” (Home News, August 12th). The issue of Blake’s Corner has been the subject of much debate for many years as it forms one of the defining landmarks of the town of Ennistymon, famous for its variety of classic Irish shopfronts. The removal of Blake’s Corner would, in itself serve little purpose as a traffic improvement, as the adjoining historic bridge remains very narrow.
The only realistic alternative is to have a bypass from the south side of the town linking up with the main road to Lahinch and on to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most successful tourist attractions of the west coast (hugely to the credit of Clare County Council).
The proposal to build a bypass has been on the county plan for over half a century. I note from other reports that funds have been found to construct some the major road plans; surely county, regional and national organisations could collaborate to fund the enhancement of the approach to the Cliffs of Moher and at the same time enable the heritage of an important town like Ennistymon to be preserved. The unique character of such towns is what attracts urgently-needed tourist income, its destruction would therefore be tragedy for both heritage and tourism.
I would urge the NRA to review the bypass option in the context of it acting as a gateway to the development of major tourist attractions along the west coast. – Yours, etc,
Dr ROBERT D NOLAN,
Annis Road,
Alderley Edge,
Cheshire, England.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Sir, – I noted with some dismay your article “Clare Protest over funding to save buildings” (Home News, August 12th). The issue of Blake’s Corner has been the subject of much debate for many years as it forms one of the defining landmarks of the town of Ennistymon, famous for its variety of classic Irish shopfronts. The removal of Blake’s Corner would, in itself serve little purpose as a traffic improvement, as the adjoining historic bridge remains very narrow.
The only realistic alternative is to have a bypass from the south side of the town linking up with the main road to Lahinch and on to the Cliffs of Moher, one of the most successful tourist attractions of the west coast (hugely to the credit of Clare County Council).
The proposal to build a bypass has been on the county plan for over half a century. I note from other reports that funds have been found to construct some the major road plans; surely county, regional and national organisations could collaborate to fund the enhancement of the approach to the Cliffs of Moher and at the same time enable the heritage of an important town like Ennistymon to be preserved. The unique character of such towns is what attracts urgently-needed tourist income, its destruction would therefore be tragedy for both heritage and tourism.
I would urge the NRA to review the bypass option in the context of it acting as a gateway to the development of major tourist attractions along the west coast. – Yours, etc,
Dr ROBERT D NOLAN,
Annis Road,
Alderley Edge,
Cheshire, England.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Friday, 29 April 2011
Conservation once again
THE IRISH Georgian Society, flush with the success of its first architectural conservation awards last year, is inviting architects who’ve worked on historic buildings to submit their projects for scrutiny again this year. And it’s not just crumbling castles or stately homes.
As the society is at pains to point out, conservation applies to “all buildings both great and small” and also includes their settings. Thus, for example, the restoration of a walled garden would qualify. The term “conservation” is interpreted to include the preservation, restoration, adaptation and maintenance of buildings and sites – even better when it involves the use of traditional skills such as making lime mortar or restoring decayed or damage plasterwork.
There are two award categories, one for a conservation project and one for a non-CAD (computer-aided design) drawing of a historic building. The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Monday July 8th, and the awards will be announced in the autumn.
The six-person jury includes Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin and president of the Irish Georgian SocietyMarion Cashman, board member of the Irish Georgian Foundation, and Frank McDonald, Environment Editor, of The Irish Times.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
As the society is at pains to point out, conservation applies to “all buildings both great and small” and also includes their settings. Thus, for example, the restoration of a walled garden would qualify. The term “conservation” is interpreted to include the preservation, restoration, adaptation and maintenance of buildings and sites – even better when it involves the use of traditional skills such as making lime mortar or restoring decayed or damage plasterwork.
There are two award categories, one for a conservation project and one for a non-CAD (computer-aided design) drawing of a historic building. The deadline for submissions is 12 noon on Monday July 8th, and the awards will be announced in the autumn.
The six-person jury includes Desmond FitzGerald, Knight of Glin and president of the Irish Georgian SocietyMarion Cashman, board member of the Irish Georgian Foundation, and Frank McDonald, Environment Editor, of The Irish Times.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Thursday, 15 October 2009
Maurice Craig - Ireland's first conservation warrior
Architectural historian Maurice Craig began his battle against the demolition of historic Irish buildings in the 1940s. He's now nearly 90 and a new edition of his book about Irish mausoleums is about to be published
“I’VE BEEN remarkably lucky,” says architectural historian Maurice Craig as he approaches his 90th birthday and as the new edition of his book Mausolea Hibernica , which was illustrated by his son Michael, is about to be published. Meeting the right people at the right time, he says, led to the publication of his books on architectural history, bookbinding, poetry and a collection of belle lettres called The Elephant and the Polish Question which, he says was a critical but not a commercial success: “Booksellers didn’t know what category to put it under.”
He doesn’t relish being 90 – “it’s not very nice, I don’t recommend it” – but he is still a dedicated storyteller, both verbally and in print. Despite cursing his declining memory he still recalls complete poems and songs from the past and is not inhibited about performing them to illustrate a point or to periodically keep himself and others amused.
Through his writing, campaigning and photographs of an Ireland that has now disappeared, he made people aware that our historic buildings were national treasures that should be saved from demolition – because of this, he has now become a national treasure himself.
He was born in Belfast in 1919 and went to school in Dublin – whose historic buildings and their decline he was later to document – but his interest in architecture came in his late teens.
“Like all small boys I didn’t look at buildings. I was in Dublin between the ages of eight and 13 and I can give you first-hand testimony that kids do not give a great deal of attention to architecture. I became more interested bit by bit. When we went on family holidays I would generally take some note of buildings and later I went, in what is now called a gap year, to Paris. The architecture I saw there made a prodigious impression on me.”
Yet back in Ireland it was literature that tickled him. “I had taken to going to Dublin from time to time partly because of the Abbey Theatre and Yeats still living here so my interest had rather a literary emphasis.”
To this day he takes a wide interest in the arts. He speaks of one friend who is involved in the world of building conservation, of whom he is very fond, but criticises their lack of interest in poetry, music and animals.
A scholarship to study history at Magdalene college in Cambridge deepened Craig’s love of buildings. “I got rooms in the absolutely delightful 17th century Pepys Building. Cambridge was a revelation; I loved it and have been in love with it ever since.”
He then returned to Dublin and was “tickled pink at the buildings”. Nicer than his native Belfast? He chuckles and then counters it with: “Don’t make me laugh. Bits of Belfast are quite nice – about Queens – and there was a quarter down near the town centre that had been quite good but the buildings have nearly all been pulled down and replaced by offices.”
His response to a question about what the city was like before The Troubles covers its artistic scene. “There was a small literary coterie in Belfast – with the likes of Richard Rowley, John Hewitt and artists George and Mercy MacCann. The literati used to go for coffee in Campbells near the City Hall and I was friends with Denis Ireland who was well known in those days. He was an odd man out because he was a Protestant nationalist – as were some of the others: liberals and nationalists.”
Craig moved to Dublin in the early 1940s: “It was the capital and that’s where things are.” He brought his love of literature with him – specifically for the poet Walter Savage Landor – and planned to write a book about him. “One day I was walking along Merrion Square when I met Paddy Kavanagh – Dublin society was so small that people like me would know Paddy as well as others including Seumas O’Sullivan and Austin Clarke, and we would meet in the Palace Bar and later The Pearl – so I was walking along Merrion Square and Paddy said, ‘What’s up?’ And I said I was going to write a book about Landor.” The poet suggested that Craig do it as a thesis in Trinity.
“The PhD on Landor was of enormous value because it taught me how not to write a book. The first thing is, don’t try to put everything in – you need to keep it as short as possible – the second is to try and give it an overall shape.”
Craig’s writing beautifully combines his knowledge of history and literature – being both learned and readable and incorporating occasional doses of welcome wit.
He looks surprised: “I don’t do this on purpose.” Well there was his reference to a saying in his book The Architecture of Ireland: from the earliest times to 1880 that it is better to be deaf in England and blind in Ireland (to ignore the self-coloured concrete buildings). “I said it was a well-known saying but it wasn’t at all, I made it up. It was the type of wit that was simply the fruit of my effort to explain a difference between the English and the Irish. If you can do that in four words so much the better,” he says proceeding to illustrate the wit of James Joyce, who he went to see on a visit to Paris in 1938.
A discussion on the musician Sir Hamilton Harty lead Craig to observe that it was easy to get into the Church of Ireland church in Hillsborough, Co Down, where Harty was an organist.
“Joyce said, ‘the trouble with my church is getting out of it’.”
In a letter to Craig, Joyce asked him to track down the source of the quote: “May the lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast.” That proved a lengthy quest and by the time Craig found it Joyce was dead.
“I was so taken with it I wrote a ballad entirely based on it,” says Craig, reciting it. President Mary McAleese has quoted the poem and Brendan Behan also used it in one of his books.
“I wrote it one morning – it wrote itself in about half an hour,” which was unusual for Craig. “I write very, very slowly. It takes me a long time to push a sentence around, back to front, inside out, and I vary the vocabulary until the thing will run.”
He enjoyed writing Mausolea Hibernica – which contains his son Michael’s intricate drawings – because he was given a clear brief and a certain amount of space in which to write about each of the mausolea featured (the difference between mausolea and tombs is that you can enter the former). “It was an extraordinary privilege to work with my own son on a project of a kind in which he is an acknowledged master. All I had to do was fill in the spaces and produce this lovely book.
“Mikey did the drawings and I was told I would be allowed x words. In my enthusiasm, I had written more than x words because I had more to say, but I was sternly told by the master that I had to shorten my entries so they would sit comfortably opposite the drawings.”
The book took seven years to compile and became a family bonding exercise with expeditions to go and see mausolea across Ireland, with Michael’s wife Gemma Fallon doing the driving. “I wanted to do this book because I felt that mausolea were being ignored,” says Michael. Maurice enjoyed it for similar reason – he had covered just about every building type in Ireland in his book on Irish architecture. But not this.
Craig was at the forefront of the conservation movement, and his collection of photographs from the 1940s and 1950s shows an Ireland in which a horse-and-cart was still a key mode of transport. The pictures depict parts of Dublin that are no longer there, including photographs of Gardiner Street before many of its period buildings were demolished and on Longford Street, near Aungier Street in Dublin 8, the last pair of curved ‘Dutch-billy’ gabled buildings in Dublin which were demolished in about 1960.
“In Ireland at the time you expected a large rumpus about this or that, but there was no rumpus about things that were quietly taken down. Regarding Longford Street, I put my case to the official channels and was assured that they would look after them but they didn’t. In the meantime I had taken photographs of them and made a sketch survey.”
In 1952 he wrote Dublin 1660-1860 , the book that began his recording of the city’s history and its important buildings. “I wrote the book under contract. The publishers did the normal thing that publishers do if you go to them with an idea. They say: ‘Young man if you write about the following subject we will publish it.’ They wanted a book on Dublin and I am sure they thought they would get the usual stuff about snuff boxes and hoop skirts. But I was interested in architecture and researched it by keeping my eyes open and going around on my feet.”
Many people were blinkered to the demolitions, he says, and although there was a list of buildings that needed to be preserved, Craig contends that “when push came to shove they didn’t make any effort to save them. I was at war with them .”
Even now he finds that architecture in Ireland is not given its due, citing a large tome on Irish history which had no category on architecture. “They farmed out various bits to various people to write, on agriculture, finance and coinage, but divil a word about buildings: didn’t look at them.”
And if he were to write a book on architecture in more recent times? “It would not be a long book.” I suggest that much new architecture in Dublin has been knitted discreetly into the city, rather than as iconic structures. “Some people tried to design buildings that were decent without being especially memorable, which is not as easy as it sounds. A very good example is the new part of Dún Laoghaire town hall by McCullough Mulvin . They did it really well. You can tell at a glance that it is a 20th century building. It fits in with the older part and is not quarrelling with it.”
He still prefers older buildings though, and his favourite part of Dublin is near the Liberties, where some of Dublin’s oldest structures lie, including the Royal Hospital (1684), Collins Barracks (1701) and Steevens’ Hospital (1733).
Attitudes have changed towards building conservation and much is to do with the highlighting of issues by the likes of Maurice Craig and the Knight of Glin, who co-authored a book with Maurice. It must be heartening to feel he had some influence. “I hope so. I hope I have been of some use but I would not be so vain as to put it all down to my influence.”
Mausolea Hibernica is published by Associated Editions and will be available from book shops from October 22nd or from www.associatededitions.ie, price €25 paperback, €50 signed hardback
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
“I’VE BEEN remarkably lucky,” says architectural historian Maurice Craig as he approaches his 90th birthday and as the new edition of his book Mausolea Hibernica , which was illustrated by his son Michael, is about to be published. Meeting the right people at the right time, he says, led to the publication of his books on architectural history, bookbinding, poetry and a collection of belle lettres called The Elephant and the Polish Question which, he says was a critical but not a commercial success: “Booksellers didn’t know what category to put it under.”
He doesn’t relish being 90 – “it’s not very nice, I don’t recommend it” – but he is still a dedicated storyteller, both verbally and in print. Despite cursing his declining memory he still recalls complete poems and songs from the past and is not inhibited about performing them to illustrate a point or to periodically keep himself and others amused.
Through his writing, campaigning and photographs of an Ireland that has now disappeared, he made people aware that our historic buildings were national treasures that should be saved from demolition – because of this, he has now become a national treasure himself.
He was born in Belfast in 1919 and went to school in Dublin – whose historic buildings and their decline he was later to document – but his interest in architecture came in his late teens.
“Like all small boys I didn’t look at buildings. I was in Dublin between the ages of eight and 13 and I can give you first-hand testimony that kids do not give a great deal of attention to architecture. I became more interested bit by bit. When we went on family holidays I would generally take some note of buildings and later I went, in what is now called a gap year, to Paris. The architecture I saw there made a prodigious impression on me.”
Yet back in Ireland it was literature that tickled him. “I had taken to going to Dublin from time to time partly because of the Abbey Theatre and Yeats still living here so my interest had rather a literary emphasis.”
To this day he takes a wide interest in the arts. He speaks of one friend who is involved in the world of building conservation, of whom he is very fond, but criticises their lack of interest in poetry, music and animals.
A scholarship to study history at Magdalene college in Cambridge deepened Craig’s love of buildings. “I got rooms in the absolutely delightful 17th century Pepys Building. Cambridge was a revelation; I loved it and have been in love with it ever since.”
He then returned to Dublin and was “tickled pink at the buildings”. Nicer than his native Belfast? He chuckles and then counters it with: “Don’t make me laugh. Bits of Belfast are quite nice – about Queens – and there was a quarter down near the town centre that had been quite good but the buildings have nearly all been pulled down and replaced by offices.”
His response to a question about what the city was like before The Troubles covers its artistic scene. “There was a small literary coterie in Belfast – with the likes of Richard Rowley, John Hewitt and artists George and Mercy MacCann. The literati used to go for coffee in Campbells near the City Hall and I was friends with Denis Ireland who was well known in those days. He was an odd man out because he was a Protestant nationalist – as were some of the others: liberals and nationalists.”
Craig moved to Dublin in the early 1940s: “It was the capital and that’s where things are.” He brought his love of literature with him – specifically for the poet Walter Savage Landor – and planned to write a book about him. “One day I was walking along Merrion Square when I met Paddy Kavanagh – Dublin society was so small that people like me would know Paddy as well as others including Seumas O’Sullivan and Austin Clarke, and we would meet in the Palace Bar and later The Pearl – so I was walking along Merrion Square and Paddy said, ‘What’s up?’ And I said I was going to write a book about Landor.” The poet suggested that Craig do it as a thesis in Trinity.
“The PhD on Landor was of enormous value because it taught me how not to write a book. The first thing is, don’t try to put everything in – you need to keep it as short as possible – the second is to try and give it an overall shape.”
Craig’s writing beautifully combines his knowledge of history and literature – being both learned and readable and incorporating occasional doses of welcome wit.
He looks surprised: “I don’t do this on purpose.” Well there was his reference to a saying in his book The Architecture of Ireland: from the earliest times to 1880 that it is better to be deaf in England and blind in Ireland (to ignore the self-coloured concrete buildings). “I said it was a well-known saying but it wasn’t at all, I made it up. It was the type of wit that was simply the fruit of my effort to explain a difference between the English and the Irish. If you can do that in four words so much the better,” he says proceeding to illustrate the wit of James Joyce, who he went to see on a visit to Paris in 1938.
A discussion on the musician Sir Hamilton Harty lead Craig to observe that it was easy to get into the Church of Ireland church in Hillsborough, Co Down, where Harty was an organist.
“Joyce said, ‘the trouble with my church is getting out of it’.”
In a letter to Craig, Joyce asked him to track down the source of the quote: “May the lord in his mercy be kind to Belfast.” That proved a lengthy quest and by the time Craig found it Joyce was dead.
“I was so taken with it I wrote a ballad entirely based on it,” says Craig, reciting it. President Mary McAleese has quoted the poem and Brendan Behan also used it in one of his books.
“I wrote it one morning – it wrote itself in about half an hour,” which was unusual for Craig. “I write very, very slowly. It takes me a long time to push a sentence around, back to front, inside out, and I vary the vocabulary until the thing will run.”
He enjoyed writing Mausolea Hibernica – which contains his son Michael’s intricate drawings – because he was given a clear brief and a certain amount of space in which to write about each of the mausolea featured (the difference between mausolea and tombs is that you can enter the former). “It was an extraordinary privilege to work with my own son on a project of a kind in which he is an acknowledged master. All I had to do was fill in the spaces and produce this lovely book.
“Mikey did the drawings and I was told I would be allowed x words. In my enthusiasm, I had written more than x words because I had more to say, but I was sternly told by the master that I had to shorten my entries so they would sit comfortably opposite the drawings.”
The book took seven years to compile and became a family bonding exercise with expeditions to go and see mausolea across Ireland, with Michael’s wife Gemma Fallon doing the driving. “I wanted to do this book because I felt that mausolea were being ignored,” says Michael. Maurice enjoyed it for similar reason – he had covered just about every building type in Ireland in his book on Irish architecture. But not this.
Craig was at the forefront of the conservation movement, and his collection of photographs from the 1940s and 1950s shows an Ireland in which a horse-and-cart was still a key mode of transport. The pictures depict parts of Dublin that are no longer there, including photographs of Gardiner Street before many of its period buildings were demolished and on Longford Street, near Aungier Street in Dublin 8, the last pair of curved ‘Dutch-billy’ gabled buildings in Dublin which were demolished in about 1960.
“In Ireland at the time you expected a large rumpus about this or that, but there was no rumpus about things that were quietly taken down. Regarding Longford Street, I put my case to the official channels and was assured that they would look after them but they didn’t. In the meantime I had taken photographs of them and made a sketch survey.”
In 1952 he wrote Dublin 1660-1860 , the book that began his recording of the city’s history and its important buildings. “I wrote the book under contract. The publishers did the normal thing that publishers do if you go to them with an idea. They say: ‘Young man if you write about the following subject we will publish it.’ They wanted a book on Dublin and I am sure they thought they would get the usual stuff about snuff boxes and hoop skirts. But I was interested in architecture and researched it by keeping my eyes open and going around on my feet.”
Many people were blinkered to the demolitions, he says, and although there was a list of buildings that needed to be preserved, Craig contends that “when push came to shove they didn’t make any effort to save them. I was at war with them .”
Even now he finds that architecture in Ireland is not given its due, citing a large tome on Irish history which had no category on architecture. “They farmed out various bits to various people to write, on agriculture, finance and coinage, but divil a word about buildings: didn’t look at them.”
And if he were to write a book on architecture in more recent times? “It would not be a long book.” I suggest that much new architecture in Dublin has been knitted discreetly into the city, rather than as iconic structures. “Some people tried to design buildings that were decent without being especially memorable, which is not as easy as it sounds. A very good example is the new part of Dún Laoghaire town hall by McCullough Mulvin . They did it really well. You can tell at a glance that it is a 20th century building. It fits in with the older part and is not quarrelling with it.”
He still prefers older buildings though, and his favourite part of Dublin is near the Liberties, where some of Dublin’s oldest structures lie, including the Royal Hospital (1684), Collins Barracks (1701) and Steevens’ Hospital (1733).
Attitudes have changed towards building conservation and much is to do with the highlighting of issues by the likes of Maurice Craig and the Knight of Glin, who co-authored a book with Maurice. It must be heartening to feel he had some influence. “I hope so. I hope I have been of some use but I would not be so vain as to put it all down to my influence.”
Mausolea Hibernica is published by Associated Editions and will be available from book shops from October 22nd or from www.associatededitions.ie, price €25 paperback, €50 signed hardback
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 14 October 2009
Wood Quay Viking wall goes on view
AN UNDERGROUND section of Dublin’s 900-year-old Hiberno Viking city wall has been put on public view for the first time at the Civic Offices at Wood Quay.
The wall was discovered during excavations of the site in the late 1970s and early 1980s in preparation for the construction of the new Dublin Corporation, now Dublin City Council, buildings.
There was significant protest over the construction of the large-scale office complex on the site of a known Viking settlement, with former president Mary Robinson among those who campaigned against the development.
The wall was at the time earmarked for demolition and storage off site, but in the end it was left in situ in the building’s basement in an area used until recently for motorbike and bicycle storage.
Measuring just under 20 metres in length and 4.3 metres in height, the section of wall is now visible through a glass viewing platform, with each stone bearing the identifying number painted on when it had been due for demolition.
“The condition of the wall now is largely as it was when excavated. Nothing has been done to prettify the wall for public view and the numbering on it is part of its story over the last 30 years,” city heritage office Charles Duggan said.
The wall is part of the new Wood Quay Venue at the civic offices which houses a conference and events space and a new permanent exhibition on the development of the city.
The My City exhibition, which opens today, allows the public to view plans for the city through videos and interactive touch-screen maps. There is a webcam where people can record their ideas for the city or their views on plans, or the exhibition itself. Admission is free.
City planning officer Dick Gleeson said the exhibition “takes consultation to a completely new level”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
The wall was discovered during excavations of the site in the late 1970s and early 1980s in preparation for the construction of the new Dublin Corporation, now Dublin City Council, buildings.
There was significant protest over the construction of the large-scale office complex on the site of a known Viking settlement, with former president Mary Robinson among those who campaigned against the development.
The wall was at the time earmarked for demolition and storage off site, but in the end it was left in situ in the building’s basement in an area used until recently for motorbike and bicycle storage.
Measuring just under 20 metres in length and 4.3 metres in height, the section of wall is now visible through a glass viewing platform, with each stone bearing the identifying number painted on when it had been due for demolition.
“The condition of the wall now is largely as it was when excavated. Nothing has been done to prettify the wall for public view and the numbering on it is part of its story over the last 30 years,” city heritage office Charles Duggan said.
The wall is part of the new Wood Quay Venue at the civic offices which houses a conference and events space and a new permanent exhibition on the development of the city.
The My City exhibition, which opens today, allows the public to view plans for the city through videos and interactive touch-screen maps. There is a webcam where people can record their ideas for the city or their views on plans, or the exhibition itself. Admission is free.
City planning officer Dick Gleeson said the exhibition “takes consultation to a completely new level”.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Friday, 20 February 2009
Survey plans for old village
Detailed surveys are to be carried out on the old village on the Great Blasket Island after the State bought land there for €2m.
Building conservation officers will carry out a survey with a view to stabilising the buildings, the Office of Public Works said yesterday.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Building conservation officers will carry out a survey with a view to stabilising the buildings, the Office of Public Works said yesterday.
Irish Independent
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 27 January 2009
Gormley says he wants Burren project to continue
A PLEDGE to take all possible steps to continue funding a conservation project in the Burren, Co Clare, has been made by the Minister for the Environment.
BurrenLIFE is described as the first major farming conservation project in Ireland. Its funding of €2.23 million, three-quarters of which came from the EU, is due to finish in September.
At the official launch yesterday of a DVD on the project which has been running for five years, John Gormley said that in the present economic climate, finding funding was difficult. “My department will be taking all steps to find a way forward and will talk to all the parties involved,” he said.
Twenty farms are involved in the project which includes active management of priority habitats, including orchid-rich grassland, limestone pavement and turloughs.
“The unique landscape of the Burren is not an entirely spontaneous, natural phenomenon, but is the result of farming practices over thousands of years.”
Mr Gormley said the project had been a highly successful partnership between the European Commission, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Teagasc, the Burren Irish Farmers’ Association and local farmers.
It had improved access for cattle, enhancing livestock-management facilities and had helped to repair dry stone walls and had developed a special feed formula for cattle. Project manager Dr Brendan Dunford said he wanted to see it continue and for the hundreds of other farmers who managed the Burren landscape to come into the system.
Ruairí Ó Conchúir, finance officer with the project, said the DVD was the first Irish-made farming for conservation DVD as a resource and training tool for farmers, planners and policy makers.
All the speakers at the launch said the project had been successful because of the co-operation of the farmers who worked as equals. The project had been developing a new model for sustainable agriculture in the Burren to conserve designated habitats.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
BurrenLIFE is described as the first major farming conservation project in Ireland. Its funding of €2.23 million, three-quarters of which came from the EU, is due to finish in September.
At the official launch yesterday of a DVD on the project which has been running for five years, John Gormley said that in the present economic climate, finding funding was difficult. “My department will be taking all steps to find a way forward and will talk to all the parties involved,” he said.
Twenty farms are involved in the project which includes active management of priority habitats, including orchid-rich grassland, limestone pavement and turloughs.
“The unique landscape of the Burren is not an entirely spontaneous, natural phenomenon, but is the result of farming practices over thousands of years.”
Mr Gormley said the project had been a highly successful partnership between the European Commission, the National Parks and Wildlife Service, Teagasc, the Burren Irish Farmers’ Association and local farmers.
It had improved access for cattle, enhancing livestock-management facilities and had helped to repair dry stone walls and had developed a special feed formula for cattle. Project manager Dr Brendan Dunford said he wanted to see it continue and for the hundreds of other farmers who managed the Burren landscape to come into the system.
Ruairí Ó Conchúir, finance officer with the project, said the DVD was the first Irish-made farming for conservation DVD as a resource and training tool for farmers, planners and policy makers.
All the speakers at the launch said the project had been successful because of the co-operation of the farmers who worked as equals. The project had been developing a new model for sustainable agriculture in the Burren to conserve designated habitats.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Monday, 29 December 2008
Plans to protect oldest monastery unveiled
Leading conservation architects have drawn up plans to protect and save Ireland’s oldest monastic site.
Four years after being named one of the world’s most at risk monuments, the impressive 800-year-old Athassel Abbey in Co Tipperary will undergo basic repairs to stabilise walls making it safe for visitors.
Experts have drafted plans to protect the once proud priory from accelerated deterioration from rain, freezing weather, overgrowing vegetation and flooding from the nearby River Suir.
The conservation report, commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and drawn up architect Margaret Quinlan, aims to protect what’s left of the four acre site and pave the way for it to be developed for tourists.
The detailed plan includes a footbridge over the Suir, lightning protection systems, flood controls and the closure of burial sites beside the abbey.
Billed as a roadmap to save Athassel, junior minister at the OPW Dr Martin Mansergh has warned limited finances may dictate the pace of work.
“This conservation plan now highlights those issues that the OPW can directly advance; and at this stage these involve the stabilisation of the structures and making the place safe for the visiting public,” he said.
“Other issues such as the footbridge are - in the current economic climate - aspirational but remain a goal to attain.”
Initial works which include stabilising the ancient walls and making the site safe for visitors may get under way in the New Year.
The 78-page plan also includes the option of CCTV to deter vandalism, an end to traditional cattle grazing on the abbey grounds and information points for tourists.
Dr Mansergh received the report last week. It states that the aim is to protect Athassel as a ruin as it stands and to maintain its authenticity, character of peace and improve access.
Athassel was included in the World Monuments Watch list of 100 most endangered cultural heritage sites in 2004.
Founded by William de Burgh in 1192, the priory remained a substantial religious centre for centuries, was home to two mills, held an annual fair and was widely regarded as an economic hub.
It has also been described as the finest achievement of the Augustinian monks in Ireland, who also built Christ Church.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Four years after being named one of the world’s most at risk monuments, the impressive 800-year-old Athassel Abbey in Co Tipperary will undergo basic repairs to stabilise walls making it safe for visitors.
Experts have drafted plans to protect the once proud priory from accelerated deterioration from rain, freezing weather, overgrowing vegetation and flooding from the nearby River Suir.
The conservation report, commissioned by the Office of Public Works (OPW) and drawn up architect Margaret Quinlan, aims to protect what’s left of the four acre site and pave the way for it to be developed for tourists.
The detailed plan includes a footbridge over the Suir, lightning protection systems, flood controls and the closure of burial sites beside the abbey.
Billed as a roadmap to save Athassel, junior minister at the OPW Dr Martin Mansergh has warned limited finances may dictate the pace of work.
“This conservation plan now highlights those issues that the OPW can directly advance; and at this stage these involve the stabilisation of the structures and making the place safe for the visiting public,” he said.
“Other issues such as the footbridge are - in the current economic climate - aspirational but remain a goal to attain.”
Initial works which include stabilising the ancient walls and making the site safe for visitors may get under way in the New Year.
The 78-page plan also includes the option of CCTV to deter vandalism, an end to traditional cattle grazing on the abbey grounds and information points for tourists.
Dr Mansergh received the report last week. It states that the aim is to protect Athassel as a ruin as it stands and to maintain its authenticity, character of peace and improve access.
Athassel was included in the World Monuments Watch list of 100 most endangered cultural heritage sites in 2004.
Founded by William de Burgh in 1192, the priory remained a substantial religious centre for centuries, was home to two mills, held an annual fair and was widely regarded as an economic hub.
It has also been described as the finest achievement of the Augustinian monks in Ireland, who also built Christ Church.
Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 5 August 2008
Council'a conservation officer to oppose BoI HQ revamp
DUBLIN CITY Council's chief conservation architect, Clare Hogan, is expected to recommend that planning permission be refused for radical alterations to the Bank of Ireland headquarters on Lower Baggot Street.
A decision on the scheme is due to be made before the end of this month.
It is regarded as particularly sensitive because the three modernist blocks are now protected structures, following a vote by the city council last year.
The application to have the bank's headquarters listed for preservation was made in April 2006 by city architect Jim Barrett, who has since retired.
He was concerned that the complex would be threatened by redevelopment.
At the time, the Bank of Ireland was negotiating to sell its headquarters to a consortium headed by developer Paddy Shovlin and financier Derek Quinlan for just over €200 million, and the deal was concluded shortly afterwards.
In his application, Mr Barrett described the complex as the "foremost example" of the style of 20th-century architecture pioneered by German-born modernist master, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect of the Seagram Building in New York.
As designed by Scott Tallon Walker, the bank's headquarters was "grandiose but rigorously disciplined, making a significant contribution to the cityscape with their exceptional architectural quality and landscaped open space", he wrote.
In her report recommending that the complex be added to the record of protected structures, Ms Hogan noted that its characteristic bronze cladding had been manufactured in Dublin to a very high standard by steel fabricators Smith and Pearson.
"It was built to an unprecedented level of quality in terms of its materials, internal spaces, finishes and detailing. The excellence of its modern art works and their complementary role to the internal architecture of its spaces is exceptional."
Ms Hogan noted that the facade related to Baggot Street and "respects its storey height and street rhythm ... Rather than making a monumental statement, the building addresses the context of a historic street and offers the city a plaza."
The Shovlin-Quinlan consortium is seeking permission to enclose much of this plaza with an atrium containing new lift shafts as well as two additional floors on top of the nine-storey and four-storey blocks and an extra floor on the five-storey block.
The planning application, submitted by HKR Architects, also envisages extending the main block at the rear on James's Lane by removing most of its bronze-clad façade to make way for a seven-storey glazed slab extending the floors at every level.
The council has received 17 objections, including letters from the Arts Council, An Taisce, the Architectural Association of Ireland, four leading members of Aosdána and several architects, as well as an observation from the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
A decision on the scheme is due to be made before the end of this month.
It is regarded as particularly sensitive because the three modernist blocks are now protected structures, following a vote by the city council last year.
The application to have the bank's headquarters listed for preservation was made in April 2006 by city architect Jim Barrett, who has since retired.
He was concerned that the complex would be threatened by redevelopment.
At the time, the Bank of Ireland was negotiating to sell its headquarters to a consortium headed by developer Paddy Shovlin and financier Derek Quinlan for just over €200 million, and the deal was concluded shortly afterwards.
In his application, Mr Barrett described the complex as the "foremost example" of the style of 20th-century architecture pioneered by German-born modernist master, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, architect of the Seagram Building in New York.
As designed by Scott Tallon Walker, the bank's headquarters was "grandiose but rigorously disciplined, making a significant contribution to the cityscape with their exceptional architectural quality and landscaped open space", he wrote.
In her report recommending that the complex be added to the record of protected structures, Ms Hogan noted that its characteristic bronze cladding had been manufactured in Dublin to a very high standard by steel fabricators Smith and Pearson.
"It was built to an unprecedented level of quality in terms of its materials, internal spaces, finishes and detailing. The excellence of its modern art works and their complementary role to the internal architecture of its spaces is exceptional."
Ms Hogan noted that the facade related to Baggot Street and "respects its storey height and street rhythm ... Rather than making a monumental statement, the building addresses the context of a historic street and offers the city a plaza."
The Shovlin-Quinlan consortium is seeking permission to enclose much of this plaza with an atrium containing new lift shafts as well as two additional floors on top of the nine-storey and four-storey blocks and an extra floor on the five-storey block.
The planning application, submitted by HKR Architects, also envisages extending the main block at the rear on James's Lane by removing most of its bronze-clad façade to make way for a seven-storey glazed slab extending the floors at every level.
The council has received 17 objections, including letters from the Arts Council, An Taisce, the Architectural Association of Ireland, four leading members of Aosdána and several architects, as well as an observation from the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Wednesday, 23 January 2008
Conservation officer says claim ludicrous
Clare's conservation officer has come under fire after a councillor claimed his intervention cost the Catholic Church an additional €4.5 million in restoring a church in Kilrush.
At the council's January meeting, Tom Prendeville (FF) asked: "Is there no limit to the powers of the Conservation Office?" Mr Prendeville said conservation works at St Senan's Church in Kilrush were delayed for almost two years by the council's conservation officer Risteard Ua Croinín, resulting in the costs increasing from €1.5 million to €6 million.
He said: "I am reliably informed that even the Stations of the Cross, which were removed for conservation purposes before the works were carried out at St Senan's Church, later became the subject of a tête-a-tête between the local parish priest and the Conservation Office long after the project was completed."
In response, Mr Ua Croinín said it was "absolutely ludicrous" to suggest that he was responsible for delaying the project or adding to its cost.
Mr Ua Croinín said he actually helped to bring costs of the project down by holding numerous meetings with the church authorities in Kilrush and issuing declarations that allowed them to press ahead with works without the need for planning permission.
He said he advised the church not to lodge a planning application for additional works as they were inappropriate and would be refused.
"Planning permission was refused and An Bord Pleanála also refused planning permission for most of the works."
Mr Ua Croinín said he came across the Stations of the Cross in a function room.
He said: "They are valuable mid-19th century crosses and I said that they had to be removed from the room to avoid coffee or drink being spilt over them."
Mr Prendeville sought to dispute Mr Ua Croinín's claims. However, Clare mayor councillor Patricia McCarthy said the debate had ended.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
At the council's January meeting, Tom Prendeville (FF) asked: "Is there no limit to the powers of the Conservation Office?" Mr Prendeville said conservation works at St Senan's Church in Kilrush were delayed for almost two years by the council's conservation officer Risteard Ua Croinín, resulting in the costs increasing from €1.5 million to €6 million.
He said: "I am reliably informed that even the Stations of the Cross, which were removed for conservation purposes before the works were carried out at St Senan's Church, later became the subject of a tête-a-tête between the local parish priest and the Conservation Office long after the project was completed."
In response, Mr Ua Croinín said it was "absolutely ludicrous" to suggest that he was responsible for delaying the project or adding to its cost.
Mr Ua Croinín said he actually helped to bring costs of the project down by holding numerous meetings with the church authorities in Kilrush and issuing declarations that allowed them to press ahead with works without the need for planning permission.
He said he advised the church not to lodge a planning application for additional works as they were inappropriate and would be refused.
"Planning permission was refused and An Bord Pleanála also refused planning permission for most of the works."
Mr Ua Croinín said he came across the Stations of the Cross in a function room.
He said: "They are valuable mid-19th century crosses and I said that they had to be removed from the room to avoid coffee or drink being spilt over them."
Mr Prendeville sought to dispute Mr Ua Croinín's claims. However, Clare mayor councillor Patricia McCarthy said the debate had ended.
The Irish Times
www.buckplanning.ie
Tuesday, 21 August 2007
Gormley extends Skellig Michael consultation
Mr John Gormley, T.D., Minister for the Environment, Heritage and Local Government, has announced an extension to the public consultation process regarding the Draft Management Plan for Skellig Michael World Heritage Site.
In 1996, Skellig Michael was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO - the body which selects World Heritage Sites as representing the best international examples of cultural and natural heritage. The Draft Management Plan sets out the measures required to ensure the protection, conservation and management of this important heritage site for the next ten years, to 2017.
This draft plan is a comprehensive document which gives detailed information on the history of Skellig Michael, a description of the features of the site, the natural heritage elements of the island and the statutory protection measures which relate to the site.
The Minister outlined that the draft plan documents the conservation works carried out to-date by the Office of Public Works in accordance with best international practice to protect and conserve this World Heritage Site. It also details proposed future works - including ongoing maintenance works - confirms current arrangements regarding visitor access and addresses other important management issues.
In order to facilitate the most inclusive consultation process possible, the Minister has extended the deadline for receipt of submissions on the draft management plan to 28 September, 2007.
The Minister stated that he was been pleased with the high level of interest in the draft plan and he would encourage all community interest groups, professional and technical personnel and the wider public to actively engage in this worthwhile public consultation process.
In 1996, Skellig Michael was inscribed on the World Heritage List by UNESCO - the body which selects World Heritage Sites as representing the best international examples of cultural and natural heritage. The Draft Management Plan sets out the measures required to ensure the protection, conservation and management of this important heritage site for the next ten years, to 2017.
This draft plan is a comprehensive document which gives detailed information on the history of Skellig Michael, a description of the features of the site, the natural heritage elements of the island and the statutory protection measures which relate to the site.
The Minister outlined that the draft plan documents the conservation works carried out to-date by the Office of Public Works in accordance with best international practice to protect and conserve this World Heritage Site. It also details proposed future works - including ongoing maintenance works - confirms current arrangements regarding visitor access and addresses other important management issues.
In order to facilitate the most inclusive consultation process possible, the Minister has extended the deadline for receipt of submissions on the draft management plan to 28 September, 2007.
The Minister stated that he was been pleased with the high level of interest in the draft plan and he would encourage all community interest groups, professional and technical personnel and the wider public to actively engage in this worthwhile public consultation process.
Monday, 11 June 2007
Cork villa on list of world's most endangered sites
A CORK villa dating from 1784, which is in a state of significant disrepair, has been included on a list of the world's 100 most endangered sites, with the Hill of Tara.
Vernon Mount, in the southside suburb of Douglas in Cork city, was proposed for the 2008 world monuments watchlist, which is compiled by the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF). Thirty protesters, including members of the Irish Georgian Society (IGS), held a demonstration last month, calling for the immediate restoration of Vernon Mount.
Vernon Mount is owned by multimillionaire businessman Jonathan Moss, who has an address in La Jolla, California, in the US. Mr Moss has extensive business interests in Ireland, including property and technology companies.
The deputy director of the Georgian Society, Donough Cahill, says the villa has largely been left to the elements since planning permission for a major hotel was refused for the site in 1997. Water had been entering through holes in the roof since late 2005 and in spite of pressure from the local authority stop-gap repairs were only made in recent months.
"The purpose of the demonstration was to highlight the continued decline of Vernon Mount. What is needed is very significant investment," said Mr Cahill.
Desmond Fitz-Gerald, the Knight of Glin, has expressed concern about ceiling and wall paintings by leading 19th-Century Cork artist Nathaniel Grogan which remain inside the house. Mr Fitz-Gerald said that Vernon Mount stands in a desperate state of neglect.
VM Restoration Ltd, which represents the owner of the villa, said earlier this year that the company was doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes and there had been ongoing maintenance work at the villa in recent times.
Irish Independent
Vernon Mount, in the southside suburb of Douglas in Cork city, was proposed for the 2008 world monuments watchlist, which is compiled by the New York-based World Monuments Fund (WMF). Thirty protesters, including members of the Irish Georgian Society (IGS), held a demonstration last month, calling for the immediate restoration of Vernon Mount.
Vernon Mount is owned by multimillionaire businessman Jonathan Moss, who has an address in La Jolla, California, in the US. Mr Moss has extensive business interests in Ireland, including property and technology companies.
The deputy director of the Georgian Society, Donough Cahill, says the villa has largely been left to the elements since planning permission for a major hotel was refused for the site in 1997. Water had been entering through holes in the roof since late 2005 and in spite of pressure from the local authority stop-gap repairs were only made in recent months.
"The purpose of the demonstration was to highlight the continued decline of Vernon Mount. What is needed is very significant investment," said Mr Cahill.
Desmond Fitz-Gerald, the Knight of Glin, has expressed concern about ceiling and wall paintings by leading 19th-Century Cork artist Nathaniel Grogan which remain inside the house. Mr Fitz-Gerald said that Vernon Mount stands in a desperate state of neglect.
VM Restoration Ltd, which represents the owner of the villa, said earlier this year that the company was doing a huge amount of work behind the scenes and there had been ongoing maintenance work at the villa in recent times.
Irish Independent
Saturday, 24 March 2007
Botanical survey of Innisfallen
A botanical survey of the island of Innisfallen on Killarney's lower lake is to be undertaken as part of a study to uncover the significance of its ancient ruins and its rich array of plants, flowers and trees.
The 23-acre island is reputedly where Brian Boru came to study and is where much of the annals of Innisfallen, one of the major sources of early Munster history, were composed. Its reputation as a medieval seat of learning gave its name to the surrounding Lough Léin, or "lake of learning".
However, apart from a brief period as a Victorian picnic spot, some cattle-grazing in the 1930s by local farmers, and an annual Mass, the island has lain undisturbed for centuries.
However, under new moves to improve the cultural heritage experience of visitors to Killarney, Innisfallen is now being targeted for preservation and promotion by a local interest group.
The island contains significant ruins at its northwestern tip, including those of an abbey established in AD 600. There are also the remains of an 11th century church and an Augustinian priory occupied by monks until the 17th century.
Part of Killarney National Park, the island is accessible from Ross Castle. It is managed by both the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Senior architects from the OPW have assessed the ruins and repair work was carried out on the monuments last autumn.
The botanical survey will be conducted by an NPWS steering group set up to explore the island's riches. It will examine curiosities such as a quadruplet tree with holly, ash, hawthorn and ivy all seeming to grow from a single stem. The island is also thought to contain rare herbs, mosses and orchids.
Anne Lucey
© 2007 The Irish Times
The 23-acre island is reputedly where Brian Boru came to study and is where much of the annals of Innisfallen, one of the major sources of early Munster history, were composed. Its reputation as a medieval seat of learning gave its name to the surrounding Lough Léin, or "lake of learning".
However, apart from a brief period as a Victorian picnic spot, some cattle-grazing in the 1930s by local farmers, and an annual Mass, the island has lain undisturbed for centuries.
However, under new moves to improve the cultural heritage experience of visitors to Killarney, Innisfallen is now being targeted for preservation and promotion by a local interest group.
The island contains significant ruins at its northwestern tip, including those of an abbey established in AD 600. There are also the remains of an 11th century church and an Augustinian priory occupied by monks until the 17th century.
Part of Killarney National Park, the island is accessible from Ross Castle. It is managed by both the Office of Public Works (OPW) and the National Parks and Wildlife Service (NPWS).
Senior architects from the OPW have assessed the ruins and repair work was carried out on the monuments last autumn.
The botanical survey will be conducted by an NPWS steering group set up to explore the island's riches. It will examine curiosities such as a quadruplet tree with holly, ash, hawthorn and ivy all seeming to grow from a single stem. The island is also thought to contain rare herbs, mosses and orchids.
Anne Lucey
© 2007 The Irish Times
Ammunition fort to reopen as museum
A HISTORIC fort which was used by the British and Irish armies to store ammunition is to be transformed into a public museum.
The magazine fort in the Phoenix Park dates back to 1734 but is currently in a dilapidated state and closed off to the public.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed it was in discussions with Dublin City Council about turning it into a museum.
"But before we go in to renovate it and restore it, we want to be able to identify a sustainable function and use for it," a spokesman said.
Under the plans, a new bridge would be built to link the restored magazine fort to the War Memorial Gardens across the River Liffey. A shuttle bus service would be set up so visitors could easily get to other attractions in the area, such as Kilmainham Jail and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The fort was the main ammunition depot for the British army and after independence it performed a similar function for the Irish army.
However, in 1939 the IRA mounted its 'Christmas raid' and stole one million rounds of ammunition using 13 trucks. Most of the ammunition was recovered by the state within a month. But the magazine fort was abandoned soon afterwards.
Michael Brennan
© Irish Independent
The magazine fort in the Phoenix Park dates back to 1734 but is currently in a dilapidated state and closed off to the public.
The Office of Public Works (OPW) confirmed it was in discussions with Dublin City Council about turning it into a museum.
"But before we go in to renovate it and restore it, we want to be able to identify a sustainable function and use for it," a spokesman said.
Under the plans, a new bridge would be built to link the restored magazine fort to the War Memorial Gardens across the River Liffey. A shuttle bus service would be set up so visitors could easily get to other attractions in the area, such as Kilmainham Jail and the Irish Museum of Modern Art. The fort was the main ammunition depot for the British army and after independence it performed a similar function for the Irish army.
However, in 1939 the IRA mounted its 'Christmas raid' and stole one million rounds of ammunition using 13 trucks. Most of the ammunition was recovered by the state within a month. But the magazine fort was abandoned soon afterwards.
Michael Brennan
© Irish Independent
Friday, 23 February 2007
OPW concerned at plan for Battle of Boyne hotel
The Office of Public Works has sent a strongly worded letter to planners in Co Louth outlining concerns about an application to build the country's first eco-friendly hotel on part of the site of the 1690 Battle of the Boyne at Tullyallen.
Eugene Keane of the heritage services division said the application was "premature" and the 23- bedroom four-star hotel is proposed for "a significant historic part of the site of the Battle of the Boyne, the most important battle site in Ireland".
It is also adjacent to where King William was wounded by a cannon shot and is opposite the 18th century Obelisk Bridge erected to mark the historic event.
The application by businessman Gavin Collins proposed using a wood-pellet heating system, solar panels and recycling of grey water and said the hotel was designed to be eco-friendly and also to "become part of the interactive heritage facilities in the area".
It proposed what is described in the planning application as "a prime viewing platform over the Battle of the Boyne site".
The OPW is developing a visitor and exhibition centre, new walkways and a peace garden at the site. When it is completed in about two years, the Government will have spent €30 million on purchasing the 500-acre Oldbridge estates, house and works on it.
"Work is in progress on this significant heritage and tourism project which will attract an estimated 100,000 visitors annually and deliver benefits over a wide region in Louth and Meath," Mr Keane said. "The project is predicated on maintaining the high visual quality of the historic landscape".
The OPW said the planning application was premature "in the absence of a detailed planning strategy for this highly sensitive area and may establish an undesirable precedent".
Elaine Keogh
© 2007 The Irish Times
Eugene Keane of the heritage services division said the application was "premature" and the 23- bedroom four-star hotel is proposed for "a significant historic part of the site of the Battle of the Boyne, the most important battle site in Ireland".
It is also adjacent to where King William was wounded by a cannon shot and is opposite the 18th century Obelisk Bridge erected to mark the historic event.
The application by businessman Gavin Collins proposed using a wood-pellet heating system, solar panels and recycling of grey water and said the hotel was designed to be eco-friendly and also to "become part of the interactive heritage facilities in the area".
It proposed what is described in the planning application as "a prime viewing platform over the Battle of the Boyne site".
The OPW is developing a visitor and exhibition centre, new walkways and a peace garden at the site. When it is completed in about two years, the Government will have spent €30 million on purchasing the 500-acre Oldbridge estates, house and works on it.
"Work is in progress on this significant heritage and tourism project which will attract an estimated 100,000 visitors annually and deliver benefits over a wide region in Louth and Meath," Mr Keane said. "The project is predicated on maintaining the high visual quality of the historic landscape".
The OPW said the planning application was premature "in the absence of a detailed planning strategy for this highly sensitive area and may establish an undesirable precedent".
Elaine Keogh
© 2007 The Irish Times
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