20 June 2017

The remains of a planned town
that was never built in Foynes

The Post Office and Health Centre in Foynes, designed by William Clifford House, are all that remain of Inigo Jones’s plans for a Market Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

Adare owes much of it beauty and its attractive streetscape to the benign interest and foresight of the local landlords, the Earls of Dunraven, who lived at Adare Manor.

In a similar way, the Spring Rice family of Mount Trenchard, who held the title of Lord Monteagle, tried to develop the estates they owned at the small port town of Foynes and, to a lesser degree, Foynes.

It is as though Monteagle was not to be outdone by Dunraven. Although their tenanted lands were being sold off by the beginning of the 20th century, both families had a keen interest in developing their estate town, and it was a healthy competition that enhanced the lifestyle of their tenants.

Around 1900, Lord Monteagle commissioned an ambitious plan for Foynes, which he thought would eventually replace Limerick City as a port and harbour. He had a vision of transforming Foynes into an urban centre that would be at the centre of the social and economic life of the port and the surrounding agricultural hinterland.

Monteagle commissioned Francis Inigo Jones (1866-1950), a fashionable architect, artist and garden designer, to bring his vision to daylight. Inigo Thomas was a nephew of Broderick Thomas (1811-1898), one of the principal landscape garden designers in the latter half of the 19th century.

Broderick Thomas was employed by Queen Victoria at Buckingham Palace and Sandringham. In Ireland, he designed a large parterre at Baronscourt, Co Tyrone, for the Duke of Abercorn, drew up plans for the gardens at Powerscourt, Co Wicklow, for Lord Powerscourt, and was asked by Charles Powell Leslie in the 1860s to decide which trees at Glaslough, Co Monaghan, should be felled to make room for Castle Leslie, which was being rebuilt.

In 1893, Inigo Thomas paid an extended visit to Italy that had a profound influence on his work. He designed outstanding gardens at Athelhampton, Barrow Court (near Bristol), Chantmarle (Dorset), Rotherfield Hall (East Sussex), and, possibly, Parnham (Dorset). As well as designing numerous formal gardens, he illustrated Sir Reginald Blomfield’s book The Formal Garden in England (1892).

Although for many garden lovers his masterpieces at Athelhampton and Chantmarle are among the most exquisite English gardens of their time, Inigo Thomas remains a somewhat shadowy figure.

Thomas trained in the office of the architects George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) and Thomas Garner (1839-1906). Bodley was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott and he worked closely with William Morris for much of his career. He was one of the most important architects of the Tractarian Movement, and designed or restored over 100 cathedrals and churches in the Gothic Revival style, favoured by AWN Pugin and of whom Scott was among the great exponents.

Bodley’s biographer Michael Hall argues he ‘fundamentally shaped the architecture, art, and design of the Anglican Church throughout England and the world.’ In Cambridge, he is associated with at All Saints’ Church, Jesus Lane, and redesigned Saint Botolph’s Church on Trumpington Street. His churches in Staffordshire include the Church of the Holy Angels, Hoar Cross (1871-1872), the Mission Church, Hadley End (1901), and Saint Chad’s Church, Burton-on-Trent (1903-1910).

Around 1900, working on his commission from Lord Monteagle, Inigo Thomas designed a Market Square for Foynes, with 20 shops and cottages arranged into a symmetrical layout centred on a traditional arcaded market house. This would face a bank and post office, with two pools at the rear.

The buildings were to have the generous, wide-eaved roofs and comfortable horizontal detailing associated with the Arts and Crafts style, with classical formality and detailing for the market house and bridges.

In addition, Inigo Thomas drew up designs for his terraces of cottages to the east of his proposed Market Square.

The Post Office and Health Centre in Foynes, designed by William Clifford House … an attractive example of early 20th century Arts and Crafts style architecture (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Sadly, the scheme was never realised, apart from the building now houses the Post Office and Health Centre in Foynes. This building, which was designed by William Clifford Smith, is an attractive example of early 20th century Arts and Crafts style architecture, and its form, size and scale mark it out in the streetscape.

William Clifford Smith (1881-1954) was an inventive young English architect who came to Limerick in 1902 when he won an international competition to design a new clubhouse for Shannon Rowing Club. This is the oldest rowing club in Limerick City, and was founded in 1866 by the Limerick entrepreneur Sir Peter Tait.

The highly elaborate new clubhouse, which was completed in 1905, was designed by Clifford Smith in the Edwardian Arts and Crafts idiom. This is such a fine example of Edwardian architecture that, as far as I know, it is the only listed sports building in Ireland.

On winning the competition, Clifford Smith decided to stay to Ireland and he settled in Limerick. In 1906, he designed a terrace of small dormered cottages at Fair Green in Adare, Co Limerick, for the 4th Earl of Dunraven. In 1907, Dunraven also invited Clifford Smith to design the Village Hall and Clubhouse in Adare in the Arts and Crafts style.

Around 1910, Clifford Smith designed the former Bank and Post Office in Foynes, Co Limerick, the only building to be completed as part of the vision of Inigo Thomas for a Market Square in Foynes, and Creeven Cottages, a row of cottages at the east end of Foynes.

The Shannon Rowing Club gave impetus to an Edwardian freestyle that marked out the building on Limerick’s riverscape. It is a style that can be seen too throughout the city in suburban houses in Ennis Road, O’Connell Avenue and Shelbourne Road.

The characteristic features of Clifford Smith’s main building in Foynes, now housing the Post Office and Health Centre, include the rusticated arch, projecting bays, the overhanging eaves and the quadripartite windows, which serve to emphasise the long rectangular H-plan form and to underscore the horizontal detailing.

The rusticated limestone walls to the ground floor contrast with the rendered upper floor and give the building an interesting façade.

This detached, H-plan, seven-bay two-storey building, which was built as a post office and bank, was built around 1910. There are recent extensions to the rear or north elevation.

The building has a hipped slate roof with rendered chimney-stacks, over-hanging eaves and timber brackets. The rough-cast rendered walls at first-floor level have rusticated limestone quoins. On the ground floor, the rusticated coursed limestone walls have a rusticated plinth course.

There are bipartite square-headed openings to the projecting end-bays, where the first floor has rusticated limestone block-and-start surrounds, mullions, sills and four-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows.

There are tripartite, square-headed openings to the centre bay, the first floor and the projecting end bays, at the ground floor level they have rusticated limestone block-and-start surrounds, mullions, sills and four-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows. The quadripartite square-headed openings at the centre-bay on the ground floor have rusticated limestone block-and-start surrounds, mullions, sills and four-over-four pane timber sliding sash windows.

The round-headed opening to the centre-bay has a rusticated limestone surround and an inset square-headed multiple-pane fixed window and a square-headed opening that has a multi-pane over-light above the timber-panelled door. The square-headed openings to the projecting end-bays have multiple-pane over-lights over the timber panelled doors.

Creveen Cottages, Foynes … also designed by William Clifford Smith (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

At the east end of Foynes, Creveen Cottages form a symmetrical and picturesque terrace of six handsome houses also designed around 1910 by William Clifford Smith. This terrace is distinguished by its distinctive roofline and rendered walls, with well-crafted limestone dressings. The long, low form of the terrace and the broken massing give it a domestic scale.

No 1, which forms a handsome terminus of this terrace, is an end-of-terrace, two-bay, two-storey with a dormer attic house. The hipped slate roof has terracotta ridge tiles, over-hanging eaves, timber brackets and rendered chimney-stacks. The rough-cast rendered walls have a rock-faced limestone stringcourse. The square-headed openings have replacement uPVC windows and rock-faced limestone sills, and there is a replacement uPVC door.

The roughly dressed limestone boundary walls have roughly-dressed cappings and single-leaf cast-iron gates.

No 2 is a three-bay house that retains its original form and some distinctive features, such as the rock-faced limestone dressings and the boundary walls. There is a round-headed slightly recessed niche with rusticated limestone voussoirs and an inset square-headed opening with a replacement uPVC window. There is a limestone lintel over the square-headed opening with timber panelled door and a rock-faced limestone lintel.

Details of Creveen Cottages in Foynes designed by William Clifford Smith (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

There are many interesting shop fronts throughout Foynes. For example, E O’Connor, which was built a decade earlier, around 1900, is a notable example of the tradition of combined dwelling and shop, complete with a finely crafted tripartite shopfront. The various window types and brick dressings make this end-of-terrace three-bay two-storey house and former shop stand out on the streetscape of Foynes.

Meanwhile, by 1911, Clifford Smith was boarding in the home of Elizabeth McCarthy on Ennis Road. He may have served in the Royal Engineers during World War I. But he returned to Limerick after the war, and in 1919 he designed what is now the Belltable Arts Centre at 69 O’Connell Street. He worked from 75 O'Connell Street for much of his career. In 1928, he formed a partnership with Edward Newenham, known as Clifford Smith & Newenham.

William Clifford Smith lived at Northesk, Lansdowne, Limerick, from before 1937, when his daughter Doreen married Charles Johnston, until he died in 1954. Clifford Smith & Newenham amalgamated with the Dublin practice of Dermot Mulligan in 1968 to become Newenham Mulligan & Associates.

E O’Connor’s shop in Foynes … built a decade before the cottages designed by William Clifford Smith (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

A sunny summer
afternoon visiting
Shanagolden

Shangolden, with its broad main street and square, in the summer sunshine (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

Patrick Comerford

On Sunday afternoon, on the way from Saint Brendan’s Church in Tarbert, Co Kerry, to Rathkeale for confirmations in Holy Trinity Church, Rathkeale [18 June 2017], two of us stopped for lunch in the village of Shanagolden, nestled in green-and-gold pastureland and basking in the warm summer sunshine.

In recent weeks, I have been trying to visit the towns and villages in the Rathkeale and Kilnaughtin Group of Parishes that once had Church of Ireland parish churches, even if they are no longer standing. The church in Shanagolden is of particular personal interest because this was once closely linked with the Precentors of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick

Shanagolden (Seanghualainn, ‘Old Shoulder’) is on the R521 road between Foynes and Newcastlewest, and has a population of about 300 people. Despite its size, Shanagolden has a long wide main street and a broad square, with the former shops set well back. The streetscape of the village is marked by the chimneystack of the former creamery, the tower of the former Church of Ireland parish church, and the Spring Rice Cross.

Shanagolden claims to be one of the oldest recorded settlements in Ireland. A mile north of Shanagolden, Knockpatrick, said to be the highest land in Co Limerick. On the summit are the remains of an old church said to have been consecrated by Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick’s ‘chair’ in a neighbouring field consisted of five rude unhewn stones. A nearby well, dedicated to Saint Patrick. It is said that on a clear day there are views from the hill that stretch as far as Tipperary, Galway, Cork, Kerry and Clare, and that Limerick and Ennis can be seen from here.

The earliest mention of Shanagolden and the area is recorded in the Annals of the Four Masters, which say that in 968, King Mahon of Munster defeated the Vikings of Limerick and Waterford at Sengualainn in a ‘red slaughter.’

The tower is all that remains of the former Church of Ireland parish church in Shangolden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

In 1207, Bishop Donat O’Brien of Limerick, granted the church in Shanagolden to O’Melinus, Chantor of Saint Mary’s Cathedral, Limerick.

About a mile south of Shanagolden, on the road towards Ardagh, Shanid Castle was once one of the most impregnable castles belonging to the FitzGeralds, Earls of Desmond. Shanid Castle is a tower castle dating from the 13th century. It sits high on a hill with a motte some 35 ft deep. This impressive stronghold boasted circular walls 10 ft thick, with motte and bailey defensives, ditches and banks.

Maurice FitzGerald was granted lands in Limerick by Richard de Clare (Strongbow) after the Norman invasions of 1169. Thomas Fitzmaurice inherited the lands of Shanid. He is said to have built Shanid Castle in 1230, although there are indications it was built before that date.

Thomas Fitzmaurice was the ancestor of the FitzGeralds, Earls of Desmond, and Shanid Castle is said to have been the first stronghold of the Knights of Glin. These Desmond Geraldines went on to build many castles, but Shanid was the strongest.

Shanid Abu (or Shanid Aboo), meaning ‘Shanid Forever’ in old Irish, became the war-cry and motto of the Earls of Desmond and Knights of Glin.

The historian Begley records that in 1480, Gerald de Geraldinis took control of both the churches at Robertstown and Shanagolden.

When the last Earl of Desmond was murdered in Kerry in 1584, the lands of the Desmond Geraldines were divided, and Shanagolden village was laid out during the 1580s as a plantation village. Shanid Castle was still inhabited until 1641, when it was finally burned and destroyed.

One of the earliest recorded nunneries in Ireland, the ‘Old Abbey’ or Saint Katherine’s Abbey, was founded as an Augustinian nunnery in 1298 in a valley about two miles east of Shanagolden. It was dissolved in 1541 with the suppression of the monastic houses at the Reformation.

A pointed arch opening at the base of the ruined church tower (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

This tower is the only surviving part of the former Church of Ireland church. The living was a rectory and vicarage. The rectory formed the corps of the precentorship of Limerick and the vicarage was in the patronage of the Precentor. The tithes amounted to £200, one-third payable to the vicar and the remainder to the precentor.

The old church was a large and old building. By the early 19th century, the chancel was in ruins, but in 1815 the nave was rebuilt and reroofed with a lofty square tower, with a loan of £450 from Board of First Fruits. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners also granted £101 for its repair.

Two years earlier, in 1813, the glebehouse was built with a gift of £400 and a loan of £232 from the Board of First Fruits in 1813. The Revd George Vincent (1772-1850) lived at Shanagolden House, while J Fitzgerald lived at the glebe-house, about a mile from the church.

The church closed around 1956, and all that remains is the ruined and neglected tower, where pointed arch openings and limestone sills can still be seen, as well as the pinnacles and crenellations to the roof.

The Langford Mausoleum in the churchyard at the former Church of Ireland parish church in Shangolden (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

The graveyard has many early and well-crafted tombs and headstones, with carved limestone gravestones and carved limestone table-tombs. There is a barrel-vaulted mausoleum to the south, belonging to the Langford family, with a flight of limestone steps to the entrance.

The memorial cross in Shanagolden commemorating Stephen Edmond Spring Rice in (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2017)

By the early 19th century, Shanagolden and much of the surrounding lands belonged to Thomas Spring Rice (1790-1866), Chancellor of the Exchequer and later 1st Lord Monteagle, who lived about three miles away at Mount Trenchard.

The Spring Rice memorial occupies a prominent site in the village of Shanagolden and is a notable feature within the town. The inscription carved in imitation Gaelic script reads: ‘To the glory of God and in memory of Stephen Edmond Spring Rice who died on the seventh day of April 1900 aged 22 years.’

The Hon Stephen Edmond Spring Rice was the eldest son and heir of Thomas Spring Rice (1849-1926), 2nd Lord Monteagle, and his tragic, early death complicated the succession to the family estates and titles.

The monument has been described ‘as one of the last monuments to landlords to be erected in Ireland.’ It is finely carved with high quality lettering, interlace and relief sculpture that are typical of the skills of early 20th century craftsmanship.

Close-by, the brick chimney stack of the old creamery. Shanagolden Creamery is a reminder of the former economic vitality of Shanagolden. The Co-operative Society supplied award-winning butter to London’s most prestigious shops and milk to the Cleeves toffee factory in Limerick. Across the road an old stone building that was once a forge, is the ancestral home of the poet James Clarence Mangan (1803-1849), who wrote My Dark Rosaleen:

All day long, in unrest,
To and fro, do I move.
The very soul within my breast
Is wasted for you, love!
The heart in my bosom faints
To think of you, my Queen,
My life of life, my saint of saints,
My Dark Rosaleen!
My own Rosaleen!
To hear your sweet and sad complaints,
My life, my love, my saint of saints,
My Dark Rosaleen!
Woe and pain, pain and woe,
Are my lot, night and noon,
To see your bright face clouded so,
Like to the mournful moon
.

Today, the literary merit of his poetry is questioned by many. He also produced what he claimed were translations from Turkish, Persian, Arabic, and Irish. But he was also known for literary hoaxes, and some of his ‘translations’ are in fact his own work.