The gate lodge and bridge at Dromana are exotic and unique architectural gems

Dromana Gate Lodge and Bridge … an exotic combination of ‘Hindu-Gothic’ and ‘Brighton Oriental’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Patrick Comerford

As children in Cappoquin, we saw Dromana Gate Lodge and Bridge, near Villierstown, as one of the most exotic and dramatic works of architecture in West Waterford. The bridge crosses the River Finisk just above the point where it flows into the River Blackwater, south of Cappoquin.

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, older members of the family tried to tease us that this was Ireland’s first – and, at the time, only – mosque, or that it was Ireland’s Taj Mahal. The gate lodge and the bridge had lost none of that exotic appeal and charm when we arrived there at dusk one evening on this summer ‘Road Trip’ through southern Ireland.

The gate lodge was built in what was described as a ‘Hindu Gothic’ or ‘Brighton Oriental’ style and it marks the old entrance to the Villiers-Stuart estate at Dromana, south of Cappoquin.

The original archway made from timber, canvas and papier mâché in 1826 to greet the return from their wedding of Henry Villiers-Stuart of Dromana and his wife Theresia Pauline Ott of Vienna.

The couple had spent their honeymoon at Brighton in 1826, and the gate is believed to have been inspired by the Royal Pavilion in Brighton, designed by John Nash and built in 1815-1822. They were so enchanted by the gate that a permanent replacement was designed by the Wexford architect Martin Day in 1849 and completed in 1851.

Martin Day was notable in designing several Church of Ireland churches for the Board of First Fruits and the Irish Ecclesiastical Commissioners in 1822-1849. He assisted Daniel Robertson at Ballinkeele, Johnstown Castle, Bloomfield and Castleboro House in Co Wexford, and he designed other country houses too.

Day’s design at Dromana is a bizarre combination of styles – from flamboyant Gothic with ogival arched windows, to Brighton pavilion oriental, complete with onion dome and minarets – making it a truly remarkable and unique work of art.

The striking aspect of the gate at Dromana centres around a simple composition of a central gateway flanked on either side by single-cell chambers or porters’ lodges. It also includes features of Georgian Gothic ecclesiastical architecture such as the curvilinear profile of the openings, decorative glazing bars, and a quatrefoil-detailed filigree overhead.

Its exotic character is highlighted by the slender minaret-topped piers framing the copper-clad onion dome.

The door at one of the single-cell chambers or porters’ lodges at the gatehouse in Dromana (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Henry Villiers-Stuart died in 1874 and the gatehouse fell into a state of disrepair in the early 20th century. It was restored by the Irish Georgian Society in the 1960s.

Dromana Gate leads directly to Dromana House and Gardens, perched over the River Blackwater. For over 800 years this home has passed down in direct descent from the FitzGerald family to the Villiers-Stuart family.

A plaque at Dromana Bridge commemorates the Battle of Affane. The FitzGeralds of the Deices, who were seated at Dromana, had aligned themselves with the Ormond Butlers against the FitzGeralds of Desmond, and this area became the site of the Battle of Affane in February 1565.

The FitzGeralds of Desmond were defeated and the FitzGeralds of Dromana held on to their estates in West Waterford. But this was one of the bloodiest battles in late mediaeval Ireland.

Queen Elizabeth realised the dangers of political instability in this part of Ireland. Large tracts of land in West Waterford were granted to her political allies, including Walter Raleigh, Edmund Spenser, and Richard Boyle, Earl of Cork ancestor of the proprietors of Lismore Castle and the Dukes of Devonshire.

The Battle of Affane had set in motion a series of events that led to the Desmond Rebellions and the subsequent Plantation of Munster. But the FitzGeralds of the Decies held on to their estate for Dromana.

The bridge over the River Finisk, close to the battle site, was part of the Dromana estate until the 1970s, when it was taken over and rebuilt by Waterford County Council.

Darkness was beginning to close in as we stood on the bridge. But Barbara Grubb, a member of the Villiers-Stuart family, had promised to show us around Dromana House and the gardens the next day, and we would return to Dromana the following afternoon.

Dusk on the River Finisk at Dromana … a peaceful scene at the site of the Battle of Affane (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Cappoquin Rowing Club, ‘the old dark blues’ and one of Ireland’s oldest

Cappoquin Rowing Club and the clubhouse at the bridge on the River Blackwater (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Since childhood, one of my favourite buildings in Cappoquin has been the Boathouse is part of Cappoquin’s river, sporting and cultural heritage. Although it is closed because of the present Covid-19 pandemic restrictions, I had to walk out to the boathouse when I arrived in Cappoquin during the first phase of this summer’s ‘Road Trip.’

The boathouse has been a centre of rowing in Cappoquin for over a century and a half and has been the venue for countless dances, concerts and shows, with the likes of Bowyer and Woodward bringing opera and Anew McMaster, Micheál Mac Liammóir and Hilton Edwards performing Shakespeare.

The present boathouse below the bridge on the River Blackwater, above the bend on the river, is perhaps the third boathouse on or near this site, but incorporates parts of the previous, modest buildings, including the overhanging wooden balcony.

Cappoquin Rowing Club was founded in 1862 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Cappoquin Rowing Club was founded in 1862, making it one of Ireland’s oldest, but there are records from as early as the 18th century of boat and swimming races on the River Blackwater, and the club is Cappoquin’s oldest sporting and social organisation.

The club was founded by James M Moore and John Stanley, assisted by Sir John Henry Keane of Cappoquin House, who became the first president of the club. His presidency was invested with a significant rowing pedigree as he had captained the Trinity Boat at Cambridge three decades earlier and rowed for Cambridge in 1836 when they defeated Oxford.

In the early years, storage space for the boats was improvised and there was no formal clubhouse. However, in 1875, the first clubhouse was built with the assistance of tradesmen engaged in building the railway line. A later clubhouse built in 1910, was financed substantially by Mrs HC Villiers-Stuart of Dromana House.

In the early years, storage space for the boats was improvised (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Sir John Keane, who rowed for Cambridge in the 1836 boat race and defeated Oxford by four lengths, is the man who started it all. His efforts so prospered that when in 1990 Cappoquin were finalists at Henley regatta, Dan Murray’s exuberance echoed around the headlines with the words ‘Cappoquin, the smallest and best rowing club in the world.’

Sir John Keane was the first President of the Cappoquin Rowing Club. As a student at Trinity College Cambridge in the 1830s, he captained the Trinity Boat. He also rowed at No 6 in the Cambridge ‘cutter’ in the University Boat Race in 1836. The course was from Westminster to Putney and Oxford were favourites. Cambridge led off the start and came away to win by four lengths.

In 1837, John Keane rowed at No 4 for Cambridge in their first ever contest against the Leander Club. Cambridge began as favourites and the course was from Westminster to Putney. Leander led off the start, but Cambridge took the lead at Vauxhall Bridge, were well up by Battersea Bridge, and won comfortably by seven seconds.

Sir John Keane inherited Cappoquin House and the family title in 1855, and in the early 1860s he laid the foundations of the Cappoquin Rowing Club. The first record of a payment by Sir John Keane in relation to the Cappoquin club is in 1876 to James Mosley of Waterford for engraving cups and prizes. In the same year he had the rules of the club revised and printed in book form by Brenan’s of Dungarvan.

John Stanley bought a new four and scull from Salters of Oxford in 1876 and Sir John Keane, John Stanley and James Moore were the pioneers who brought the first sliding seats to Cappoquin.

The bend on the River Blackwater at Cappoquin Rowing Club (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Cappoquin joined other rowing clubs nationwide in the 1880s in establishing the Irish Amateur Rowing Association. This early attempt at forming a national association was provisional, however, and the Irish Amateur Rowing Union was founded in 1899.

Meanwhile, Sir John Keane’s son, Sir Richard Keane, gave a further piece of land to the club in 1889. The lease was signed by him, RJ Collender and R O’Brien and this lease is said to be still in force, with a fixed annual rent of 24 shillings.

Senator Sir John Keane also took a keen interest in the club, taking an active part in role in fundraising and singing at CRC concerts in Cappoquin.

His son, Sir Richard Keane, was the club’s patron, and was responsible for bringing over Hugo Pitman, one of Oxford University’s best known oarsmen and twice captain of an Oxford boat that beat Cambridge, to help coach the successful McGrath eight.

A plaque at the steps above the clubhouse celebrates Charles Orr Stanley, a patron of Cappoquin rowing (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

A plaque at the steps above the clubhouse celebrates Charles Orr Stanley (1899-1969), a great patron of Cappoquin rowing and a son of one of the founders of the club.

Stanley was a successful businessman in the mid-20th century. He lived at Cambridge, where he farmed and was a director of the Pye multinational, with factories all over the world.

In the 1960s, Pye also took over Banhams on a site next to Elizabeth Way Bridge on the River Cam in Cambridge. Banhams had been boat builders for over 100 years.

At the time, Cambridge had 28 college clubs and 22 clubs had their boats built by Banhams, who also built the boats for the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. Stanley organised the finances of the Cambridge University Boat Club from a state of disaster to the one of keen health it has enjoyed ever since.

Cappoquin Rowing Club … the ‘Old Dark Blues’ (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)

Two books about the club have been published, each recounting its successes and profiling the personalities as well as key rowing and social events down through the decades.

The first book, Memories of one hundred years of rowing by Cappoquin oarsmen: a souvenir in words and pictures of our century (1962) was edited by Tom Tobin and marked the club’s centenary.

The second book, The old dark blue: Cappoquin Rowing Club 1862-2002 (2002), was edited by Brendan Kiely, and added the club’s successes over the following 40 years.

As for the ‘Red Bridge,’ still visible from the clubhouse, this was a half-iron, half-stone structure that opened in 1878 as part of the new Waterford, Dungarvan and Lismore railway line. The metal section was used to complete the job more quickly and leave higher arches for some boat masts to get under.

The line took six years to build and was, at the time, the most expensive railway project in Ireland. The Red Bridge closed when CIÉ shut the line in 1967.

The ‘Red Bridge’ spanning the River Blackwater dates from the 1870s (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2020)