1912 – Lambay, Lambay Island, Co. Dublin

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In 1902, Cecil Baring, later third Lord Revelstoke, married Maude Lorillard and two years later they purchased of Lambay Island. Baring had created a stir in Anglo-American society circles by eloping with Maude, then wife of a business partner, and marrying after her divorce. Here they commissioned Edwin Lutyens to restore and extend existing structures as well as design several new ones. The island eventually became their retreat from London society.

Lutyens opted to extend an old small castle with a new, larger wing. The two sections are linked internally by a ground-level passage and form two distinct parts externally. Lutyens set the new larger wing into rising ground so that it does not overwhelm. The castle is “constructed with small doors and small casements so that the inhabitants seem, on rough days, to be sheltering like monks.” The interior has vaulted ceilings, stone fireplaces and a curved stone staircase, while much of the furniture chosen by Lutyens is still arranged just as he intended.

In 1912 Lutyens completed his Castle project by encircling it with a rampart wall, which he nicknamed “The Ramparts Against Uncharity”, made from the island stone. This allowed for planting to thrive and creating an oasis of tranquility and stillness.

Lutyens also added additional accommodation and a series of service and farm buildings. In conjunction with Gertrude Jekyll’s clever planting and subtle landscaping, the ensemble creates an idyllic series of spaces sheltered from the weather coming off the Irish Sea. Lambay is the only one of Lutyens’ and Jekyll’s collaborations that still belongs to the family that commissioned their work.

Lutyens also designed the family mausoleum to house the body of Maude Baring when she died at a young age in 1922. It is now also the resting place of Cecil, their son Rupert Revelstoke, and their grandsons John and James Baring.