Michael J. OBrien
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What about the Stone Church in Straffan. It is a lovely little church- I don’t know wheither it is RC or COI. (I think Ronan Keating may have got married there).
There is also a lovely church in a on the back road from Kildare town to Clane. It is in a place called Prosperous or Kilmeague or Robertstown.
Wow- what an amazing history Portlaw has. Surely a likely candidate for historic vistoric status.
Ctesiphon- the pictures on buildings of ireland website are impressive. What an amazing amout of ruins and it is great to see them still standing.Here is one final view which shows its position on the riverside.
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/other/abl/etext/irish/pictures/p406.html
Correct weblink:
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~portlawns/Pages/curraghmore_house.htm
See further information about Curraghmore House on the following website. To the best of my knowledge it is still lived in by the original family and appears to be in a similiar anitiquated condition to the pre-restored Lisadell House (or one of them if you read the following article). Excellent pictures of it in book recent Houses of Ireland books. It appears to have a majestic setting by a river/lake somewhat similiar to Lyons House in Co. Dublin.
I believe that the grounds at least are regularly open to the public. I also think the house may by open by appointment. I believe it may be on the Department of Finance/Revenue’s list of historic property that have to open to the public.I visited the area a few years ago and the estate is still completed enclosed with miles of stone walls. Very interesting gatelodge in a nearby village that is in the centre of two gates. Very unusual building but unfortunately it is a complete ruin.
http://homepage.tinet.ie/~portlawns/images/Curraghmore_House.JPG
Has anyone visited Curraghmore.
Castletown Cox I believe has been undergoing a huge renovation over teh last number of years where conterversally a number of huge trees were cut down around the house. I belileve this was actaully necessary to reopen up the vista particularly in front of the house.
I am not an architectural expert but is the other Castletown House- Castletown Cox in Co. Kilkenny a baroque house?
Also Curraghmore House in Waterford, which is in my opinion the most important and one of the least know houses/estates in Ireland.
http://www.buildingsofireland.ie/niah/images/survey_specific/curraghmorehouse.jpgJust seen this.
I have visited Carton Demense this summer and I think to date the fact that the estate will be open to the public again is a major positive development and it looks like the developers have sepnd a lot of money on the firt phase of the house renovations.
This new hotel development worries me hugely, because one of the archectural wonders of Carton House is the symmetry, which will now be broken.
Obviously this development with the Irish open etc is going to further develop and I wonder where the first extension to the hotel will go.
I am amazed that planners allowed them to build a 21st century builting beside an 17th/18th gem.I am all for development and I would have had no problem with a hotel somewhere within the 1000 acre demense. I strongly feel the house the Shell Cottage should have remained as a centre pieces of the estate without any alternations to its archectiture.
I believe it is St Johns RC Cathedral in Limerick. It is 280ft high or 85 metres. This is usually quoted in tourist leaflets for Limerick.
Don’t know about the Cathedral in Monaghan.
Seems to be a huge effort for a bridge that is not going to have access to taxpayers cars. Is it just me of does it look very flat- the bridge in the background is more arched shape- I think it is too flat- wonder what nickname this bridge will get- the eye lash!!
I went along to see Farmleigh on Saturday morning. There were huge crowds waiting outside the Phoenix Park visitor centre- all the publicity certainly seemed to catch the public’s intention.
Firstly I would have to complement the tour guides who were borrowed from Dublin Castle, the tours were very informative and all our questions were answered.
So what did I think of the house?
I was impressed overall. It is abviously not in the same league as Carton or Castletown houses. The OPW seem to carried out great work- the house looks amazing throughout but still holds onto its antique charm. The boudoir is very attractive but the room that stands out the most is the ballroom- very impressive and it puts the ballroom of the nearby Aras to shame. Interestingly a number of visitors felt that Farmleigh was more impressive than the White House.
Negatives: the house was a bit empty- I read somewhere that the Guinnesses had taken some of the contents with them- but I think with a budget of £18 million the OPW could surely have afforded to replace them. There is also no public access to the Bedrooms or suites upstairs (tour guide informed us that the ‘presidental suite’ is called the DeValera suite, the other two suites are the Collins and Iveagh suites.)
The worst aspect of the house is a fire escape which has been erected behind the library and the Nobel room- I have no idea how this got planning permisson- it is a disgrace as it wrecks the views from both rooms and also the back elevation of the house.My suggestion to the OPW would be to open up the 1st floor of the house and also the gardens and the landmark clock tower.
Was it worth the money- yes indeed especially considering there is 80 acres going with the house and imagine if a hotel group had purchased the property and inserted a golf course and built on an ugly extension to the house.
My opinion is that Farmleigh will eventually become the Taoiseach residence and I think then we shall get real value out of our £41 million.
I would like to congratulate the government and the OPW on the purchase and restoration of Farmleigh- this will be one of the main legacies of the Celtic Tiger era.
There was also a fire in the top floor & kitchen of Carton House in Maynooth last week. I think there was a lot of water damage to the whole house. The house is currently being ‘restored’ into a hotel & apartments as part of the overall commercial development of the demense. I think the plan is to put apartments into the first & second floors.
This incident was reported in the Liffey Champion- there was not a lot of information available from the owners- I wonder why???[This message has been edited by Michael J. O’Brien (edited 21 May 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Michael J. O’Brien (edited 21 May 2001).]
[This message has been edited by Michael J. O’Brien (edited 21 May 2001).]
I don’t know if the farmhouse should be listed- but I see no reason to knock it. Why not incorporate it into the proposed development- as a social centre or something else.
In the current era of the Celtic Tiger economy I think we should hold onto as much of our architectural heritage as possible.
Question: in another 200 years- I wonder what will be around- the 18th century house or a non distinctive 21st century housing development?-
For what it’s worth my money’s on the 18th century house.Did any see anything in the either the Sunday Tribune (18th of Feb) or the Irish Times (17th of Feb) about an upcoming exhibition in Carton House about house keeping in big houses in Ireland. A friend of mine saw the paper but has no further details.
I think that there is a Military/Army museum planned for the Magazine Fort. I think this would be more appropriate considering its orginal function.
Does anyone have more information about the proposed museum?I see from last Thursday’s property section in the Irish Times that there are plans for 10/12 apartments for Carton House. This is a disgrace. Its very disappointing to read about Frescati House and twenty years on what has been learned. Yet anyone former Fitzgerald house is about to be destroyed by developers. How can they get away with this in the year 200. Fair enough for Kildare county Council to grant planning permission for 150 houses and 2 golf courses in the 1000 acre demense- but to implant apartments into what is arguably one of the finest house- both archecturally and historically in the whole country. Why is this being allowed. Surely the developers will make enough money and profit from the existing developers and would it not be a noteworthy gesture to hand over the whole house and existing outbuildings to the state. Surely this would receive considerable praise and might make the rest of the development more acceptable!!!
This should not be allowed to proceed!!
