Wasted Heritage Buildings - Your nominations

Sorry about the delay in a reply. I have visited the castle a number of times and it is owned by a trust and not a family. The original family vacated the premises in the early 20th century. Currently it is used almost nightly by ghostbusters hunting for the devil, a TV show punched a hole in the wall of the cellar and installed a fiberglass sacrificial alter and renamed it "the dungeon".

In order to keep the place going it has become a venue for Castlepalooza. The owners are attempting to restore the castle but as far as I can see there have been no changes or improvements to the building in the past 6 years since I first went there.

While it's historical significance may not equate to some of the other examples in this thread I believe that the grounds of the castle could equal the beauty and tourism status of Russborough House which boats an art collection and coffee shop in Blessington. Considering that Tullamore has absolutely nothing but rising gun crime it would be a wise investment to open the lands as a local amenity, end the ghost hunting, fake history & hippy concerts and restore the building imo.

It is a particularly beautiful place on a summers day.


Russborough

Charleville

Jesus I did not want to start a massive thing with this. I am not advocating the socialist takeover of all structures that I deem worthy of public interest. I was just throwing in my nomination to a hypothetical internet thread I stumbled across.

Simarillion wrote: »

Still the most thorough book on Ireland's country houses is
Burke's Guide to Country Houses: Ireland written by Mark Bence-Jones in 1978

It's not the easiest to find, and there was a second release with an addendum of more houses that Bence-Jones has omitted during the first write up. Several owners had written to him complaining of being forgotten. But the key to it is that many of the houses he visited were still standing, and being lived in by their original owners, and there are many photographs he was given of houses before they were burned during the '20s or demolished during the 60's, 70's and 80's

After that you are looking at the handful that have been done predominantly by members of the Irish Georgian Society, who thankfully recorded many of the bigger houses that exist.
A few examples are;

Irish House and Castles; Hon. Desmond Guinnes & William Ryan
Great Houses of Ireland; Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd & Christophen Sykes
Great Irish Houses; Jacqueline O'Brian & Hon. Desmond Guinness
Irish Gardens; Madame Olda Fitzgerald
The Big House in Ireland; Valerie Pakenham
The Houses of Ireland; Brian de Breffny and Rosemary ffolliott
The Noble Dwellings of Ireland; John Fitzmaurice Mills
In An Irish House; Sybil Connolly
The Irish Georgian Society's 50th Anniversary Book of Irish Houses
Turtle Bunbury's Irish Country Houses (covers smaller houses)

Most of the above cover the same houses, namely the largest and more grand houses or the most famous ones, rather than smaller country houses or quieter families, so you'll regularly come across:
Castletown, Birr, Slane, Clandeboye, Mount Stewart, Tullynally, Curraghmore, Bantry, Florence Court, Leixlip, Westport, Lismore, Russborough & Powerscourt

Slightly different ones are;
The Lost Houses of Ireland; Count Randal McDonnell
Tarquin Blake's Abandoned Ireland (based on his website- really excellent!!)
both of which record houses which were burned/demolished etc.

Hope I haven't overloaded you with too much!

Sim

I had a look at burkes guides to Irish country houses a few days ago. Im thinking of buying it sometime so I had a look at in in a library. I thought it was a good book but was slightly dissapointed as there aren't many photos of the houses in it and the photos that were there were small black and white photos. I think its important to have good quality photographs in a book about architecture. What are the other books listed like? Im basically looking for a book that covers most of the Big houses in Ireland but has many High quality photographs and isnt too out of date

AI wrote: »

I was talking about my book 'Abandoned Mansions of Ireland' on the RTE History Show last Sunday:

http://www.rte.ie/podcasts/2011/pc/pod-v-09011110m10sthehistoryshow.mp3

Brilliant book got it for christmas. Took me a while to get it as the shop said the publisher had to print more a due to high demand, so it must be a hit. Do you know of any books to answer my quiery?

eh2010 wrote: »

Brilliant book got it for christmas. Took me a while to get it as the shop said the publisher had to print more a due to high demand, so it must be a hit. Do you know of any books to answer my quiery?

A Guide to Irish Country Houses by Mark Bence-Jones (which is the second edition of Burke's Guide to Country Houses) is my bible. The entries for each house are brief and can be out of date but it is still the most complete book on Irish houses. Sadly Mark Bence-Jones passed away last year. I believe he was the greatest authority and writer on Irish country houses.

To start with I'd also recommend getting:

'The Irish Country House' by The Knight of Glin & James Peill just published last year. It covers ten houses which are still in the hands of the original family.

'Irish Houses & Gardens: From the Archives of Country Life' by Sean O'Reilly.

I'm glad you like my own book 'Abandoned Mansions of Ireland'. The first print run sold out in six weeks but it is back on the shelves now.

keithcan wrote: »

OK, who here is "the Government" ?? If you're going to accuse people of being 'uncooperative' etc. I think it behoves you to be more specific about who you mean. Is it Dublin City Council? or An Taisce? ....

Just to correct a common misapprehension; An Taisce are not a Govt body; they are a registered charity and they are a proscribed body under the various planning acts. This means that have a statutory role in advising on certain planning matters. They do not make decisions on planning matters.

Other proscribed bodies include Minister of the Environment, the Heritage Council, the Arts Council, and Bord Failte.

In a nutshell, they are a planning, heritage and environmental watchdog with some limited statutory rights but no power to make decisions.

They also, as I a said above, are a charity. More info here
http://www.antaisce.org/
and
http://www.facebook.com/AnTaisce

You forgot to mention that An Taisce are also moribund. They are neither one thing or the other any more.

On the contrary, I would say that An Taisce is more active than ever. I hope you don't feel that I'm being picky but almost everything you have posted is incorrect.

Could you clarify what you mean by "neither one thing or the other any more"?

They have bits and pieces of property

They have 10,000 acres, 45 historic properties, in 10 counties. All of which is held in trust for future generations. Hardly 'bits and pieces'.

(e.g. the neglected Booterstown Marsh) that they fail to look after,

DLR county council are responsible for maintaining Booterstown marsh, whilst AT holds it in trust.

The management of the Marsh:
The Managers; An Taisce represented by Dun Laoghaire Association assisted by the National Properties Group.
The Scientists; research in the reserve and advise on the management regimen.
The Users; represented by An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland, and local residents.

Fundamental land/water management (ie tidal flow) and maintainance is carried out by DLR coco.

What aspect would you say is neglected? It is after all marshland, and still recovering from the oil spils of the 80s.

they do lots of good work in the planning arena but this alienates them from many who misunderstand their statutory role.

I would say they have been more vilified than misunderstood, as we now know the excesses of the boom have cost us all very dearly, An Taisce have been consistantly warning Government, Local Authorities and Business that that the insatiable property development madness was not sustainable. There are many with vested interests, not the least local and national politicians, who have been more than disingenous in labelling An Taisce just about every name under the sun during (and after) the boom years.

Does An Taisce have to explain sustainability and it's role in the planning process over and over again? I don't see the EPA having to justify the role it plays in protecting the environment?

I feel that they have lost their way ever since they moved from their centrally located offices in Percy Place to their 'ivory tower' in the Tailor's Hall.

The phrase ivory tower would imply that you feel AT are somehow not connected with the real world. On the contrary, the last ten years have demonstrated how much more realistic they are than all the pie-in-the-sky "development" schemes we have had. I think history will judge them better than the corrupt establishment that has got us in this mess.

Tailor's Hall is the last surviving Guild Hall and one of the more important pieces of Dublin's historic fabric. AT have done a valuable service ensuring that this has not been left to rot like so many other import buildings in Dublin.

"centrally located offices in Percy Place" - is there a slight D4 bias in your your definition of central? I'd say Tailor's Hall is a lot closer to any centre you'd care to name - Viking onwards.

They used to produce a worthwhile newsletter and later a magazine when I was first a member back in the early 1970s but sadly this has gone through various metamorphoses over the decades and I don't even know whether it exists anymore.

Forgive me if it sounds like I'm being "smart", but perhaps you didn't update your membership? And did you look at their website before you wrote this

http://www.antaisce.org/WhatsNow/Publications/Newsletters/tabid/598/language/en-US/Default.aspx

Here's the monthly newsletter archive for 2010/2009. Members get this emailed to them every month. You could renew your membership, it's a good newsletter

An Taisce urgently needs to reinvent itself for the 21st century.

What would you propose An Taisce drop from it's remit. It does this...

• is an impartial monitor on the application of EU environmental legislation at local level
• promotes environmental awareness through Green Schools and other educational programmes
• is a network of Local Associations supported by An Taisce through facilitating a bottom-up consultative approach when making submissions on national or local planning policy.
• a key consultation Prescribed Body under Section 24 of the 2000 Planning and Development Act for input into national policy formulation.
• acts as a key consultation Prescribed Body under Article 28 (1) of the 2001 Regulations for planning applications that fall under (amenity, protected structures, sites of heritage interest, national monuments, nature conservation) and for applications that contain ‘EIS’.
• acts as a key consultation Prescribed Body in the area of waste and natural environment under: S.I. 538/2001 in relation to Forestry applications; The EPA Act in relation to Integrated Pollution Control and Waste Licenses & The Aquaculture & Fisheries Amendment Act (1997) for Aquaculture applications.
• is part of a large global movement of approved National Trusts which preserve and hold property in perpetuity for the benefit of their respective peoples.

As well as campaigning on various issues, including most recently;

the decision to take the Government into court for the Judicial Review of the Corrib Oral Hearing which An Taisce holds to be in breach of EU Environmental Law.

The campaign to prevent the extension of Dublin Port to Braemore, thus destroying pristine coastline protected under EU Law, and also impacting neolithic tombs of similar significance to Newgrange.

The campaign to prevent Ireland's forests being sold to te highest bidder.

Campaigns to prevent the destruction of Ireland's peatland natural environment.

Formation of an Energy forum to allow key players in the energy industry (who did not talk to each other previously) to exchange ideas about sustainable energy generation.

I could go on all day, but which of these should An Taisce "reinvent", perhaps what really need to happen is that our Local and National Government needs to reinvent how it allows decisions to be made that impact the build and natural environment, and the Irish people need to stop shooting the messenger (not just An Taisce, other "naysayers" have been lambasted for there so called "talking down the economy" over the last few years) and instead turn their focus on the vested interests, cronyism and ongoing corruption.