The Irish Georgian Society offices will be closed from Wednesday, 23rd December and will reopen on Monday, 4th January.

The Irish Georgian Society Bookshop will also be closed for this period - Any orders made after 23rd December will be processed when we reopen on 11th January 2021.

Wishing you a happy Christmas and New Years.

Read more

Zoë Coleman, Emmeline Henderson, Donough Cahill, Róisín Lambe and Olivia Brosnan at Castletown House in June 2018 celebrating the Society's 60th anniversary

After five years working with the IGS, our Programmes and Communications Coordinator Zoë Coleman is starting a new position with Dublin City Council Culture Company in the new year. Throughout her time with the Society she has done a stalwart job in supporting fundraising initiatives, managing events in the City Assembly House, editing the Irish Georgian Society Review, and managing IGS digital communications. She will be hugely missed by all but we wish her very well in her new position and are delighted that she will continue her involvement with the Society through the Young Irish Georgians and City Assembly House Committee. Bon Voyage Zoë!

Read more

DISASTER ADVICE SEMINAR

The Irish Georgian Society was delighted to partner with the Department of Housing, Local Government and Heritage to deliver the Disaster Advice Seminar, which took place on the morning of Wednesday 9th December 2020. Over 170 people joined the webinar which outlined how to help owners and custodians of an historic property, where possible, to prevent or reduce the risk of disaster striking their property by fire, floods, storms, lightening strikes or vandalism, and to lessen the damage caused should disaster occur.

Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan gave the opening address and officially launched Disaster: A guide to prevention and preparedness in the historic built environment, which is the latest volume in the Advice Series of publications for those responsible for the care and conservation of historic building.

Download the publication: https://www.buildingsofireland.ie/resources

The Society would like to thank Jacqui Donnelly, Senior Architect at DeptHLGH's who is the Advice Series editor and convened and chaired the seminar.

The Society also wishes to thank Margaret Quinlan, keynote speaker and Disaster Advice publication author; Helena Bergin, Architectural Conservation Officer Fingal County Council; Alicia Clements, Birr Castle; Paul Collins, Ecclesiastical Insurance and Gavan Woods, CEO St. Patrick's Cathedral for delivering informative presentations encompassing topics to include the creation of disaster risk management plans; climate vulnerability assessments; and considerations when insuring historic structures.

Read more

Photo illustrating view of proposed windfarm from Headborough House, a nine-bay two-storey over basement house, built c.1830 incorporating an earlier structure of c. 1680.

The IGS has objected to a proposal for 8 wind turbines standing up to 155m meters high on a site in the Drum Hills, overlooking the Blackwater River Valley in west County Waterford. If granted, this proposal would have a considerable detrimental impact on the character and settings of protected structures of Regional and National interest in the Blackwater Valley, would compromise views along designated Scenic Routes, and would also compromise the tourism potential of the area.

Writing about the Blackwater Valley in the 1790s, the antiquarian and artist Daniel Grose noted that “too much cannot be said of those picturesque scenes [it] affords which multiply as you proceed up the stream”. The Blackwater continues to be celebrated today through the Ireland’s Ancient East initiative, and with castles, houses and churches forming a backdrop for the Blackwater Valley Opera Festival. One wonders how permission could be granted for a major development that would only undermine the area’s special interest and squander the potential to draw more visitors to enjoy its outstanding scenery.

Read the IGS submission here.

Read more

Desmond Guinness and family at a reception in Iveagh House, Stephen's Green, Dublin to celebrate the Europa Nostra Cultural Heritage Medal (2005)

In 1993 I was nominated by An Taisce to serve as the Irish Council member of Europa Nostra, the pan-European federation for cultural heritage, and I served in this role for more than twenty years. Europa Nostra is known for running the European Union Prize for Cultural Heritage/Europa Nostra Awards which promote best practices related to heritage conservation, management, research and education. Desmond Guinness and I served as Trustees of the Alfred Beit Foundation at Russborough for 34 years. Having known of his excellent work in the area of conservation, I decided in 2004 to nominate him for an Award in the category ‘Dedicated Service to Heritage Conservation’ which is awarded to individuals or groups. I secured three letters of support for this nomination from An Taoiseach of the day, Bertie Ahern, Bonnie Burnham of the World Monuments Fund (WMF) and Lord Rosse. My nomination of Desmond was up against a total of 214 applications across Europe in four categories.

These applications were assessed over a few months by independent experts and then evaluated by the Heritage Awards Juries. Desmond won one of these prestigious prizes and in so doing became the first Irish individual to win this European Award. The citation by the Jury read as follows: “For fifty years of unrelenting voluntary efforts and spectacular achievements in favour of Ireland's architectural heritage”. He received his Medal from H.M. Queen Sofía of Spain at the prestigious European Heritage Awards Ceremony in June 2005 at the Palacio Real de El Pardo in Madrid. Later that year, an Irish celebration took place at a reception in Iveagh House hosted by the Department of Foreign Affairs. We were delighted that Desmond was finally recognised on a European level for all of his achievements over fifty years.

One of Desmond’s first significant projects was when he took on the saving of Tailors' Hall, Back Lane, Dublin 8 after it was nearly lost through dereliction in the 1960s. This work inspired the An Taisce Tailors’ Hall Fundraisers to come together in 1966. Under the Chairmanship of Stella Dunphy, the Committee raised funds for the restoration of the building until 1990. Back in 1984, it had been agreed that An Taisce would take on responsibility for the Hall and so it became the organisation’s headquarters. It remains so until the present day. An Taisce continued Desmond’s early work in conserving it over the years. This work was also recognised by Europa Nostra when Tailor's Hall won a conservation Award in 1989.

Consuelo O'Connor, Board Member, The Alfred Beit Foundation.

This was originally featured in the Irish Georgian Society Review (2020).

Read more

Jacqueline Kennedy and Desmond Guinness at Castletown House in 1967 (Photo: David Davison)

For those of us too young to remember the Guinnesses in their prime I refer you to a 1970 ITV programme interview by Alan Whicker, it is riveting — sharp, witty, edgy even indiscreet but their charisma, impatience and beauty explain why they achieved so much against the odds. Desmond in particular is revealing and the complexity of his character is laid bare — particularly his shyness combined with that burning desire to secure Irish 18th century buildings. The programme covers the then threat to Doneraile Court — Desmond is interviewed with the St Legers just as they were about to leave: dressed impeccably he picks his way through the overgrown Pleasure Garden, past the decrepitude of the house: — referring to its ‘arrogant disrepair’ — and in his inimitable way he proclaims ‘it can be saved...it must be saved’: and so in time it was.

My initial meetings with both Desmond and Mariga were not auspicious as I met them in the midst of their divorce proceedings in the early 1980s. On my first weekend as curator of Castletown in the autumn of 1983, with the house full of visitors — Mariga arrived plus entourage and a pair of secateurs and started to snip at the wires from which the Richard Castle drawings of Leinster House hung. It took all my courage to dissuade her and she was not pleased. Equally my first meeting with Desmond was some weeks later at a board meeting of the Castletown Foundation in the Knight’s Waterloo Road house. Desmond announced to his fellow directors that he would have to sell the original contents of Castletown which he had purchased in 1966 and had been on loan since the house opened in 1967. This decision was greeted with shock and dismay — Castletown barely survived on its monthly overdraft and the acquisition of the contents then seemed an insuperable challenge. Desmond resigned as Chairman and although the contents were ultimately and miraculously secured — not least with a very large donation from his father Lord Moyne — there was great hurt on both sides. In latter years there was rapprochement but it was clearly a matter of great sadness that Desmond had to relinquish the day to day involvement in the house he loved so much.

Desmond and Mariga’s approaches to Castletown were I think different but their zeal, energy and passion were similar and were palpable — as a child I remember the sense of crusade everywhere apparent when taken to see the 1970 and 1971 shell picture and Irish delft exhibitions. As a 22 year old inexperienced curator I vividly recall the atmosphere and smell of Castletown — a melange of smoke, a little damp and old objects which, combined, induced a frisson of excitement — which I firmly associated with the Guinness style.

Although Mariga had not been involved for some years and Desmond had been mainly living in London — there was still evidence of their flair, touches of exoticism and that ubiquitous sense of the 18th century revived that underpinned early Georgian Society activities. More than anything there was a great sense of loyalty particularly to Desmond amongst those who had worked with them in preceding years at Castletown. However fifteen years after it had opened, the house had become somewhat sad and tatty and we cleared and cleaned — earning Mariga’s epithet — ‘Mr Moore has killed the whole house’. In time, she softened, arriving memorably one evening with a basket full of Leixlip peaches, a cooked chicken sitting in their midst — vital provisions with which to feed the volunteers. Desmond equally when he moved back to Leixlip was always loyal to the house and included us in the wonderful lunches held for visiting American groups and more significantly made sure that the IGS continued its financial support for the various ongoing restoration projects. Mariga lies beneath the Conolly Folly; we must now think of a memorial for Desmond to be placed in Castletown; its saving was perhaps his greatest conservation passion and achievement.

Christopher Moore, Former curator, Castletown House and latterly of the Castletown Foundation. This was originally featured in the Irish Georgian Society Review (2020).

Read more