Santry Court
Seantrabh
1830s engraving of Santry Court by Louis Haghe
Santry Court is located in County Dublin
Santry Court
Alternative namesSantry demesne or Santry House
General information
StatusPrivate dwelling house
TypeHouse
Architectural styleGeorgian, Palladian, Queen Anne
ClassificationDemolished
Town or citySantry, County Dublin
CountryIreland
Coordinates53°24′02″N 6°14′59″W / 53.400632°N 6.249636°W / 53.400632; -6.249636
Elevation50 m (160 ft)
Estimated completion1703-09
Renovated1740-50 (quadrant links and wings)
Closed1947 (gutted by fire)
Demolished1959 onwards
Technical details
MaterialRed brick with stone facings
Floor count3 over raised basement
Design and construction
DeveloperHenry Barry, 3rd Baron Barry of Santry

Santry Court was a Georgian house and demesne in Santry, north County Dublin built between 1703-09 on the site of an earlier medieval residence.[1]

History

The Santry estate appears to have been acquired by Richard Barry, a Dublin merchant and alderman sometime in the early 1600s. The Barry's were originally an anicent Cork family although both his father and grandfather were wealthy Dublin merchants. A substantial house was already on the grounds by 1664 when it was taxed for eleven hearths.[2]

The house was built between 1703-09 by Henry Barry, 3rd Baron Barry of Santry and his wife Bridget Domvile, daughter of Sir Thomas Domvile, 1st Baronet, of Templeogue and granddaughter of William Domville.[3]

The house and estate were later inherited by their son Henry Barry, 4th Baron Barry of Santry and quadrant links and wings were added later to give the house a more contemporary Palladian appearance around 1740-50.[4] Henry was sentenced to death for murdering one of his servants but ultimately the sentence was commuted to forfeiting his lands and banishment to England.[5]

The house was later inherited by his uncle Sir Compton Domvile, 2nd Baronet in 1751. Sir Compton made various unsuccessful attempts to revive the Barry baronetcy.

He later in turn passed it to his nephew Charles Pocklington Domvile (1740-1810) on his death in 1768.

The later Sir Compton Domvile, 1st Baronet had been made a Baronet (of Templeogue and Santry House) in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 27 December 1814. Lady Compton Domvile was involved in developing a model village in Santry around 1840 in a Swiss style for estate labourers.

Ninian Niven is recorded as laying out the formal gardens at the house in 1857 for Compton Domvile and works likely carried on after his death.

Works are also recorded as being carried out at the house by William Connolly & sons in 1862 for Sir Charles Compton William Domvile, 2nd Baronet (1822 – 10 July 1884) and his wife Lady Margaret Domville likely to a design by the architect Sandham Symes.[6] It appears that Charles may have become bankrupt around 1875 and most of the high quality interior items were sold off at an auction at the house.[7]

The couple had no children and were the last of Domvile and Barry families to live on the Santry estate with Lady Margaret dying in 1929.

20th century

Details and photos of the house featured in the Georgian Society Records around 1914 indicating that at that time it was still widely admired.

The house remained in the ownership of the wider Domvile family until the death in 1935 of Sir Compton Meade Domvile, 4th Baronet, when the estate passed to his nephew Sir Hugo Poë, who assumed the surname Domvile.

In 1937, the house and grounds came under the stewardship of the state who later acquired it outright and intended to refurbish and extend the house for use as an asylum.

These plans were later abandoned during World War II and the house was used as an army depot owing to its proximity to Dublin airport.

The house was extensively damaged by a fire in 1947 and the remains were finally demolished in 1959.[8]

Between 1957 and 1958, Morton Stadium was constructed within the grounds of the estate as Ireland's national athletics stadium.[9]

21st century

The Phoenix folly at Santry demesne

In 2003 the house and estate were opened as a public park. Many of the follies and formal gardens on the estate still exist including the stone temple which was transported from the Domvile's other residence at Templeogue and is now in situ at Luggala in County Wicklow. An fascimile temple is now in its place.[10]

The original phoenix folly also now forms a feature within the public park and is similar to the one contained in the Phoenix Park.

House and gardens

House

The house was originally constructed in red brick with stone facings and was 9-bays wide with a pedimented breakfront containing 3 bays. It was 2 storeys over a raised basement with a 3rd storey contained in a dormered attic behind the parapet and stone balustrade which was likely added at a later date The dormered windows contain alternating segmental and triangular pediments. The main front doorcase was also constructed with a segmental stone pediment and ornately carved Corinthian columns at the top of a long and shallow flight of grand stone steps.[11][12][13]

About 40 years after its initial construction the house was enlarged with flanking wings in the Palladian style constructed in the same manner as the main house. Both quadrant links to the wings contained pilasters and blind niches. The wings were each respectively 2 storey and 5 bay structures with a matching 3 bay protruding breakfront. The ends of all rooves within the structure contain stone urns.[14]

The interior of the main house contained many notable early 18th century features including finely carved barley twist ballusters and corner fireplaces while other features were added during the later 18th and 19th century.

The servants dormer attic rooms were internal with a corridor running around the circumference preventing the inner rooms being observed by visitors as they approached the house.

Gardens

A small bend in the Santry River, which forms the boundary of the park today, was widened to create a small pond for the boating pleasure of Georgian ladies and gentlemen who resided at, and visited, the house.

In 1912 King Victor Emmanuel of Italy presented the Domvilles with a gift of 16 foreign tree species.[15]

In 1972, part of the demesne was sold to Trinity College Dublin, and was developed with sports grounds, as well as a book storage facility for its library system.[16]

The stables of the house were only finally demolished in the 1980s.

See also

References

  1. "Santry Demesne Regional Park". Fingal County Council. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  2. "All That's Left". The Irish Aesthete. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  3. "1703 – Santry Court, Santry, Co. Dublin | Archiseek - Irish Architecture". www.archiseek.com. 30 March 2011. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  4. "CO. DUBLIN, SANTRY COURT Dictionary of Irish Architects -". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  5. Wade, Karen (16 November 2020). "Then and Now: A Lost Mansion in North Dublin". The Sea of Books. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  6. "CO. DUBLIN, SANTRY COURT Dictionary of Irish Architects -". www.dia.ie. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  7. Handcock, William Domville (1877). "The History and Antiquities of Tallaght, County Dublin". Hodges, Foster, and Figgis. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  8. "13532 « Excavations". excavations.ie. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  9. "Morton Games | History". Morton Games. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  10. "Santry Court". The Irish Aesthete. 16 May 2018. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  11. "New home view: Child's play in north Dublin". Independent.ie. 8 November 2019. Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  12. Fournet, Britt Dartige Du. "SANTRY DEMESNE - READING A NORTH DUBLIN CITY LANDSCAPE IN IRELAND". Retrieved 2 November 2023.
  13. "DU014-030---- : House - 18th/19th century : SANTRY DEMESNE". heritagedata.maps.arcgis.com. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  14. "Santry House". www.dumville.org. Retrieved 3 November 2023.
  15. History Santry Woods www.geocaching.com
  16. Save Santry Wood for the people by Robert Allen, An Phoblacht, November 6, 1997.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.