Survey Data
Reg No
60260234
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural, Artistic, Historical, Social
Previous Name
Carrickmines
Original Use
House
In Use As
House
Date
1844 - 1884
Coordinates
322043, 224109
Date Recorded
12/04/2016
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Detached three-bay two-storey house, extant 1884, on a cruciform plan centred on single-bay single-storey flat-roofed projecting porch to ground floor; three-bay (three-bay deep) two-storey lower block (west) with two-bay two-storey rear (west) elevation. Occupied, 1911. For sale, 1983. Hipped slate roof abutting hipped slate roof on a U-shaped plan (west), clay ridge tiles, paired rendered central chimney stacks on rendered bases having stringcourses below capping supporting terracotta or yellow terracotta tapered pots, rendered central chimney stacks (west) having stringcourses below capping supporting yellow terracotta tapered pots, and cast-iron rainwater goods on dentilated cornice retaining cast-iron downpipes. Part creeper- or ivy-covered fine roughcast walls on overgrown plinth with rendered piers to corners; part creeper- or ivy-covered fine roughcast surface finish (west). Central door opening into house. Square-headed window openings with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Square-headed window openings (west) with cut-granite sills, and concealed dressings framing six-over-six timber sash windows. Set in landscaped grounds with rendered tapered piers to perimeter having pyramidal capping supporting wrought iron double gates.
Appraisal
A house representing an integral component of the nineteenth-century domestic built heritage of south County Dublin with the architectural value of the composition, one refronting an earlier house occupied by Reverend Lyndon Henry Bolton (d. 1869; Lewis 1837 II, 656), suggested by such attributes as the deliberate alignment maximising on scenic vistas overlooking landscaped grounds 'which enjoy a backdrop of semi-rural parkland'; the symmetrical frontage centred on a Classically-detailed porch; the diminishing in scale of the openings on each floor producing a graduated visual impression; and the monolithic timber work embellishing the roofline (Shaffrey 2010, n.p.). Having been well maintained, the elementary form and massing survive intact together with substantial quantities of the original fabric, both to the exterior and to the interior where contemporary joinery including 'a fine staircase built in an anachronistic mid eighteenth-century style'; restrained chimneypieces; and decorative plasterwork enrichments, all highlight the artistic potential of the composition (ibid.). Furthermore, adjacent outbuildings (extant 1837); and a wedge-shaped walled garden (extant 1909), all continue to contribute positively to the group and setting values of a self-contained estate having historic connections with George Sutherland '[of] Priorsland Carrickmines County Dublin' (Journal of the Royal Historical and Archaeological Association of Ireland 1873, 204); Dr. Thomas Wrigley Grimshaw MD CB (1839-1900), 'Registrar General of Ireland late of Priorsland Carrickmines County Dublin' (Calendars of Wills and Administrations 1900, 196); Alexander Porter (1876-1946) and the Honourable Frances Maud Porter (née Gibson) (1880-1957); Alfred Dover Delap (1871-1943; Proceedings of the Society for Physical Research Volume XXXI 1921, 431; cf. 60260180); and Thomas Vincent Murphy (1902-88) 'of Priorsland Carrickmines'.