No CrossRef data available.
Article contents
Dromore Castle, County Limerick: Archaeology and the Sister Arts of E. W. Godwin
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 11 April 2016
Extract
At his death in October 1886, E. W. Godwin was described as ‘A brilliant if somewhat eccentric character, who might. . . have become the first architect of his age’. If he is remembered today, it is as a rather fey figure, a Bunthorne of an architect, building Queen Anne houses for aesthetes. But this view ignores the breadth of his activities which ranged from Roman archaeology to theatre design, and the diversity of his architectural designs, from the doctrinaire Ruskinian Northampton Town Hall to the startlingly avant-garde first design for Frank Miles’ house. Between these two seemingly incompatible extremes, chronologically and in many ways stylistically, lies Dromore Castle.
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Copyright
- Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1987
References
Notes
Abbreviations
1 Building News, 15 October 1886, p. 589.
2 Godwin, E. W. ‘On Some Buildings I have designed’, Brit. Arch. (29 November 1878), p. 210 Google Scholar.
3 Envelopes, unfortunately without their contents, in the possession of the present Lord Limerick, from Godwin to Lady Limerick are addressed to Clifton, Bristol.
4 Harbron, G. Dudley, The Conscious Stone (London, 1949), p. 62 Google Scholar, refers incorrectly to Lady Emilie as his sister.
5 Godwin notebook V & A, E. 327-1963.
6 Wright, Lance, ‘An Account of the Bristol Society of Architects 1850-1950’, Journal of the Bristol Society of Architects, 1, no. 8 (Bristol, 1951), pp. 10–14 Google Scholar.
7 Brit. Arch. (November 1878), p. 210.
8 Ibid., 210; Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 226-1963.
9 Ibid., Apparently he was living in Londonderry as a letter he wrote to the Ulster Journal of Archaeology, Series One, v, pp. 158-59 is addressed from Derry, and he also contributed to the Deny Journal.
10 The foundation stone was laid on i April 1857, The Builder (9 May 1857), pp. 258-59.
11 Brit. Arch. (November 1878), p. 210.
12 RIBA Lib., GOE/7/8/1.
13 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 274-1963.
14 In the records of the firm’s correspondence preserved in the offices of Oatley and Brentnall, architects, 12 Great George Street, Bristol, all but two of the hundreds of letters were written by or for Henry Crisp. This applies equally to the period of about eighteen months when Godwin had gone into partnership with Crisp and was still resident in Bristol. None of the firm’s major commissions, such as the Town Hall at Congleton and those unbuilt at Plymouth and Leicester, nor Dromore and Glenbeigh Towers, is signed by Crisp. This proves almost beyond doubt that he did not work on these designs as Godwin had always been scrupulously fair about seeing that his assistants signed drawings on which they had worked e.g. RIBADC RAN/7/1/8 etc., signed by his assistant John Adams Clarke. The only drawings which can be firmly identified as Crisp’s work are for local factory and warehouse buildings which in comparison with Godwinian brio appear rather pedestrian. These are preserved by Oatley and Brentnall and are not catalogued.
15 OBLB No. 4.
16 Brit. Arch. (November 1878) p. 211. The year must have been 1866 not 1867 as Harbron states, The Conscious Stone, pp. 62-63, as the designs were published in the spring of 1867 and the contract signed in May ofthat year.
17 Building News, V. 14 (29 March 1867), pp. 222, 224-25.
18 The description of room functions, and of internal features not part of the stone structure, is based on the sets of contract drawings dated 25 April 1867 and 28 August 1867 held in the British Architectural Library, RIBA RAN 7/B/1(3) — (19). Information on external features and internal features which are part of the stone structure such as fireplaces and staircases are based on drawings in the RIBA and on an inspection I made of the building in July 1985.
19 Building News (29 March 1867).
20 Towneshend, Charles, Political Violence in Ireland: Government and Repression since 1848 (Oxford 1983), p. 35 Google Scholar.
21 Girouard, Mark, The Victorian Country House (London, 1979), pp. 427-28Google Scholar.
22 Lenihan, Maurice, Limerick: its History and Antiquities, Ecclesiastical, Civil and Military, from the Earliest Ages (Dublin, 1866), p. 738 Google Scholar.
23 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 230-1963, pp. 23-25 contains drawings and estimates dated 12 July 1869 for a police barracks. AAD Ledger 19/10 contains accounts dated 13 and 26 July 1869 for ‘designs for Police Barracks’ and the charge to Lord Limerick was £15 15í. od. presumably for the finished drawings nowin the RIBADC.
24 Towneshend, Political Violence in Ireland, p. 35.
25 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 225-1963 is inscribed ‘E. Godwin 1848’ on the flyleaf and contains a list of ‘Places to visit in 1849’.
26 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 226-1963 contains notes and sketches of the villa.
27 Proceedings of the Society of Antiquaries, series 11, ii (1862).
28 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 228-1963.
29 RIBA Lib. Godwin papers, GOE/4/6/7-8.
30 Ibid.,GOE/4/1/1.
31 Lenihan, , Limerick (1866), p. 712 Google Scholar.
32 Godwin notebooks, V & A, E. 230-1963, E. 275-1963.
33 Godwin, E. W., ‘Some Buildings I Have Designed’, Brit. Arch. (November 1878), p. 211 Google Scholar.
34 RIBA Lib. GOE/4/6/7-8.
35 Goodwin notebook, V & A, E. 228-1963, p. 3.
36 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 230-1963.
37 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 275-1963.
38 RIBA Lib. GOE/4/1/3 & 4.
39 RIBA Lib. GOE/4/1/1.
40 Godwin, E. W., Brit. Arch. (November 1878), p. 211 Google Scholar.
41 Crook, J. M., William Burges and the High Victorian Dream (London, 1981), pp. 195–206 Google Scholar.
42 Godwin, E. W., ‘The House of an English Architect’ Art Journal (1886), p. 171 Google Scholar.
43 Handley-Read, Charles, ‘William Burges’ in Victorian Architecture ed. Ferriday, Peter (London, 1963)Google Scholar.
44 Ibid., p. 173.
45 Ibid., p. 261, note 85.
46 E. W. Godwin, Art Journal (1886) describes some vigorous disagreements.
47 E. W. Godwin, ‘Some Modern English Architects: IV’, Building News (30 August 1872).
48 Godwin, E. W., Art Journal (1886), p. 171 Google Scholar.
49 AAD Ledger 19/10 — ‘Sept 16 Com Certificate £1300 32100’.
50 RIBA Lib., GOE/1/7/1 contains a memo, almost certainly from the Clerk of Works.
51 In the possession of Lord Limerick.
52 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 230-1963.
53 RIBA Lib. GOE/7/8/2 ‘Sister Arts’, p. 36.
54 RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/4, ‘Dromore Castle. Specification of Furniture . . .’.
55 V & A Dept of Textiles has several Godwin fabrics made by Warners.
56 van Lemmen, H, Tiles: A Collector’s Guide (London, 1979)Google Scholar.
57 Tile design on tracing paper in Lord Limerick’s Collection inscribed ‘Drawing of Tiles for fireplaces (full size). Yellow pattern on red ground. The hatched part is to be red. These tiles to be made by Godwin of Lugwarden (sic), Herefordshire’.
58 See reference to ‘Lugwardine’ on design for chapel floor RIBADC RAN/7/B/1 (83).
59 AAD Godwin and Crisp Ledger 19/10.
60 Harrison, Martin, Victorian Stained Glass (London, 1980)Google Scholar.
61 Mathew’s Annual Directory for the City and County of Bristol (Bristol 1863).
62 The Architect (20 August 1870), p. 104.
63 The Architect (8 June 1872), p. 300.
64 Brit. Arch. (November 1878), p. 211.
65 In writing ‘To Our Student Readers’, Brit. Arch., V. 14(1880), p. 95, Godwin placed Spenser on his short list of six recommended books.
66 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 275-1963.
67 Eastlake, C., Materials for a History of Oil Painting (1847), pp. 552-61Google Scholar.
68 RIBA Lib., GOE/7/8/2 ‘Sister Arts’, p. 21.
69 The Architect (20 August 1870), p. 104.
70 Aslin, E., The Aesthetic Movement (London 1981), p. 83 Google Scholar; compare Jill Lever, p. 79.
71 Vanity Fair (11 July 1885).
72 Mark Bence Jones, ‘An Aesthete’s Irish Castle’, Country Life (12 November 1964).
73 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 230-1963.
74 RIBADC RAN 7/B1 (82).
75 Godwin notebook, V & A, E. 362-1963.
76 E. Aslin, The Aesthetic Movement, p. 84.
77 There are three dining chairs in the V & A and a bookcase from Dromore was in the possession of Mr Michael Whiteway of 105 Kensington Church Street in February, 1983 (information Lord Limerick); see also Aslin, E., The Furniture Designs of E. W. Godwin (London 1986)Google Scholar.
78 RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/4.
79 RIBADC RAN 7/B/1 (50H55).
80 Watt, William, Art Furniture from Designs by E. W. Godwin and Others (London, 1877)Google Scholar.
81 The Architect (1 July 1876), p. 5.
82 The ebonized furniture at Dromore is made of mahogany not deal; see ‘Specifications’ RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/4.
83 Ibid., GOE/1/7/4 (2) inscribed ‘stuffed and fitted as E.W.G. ‘s’.
84 E. Aslin, The Furniture Designs of E. W. Godwin, p. 148.
85 Building News (12 and 19 July 1875).
86 ‘Specifications’ RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/4.
87 ‘Memorandum of Agreement H. S. Marks ... 29 April 1867’, RIBA Lib., GOE/1/7/3.
88 Marks, H. S., Pen and Pencil Sketches (London, 1894)Google Scholar.
89 Brit. Arch. (25 February 1881), p. 99.
90 The Architect (20 August 1870), p. 104.
91 Ibid., RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/3.
92 In 1872 The Architect of 8 June referred to the decorations as if they were still being exectued but they had certainly been abandoned by November 1878 when Godwin’s ‘On some buildings I have designed’ was published in The British Architect, pp. 210-11.
93 Ibid., p. 211.
94 AAD Godwin Ledger 19/10.
95 Ibid.
96 Contract no. 2, RIBA Lib. GOE/1/7/1 for the alterations creating the banqueting hall and the chaplain’s house, for £1,000, refers to a first contract for £11,000 confirmed by Ledger AAD 19/10.
97 Complete Peerage (revised edn 1929).
98 James Fleming, ‘Historic Irish Mansions no. 225’, Weekly Irish Times (24 August 1940).
99 Brit. Arch. (1878), p. 211.
100 Information Lord Limerick.
101 OBLBNo. 4.