The decorative freedom unleashed by the frivolity of the mid-eighteenth century rococo movement initiated new levels of curiosity as to how else people might decorate. The discovery that natural forms might inspire decorative schemes led to a realisation that one could show not only status but also personal penchants through one's house.
A growing band of learned gentlemen turned their attention away from the ancient classical world towards that of the Middle Ages in the northern hemisphere. These antiquarians became immersed not only in Gothic ecclesiastical architecture, but in the legendary world of King Arthur and medieval lore. It was believed that there was a national and moral appropriateness in celebrating a style of building born in the Christian English countryside rather than of pagans on the sunny shores of the Mediterranean.
Dilettantes like Horace Walpole and scholars like Sir Roger Newdigate analysed hallowed medieval sites like Westminster Abbey or Hereford Cathedral for architectural inspiration. With the help of architects like Batty Langley, they built up a grammar of Gothick ornament equal to that of the classical idiom.
However, despite the antiquarian basis, this style was a contemporary of rococo, and humour was an important priority: most eighteenth century Gothick (spelt with a "k" to differentiate it from the real thing) was whimsical, superficial and primarily decorative.
The celebration of Gothick was part of the reaction against the straitjacket of Palladianism. Horace Walpole's Twickenham villa, Strawberry Hill, an asymmetrical jumble of Gothick frivolousness, was a deliberate reaction to his father's mighty Palladian political mansion - Houghton Hall, Norfolk.
Rather more serious in intent is Sir Roger Newdigate's Arbury Hall, Warwickshire, which was meant to express his Tory allegiance, Jacobite sympathies and antipathy to the ruling Whigs.
For most people, Gothick was primarily a natural style - an expression of fantasy: to experience it was a dabble in the medieval world. Hence, Gothick was usually applied to garden buildings which would provide visitors, who might stumble upon them, with a delicious frisson of excitement. In fact, the development of the style was closely allied to the fashion for informal gardens which grew from the 1730s. Just like serpentine paths and shellwork grottoes, Gothick follies provided the sense of surprise and inventiveness required by landscapers. An Irish example of this fashion survives in the demesne at Lucan: a Mrs Delaney refers in June 1750 to dining here next to the ornamental plunge bath which was provided with a large vaulted banqueting chamber with elaborate Gothick chimneypiece and spectacular views of the Liffey valley.
Horace Walpole developed his villa at Strawberry Hill over more than 20 years as his taste for style and his collection of objects developed. In an age when most new houses conformed to the establishment Neo-Palladianism, Walpole's style must have been strikingly original. Overtly eclectic, its decoration was a medley of ideas borrowed from diverse sources. Chimneypieces were inspired by tombs such as those in Rouen cathedral, the library bookcases from a screen in old St Paul's in London, the staircase wallpaper from Prince Arthur's tomb in Hereford Cathedral.
Perhaps most unusual though was his collection of medieval stained glass, Limoges boxes, carvings, antique furniture and old textiles. To deliberately set out to furnish rooms with a mixture of new and old furnishings, in an attempt to evoke the atmosphere of Tudor times, was most unusual and is perhaps the greatest legacy of the style.
There is a scarcity of detailed information on Gothick decoration in general and thus Walpole's house has received disproportionate attention. However, his bedroom decoration was probably not untypical of colour schemes that accompanied this flamboyant style. Beneath a papier mache ceiling, the walls were hung in purple cloth on to which were placed prints after Holbein in black and gold frames. The bed hangings were also purple with white satin linings and crowned by ostrich plumes. The whole ensemble was bathed in multicoloured light from the painted glass windows.
A considerable number of Gothick buildings were carried out for ecclesiastical persons or their churches. While rooms of "many and varied colours" were appropriate for Walpole's Gothick circle, it is hard to imagine that the English churches of William Kent and Henry Keene and the numbers of anonymous Irish Protestant parish churches with their delicate window tracery and altars were ever anything but the most sober of colours.
It is strange that few complete Irish Gothick houses were built in the 19th century. Considering the strength of the medieval tradition here and the success of the rococo it should have been a fertile ground for the style to develop. Although several were planned, one of the few to be completed was Moore Abbey at Monasterevin, Co Kildare, around 1767 - and even that does not have the vigour of its English counterparts. It was not until the early 19th century that the style really became popular and amongst the many examples are some charming villas and some country houses that evoked the spirit of Strawberry Hill. It was much more common in the second half of the 18th century in Ireland to apply Gothick touches here and there to enliven a classical interior. Sober panelled spaces like Dublin's St Werburgh's or Marsh's Library were given internal windows or screens of the finest Gothick tracery which have the spirit of rococo but are controlled and contained by its medieval origins. Indeed at Florence Court in Co Fermanagh in the 1760s, riotous rococo panels in the stairhall jostle in a delightful medley with Gothick vaults and coving.
