Few buildings in Ireland better illustrate the transition from medieval tower house to semi-fortified Palladian mansion than Portumna Castle, just south of Portumna, Co Galway. Completed about 1618, it is a large Jacobean manor which enjoys a peaceful setting with fine views to the south, overlooking Lough Derg on the Shannon. Nearby are the ruins of a Dominican Friary founded in the 15th century on the site of an earlier Cistercian chapel. Extensive conservation work has been undertaken on the castle over the past 15 years by Duchas, the Heritage Service, whose craftsmen have returned it to a beautiful shadow of the splendour destroyed by an accidental fire in 1826, which left it in ruins and largely forgotten.
Bad memories of the last Lord Clanricarde, Hubert de Burgh Canning (1832-1916), widely known as "Lord Clanrackrent", did not help to endear the castle to popular memory. The marquess spent much of his time in London, was famously parsimonious, dressed in shabby clothes and never co-operated with the Land Commission, refusing to help his tenants to buy their holdings. In 1915, part of his estate was compulsorily expropriated by the Land Court. He died the following year, leaving his estate, including the castle and demesne, to his greatnephew, Henry Lascelles, later sixth Earl of Harewood, because the young man had been polite to the unpopular old marquess.
When Portumna burnt down in 1826, no attempts were made to salvage it. Instead, the family set up house in the nearby stables and offices, which were then extended into a formal residence. During the 1860s, the building of another great house, the "new castle", was begun not far from the original site. It was never completed and burned down in 1922. In 1950, the last traces of its shell were removed for use in the building of the town's new Catholic church.
Centuries earlier, the first master of Portumna Castle, Richard Burke, or de Burgo, the fourth Earl of Clanricarde (1572-1635), had been educated in England and fought on the side of Lord Mountjoy in 1601 against the Ulster rebels. He was a hero at the final rout of the Irish at Kinsale. His deeds in the field helped ensure his fortune and he was made a knight banneret. With a wealthy wife, widow of the fallen Royal favourite, the Earl of Essex, and a good political career, the fourth Earl of Clanricarde engaged an architect and began work in about 1611 on the house which would become Portumna Castle. Although its exact date of completion is unclear, its cost, at least, is known - £10,000. Ironically, it was to stand intact and furnished for little more than 200 years. Sadly, its creator, Richard Burke, is believed never to have seen it, much less live in it.
Extensive work has retrieved it. As well as replacing all the floors with massive planks of Irish oak ranging in width from eight to 15 inches, windows made of limestone and bronze have been fitted and the castle has also been completely re-roofed, and the huge chimney stacks have been reinstated.
On its purchase by the State in 1948, the castle came under official protection but no work began. Initial plans in 1968 were directed towards stabilising the structure. It was always intended to preserve it as a ruin rather than attempt a full restoration. Portumna testifies to the sensitivity of modern craftsmen deferring to the genius of earlier masters, even down to the use of wooden dowels. A small team of 10, which includes carpenter Brendan Carty, has been working there since 1989. The castle has come slowly and carefully back to life, albeit as a splendid ghost.
Such has been the success of this ongoing conservation work, which also included the restoration of the formal gardens, that it encouraged the restoration of the castle's kitchen garden. This was achieved by detective-like research undertaken by Duchas, which resulted in the uncovering of the original garden paths. Further research into comparable 17thand 18th-century English gardens helped return the walled garden (which extends over one acre) - for so long a wilderness - to full working order with produce to sell.
Portumna Castle no longer occupies the vast acres of its former estate but its parkland setting, with resident deer, makes it easy to imagine what it must have been like during the 300 years when its ruling family, the Clanricardes, was a dominant force in Anglo-Irish history.
Standing on the roof in winter sunshine sharp enough to deflect the vicious wind, it does not require much imagination to conjure up a coach approaching the semi-classical Tuscan gate, the third of three gateways leading to the castle from the town. The formal gardens are arranged in a series of elegant geometric enclosures featuring lawn and box. It is gracious and understated. The site remains pleasantly uncluttered and uncommercialised with the guide books and tourist information contained within one of the restored gate lodges. The main facade is formal and while the south front or rear is less ornate, the rounded hallway and entrance added during the late-18th century leaves no doubt that the residents saw Lough Derg as a main attraction. Originally, the castle had only two entrances, the front door on the ground floor and a kitchen door at basement level. Interestingly, the cellar, with its high ceilings and huge fireplaces, emphasises the scale on which life was once lived here.
Viewed from either the front or back, however, Portumna Castle plays tricks with the eye. Is it a castle or a house or both? The crenellated parapet and the semi-circular gables add to its castle aura. Yet in essence, it is a plain, rather conservatively designed, if grand, country residence. The large rectangular house clearly illustrates the process by which the medieval tower house structure with its rooms stacked up one on top of the other, eventually yielded to a horizontal arrangement facilitating larger rooms and encouraging bigger windows. There is evidence of an awareness of defence but the new openness of design suggests grandiose notions that aspired towards status as much as power.
Even the purist would have to concede Portumna Castle is a exemplary site with a peaceful atmosphere visitors cannot fail to absorb. The great mansion, standing at a discreet distance, does not overpower the quiet market town. The local people are proud of it but they have not exploited it. An action group, Friends of Portumna Castle, is hoping to secure heritage status for the town.
Although there is a large, brightly coloured modern hotel and leisure complex on its outskirts, Portumna has not been aggressively commercialised and retains an attractive sense both of itself and of real life as lived by its residents. This part of east Galway graced by the Shannon, lies at a midpoint between two major tourist destinations, the Burren and more distant expanses of Connemara. Local feeling maintains the castle is, as Liam Keane, of Friends of Portumna Castle, says: "too out of the way, too often overlooked". This belief has been intensified by recent confirmation that, under the National Development Plan, no further funds have been allocated to spend on the castle until 2006.
SOME observers think sufficient money has already been spent - though well spent - on the castle. It is a success story, but more could be done. There is increasing support locally for a more extensive restoration job and one that would enable wider public access to the castle. Some observers feel an elegant shell is not enough. "It has come so far," says Keane. "It is too big a building to leave standing idle and under-used, without celebrating it in a practical way, for exhibitions and concerts. As it stands at the moment, it is only open for six months of the year, which is limiting. More of the building should be accessible."
Local groups involved with the Portumna Castle market garden have been hoping to see the restoration of the dowager house and courtyards for use as a craft and educational space. The community craft and horticultural groups fear that should the existing Duchas conservation staff be deployed elsewhere, they will never have access to such expertise again. Ruth Carty, a horticulturist involved with the castle kitchen garden restoration project, working in partnership with Portumna and District Development Company and FAS, stresses: "We have worked well with Duchas, it has been a good partnership. We couldn't hope to find craftsmen as sensitive to our ideas again and as we have them here we should try to keep them. This project is worth completing".
According to Duchas, the allocation for expenditure on Portumna under the 1995-1999 European Operational Programme for Tourism was £1.6 million. Far more was spent during 1999 and 2000: in excess of £3 million. Last year's expenses amounted to £296,000. One Duchas architect sums it up: "Money, money, money." Impressive conservation work has been done at Portumna which also underlines the tightrope walk between conservation and restoration. "A lot has been learnt from that particular site," says the Duchas architect, "but there are lots of sites. How much do you spend on each one?"
Portumna Castle is open from April 1st. Visiting times are 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Tel: 0509-41658