A house and farm in Dundrum, left by two eccentric sisters, is findingitself under threat from developers, writes Paul Cullen
Once upon a time there were two sisters who lived in an idyllic world that time forgot. Naomi and Letitia Overend dressed in near-Edwardian costume into their nineties, travelled around south Dublin in a 1927 Rolls Royce and devoted their lives to local charities and raising the Jersey cattle they named after characters in Gilbert and Sullivan operas.
Upon their death, they decreed that their house and farm in Dundrum should be preserved for the benefit of future generations of Dubliners.
The Airfield Trust that administers this act of generosity runs a unique institution: the only urban farm in Ireland, one of the few green spaces in this part of the city and an invaluable educational and cultural resource for children and adults alike.
Today, however, that resource is threatened. Time has caught up with Airfield, suddenly, massively. Tower cranes bristle on the skyline of Dundrum, a new block of apartments has destroyed the view of the Dublin hills the sisters once enjoyed, and traffic clogs the surrounding streets.
Recent developments have created fears that Airfield may fall victim to the developer's dollar. The trust has decided to sell off some of its land, Dudley's Field, adjoining the Luas station being built at the western perimeter of the property. Dún Laoghaire/ Rathdown County Council zoned much of the remaining farmland as open amenity in the draft development plan, but county councillors last month voted to reverse this to residential zoning.
The trust submitted that the lands were a "vital asset" whose "potential development value" with residential zoning was "essential" for its financial security.
Local resident Angela Lemass claims the estate has got "very tatty" in recent times. "The lands are degraded, the boundaries have been breached by adjacent developers and rubble has been dumped on the property. Now land is being sold off and it's very worrying.
"You have to ask are they going to chip away at it bit by bit so it goes downhill," says Lemass, who used to play in the Overends' fields as a child. "This is a unique treasure left to us by the generosity of the two sisters, but it's not ours to sell off or squander." She also points out that the trust would have benefited in recent years from a number of Compulsory Purchase Orders of its land for road schemes.
The trust acknowledges the stresses caused by money shortages but says there is no cause for broader concern. Only three of the 35 acres in Airfield will be sold and there is "absolutely no intention" of disposing of the lower fields currently used for farming, say Brian Dornan, chief executive officer, and John Edmondson, chair of the trustees. The farm, which houses cows, sheep, pigs, geese and miniature horses will stay, though "its nature will change".
However, local fears were heightened when millionaire developer Gerry Gannon, who is known to be interested in the Airfield land, produced a brochure for the Rockfield apartment complex currently under construction. This contained a map showing an outline of the "Airfield Trust recreation centre" which excluded the lower fields that form part of the trust property.
"We've never looked at putting houses on those fields. I saw that document but it had nothing to do with us," says Edmondson. "The world is encroaching but we have to live with it." Residential zoning is "a fall-back" to ensure there are other options in case current plans don't work out, he says.
Gannon says he is interested in acquiring the lands, particularly since he has put road infrastructure and services into the area. He says he has talked to the trust "on and off" but hasn't done any deal.
According to Edmondson, Airfield finds itself in the position of many charitable trusts - asset-rich, cash-poor and struggling to ensure viability. The trust is run at a small loss, which he declines to specify, which is "not sustainable" in the long run.
He says the trust has looked at "a variety of options" to improve the finances of the venture. It wants to build upon strengths in educating people about the natural world, our heritage and the environment, but this will have to be funded somehow.
The land being sold is "peripheral", says Edmondson, but "this pill had to be swallowed" to fund plans for the future. These plans, drawn up by a firm of "ecological" architects, envisage moving the entrance to the estate from the Kilmacud Road to the new road being built to the east.
This would emphasise the east-west axis of the estate, which is necessary to draw the eye away from the apartment blocks blotting the landscape to the south.
The trust also plans to appoint a new CEO with a business background in the New Year to put operations on a more commercial footing. Dornan, who is on secondment from his post of principal at Dundrum College, says: "I have gone as far as I can go." He will retain responsibility for educational projects.
Local Green TD Eamon Ryan is also "seriously concerned" at the impending sale of land. "I wouldn't like to see any land sold. If they have financial difficulties, they should look at other ways of raising money." However, Richard Cremins of the council's planning department points out that most of Airfield was zoned residential in the last development plan (as were other institutions such as Blackrock College) so this is not a case of rezoning.
"Airfield is a wonderful asset for the county that would be gone if it hadn't been established as a trust. The area has been given this great gift and we want to see it remain viable." The council accepted the trust's strong bona fides and its assurances that the money from land sales would be ploughed back into the estate, he says.
The draft development plan, including the residential zoning of Airfield, is currently on display in the council. The plan is due to be adopted by councillors in March 2004.
Airfield: the legacy
The Overend family were originally grain merchants from Co Down, but Trevor Overend, who married Letitia Gray from Co Carlow, became a solicitor in Dublin and moved into Airfield in Dundrum in 1894.
Their daughters Letitia and Naomi remained there for the rest of their lives. The sisters devoted themselves to charity work and fine art collecting, and to the farm on which they kept a Jersey herd.
Dundrum then was largely undeveloped, and the walls of Airfield enclosed an old-fashioned flower garden, a small farm, sloping fields and a fine view of the Dublin mountains.
As Dublin changed and they didn't, "Miss Naomi" and "Miss Tot" became well-known characters, in part for the leisurely way they passed through the city, dressed in near Edwardian costume, in a vintage Rolls-Royce. Letitia bought the Rolls in 1927 for £1,760, and the sisters travelled to the Rolls-Royce factory in Britain to learn how to service it.
Letitia died in 1977 and Naomi in 1993. In accordance with their wishes, ownership of the house and farm then passed to the Dromartin Trust, which they had set up in the 1970s to keep the property intact for the benefit of the people of Dublin.
Unfortunately, many of their possessions were sold off at a major auction in 1995. There was a Lissadell-like stampede of buyers, who spent over £1.3 million at the sale. "People seemed prepared to buy anything," the auctioneer remarked. Virtually all of Airfield House's antique furniture was sold in the auction. The Office of Public Works spent £14,500 on a mahogany desk for use by the then President, Mrs Robinson, in the study of Áras an Uachtaráin.
The Irish Times recorded one observer as regretting the breaking of "a wonderful time capsule"; "really, the trust which is meant to look after the place should have kept the furniture and flogged a few acres for housing". At least the Rolls, a 1927 20 hp tourer, and the sisters' 1922 Peugeot Baby-Quad and a 1936 Austin Tickford, were not sold and remain to this day in the trust.
Today, the facilities include the farm, the gardens and walk, a restaurant and a horticultural shop. More than 20,000 people used the perimeter walk last year, according to CEO Brian Dornan, and the trust's educational programmes are booked out months in advance.
According to the most recent accounts of Dromartin Estates Ltd, which administers the trust, the value of its investment stood at 10.6 million in 2002, down from 11.8 million the year before.