During the summer, I had occasion to travel to Portumna to collect some boating equipment with a family member. Our business done, I suggested that we should call into Portumna Castle. It would be my first visit for more than 20 years.
The castle was a fortified residence of Richard Burke, Fourth Earl of Clanrickard and Lord President of Connaught. It was built between 1610 and 1617 and was to become the family seat of the De Burgo, one of Ireland’s great Norman dynasties. It was built on a far grander scale than contemporary structures such as Rathfarnham Castle. It is a magnificent pile now under the care of the Office of Public Works (OPW).
Abandoned after a fire in the early 19th century, the OPW re-roofed the castle and has restored much of the grounds. Internally, the programme of restoration did not appear to have moved forward significantly during the 20 years since I last visited it. The upper floors have not been restored and visitors can marvel at an empty interior through a forest of unfloored beams. While the result may be of interest to architectural historians, the building for the most part is inaccessible and unusable. I think this is a pity.
That raises the wider question. Ireland has so many ruined castles, tower houses, abbeys and landlord’s mansions. Should we not be more ambitious and aim for the full restoration of much of our crumbling historical architecture? Or should major ruined architecture be fully restored or simply partly capped to prevent further climatic deterioration, such as has happened with the magnificent De Lacy Castle at Trim? There, visitors can explore the ruined castle shell by using modern steel galleries.
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All of this contrasts with what was done in France during the 19th century with major restoration projects, including those overseen by Eugène Viollet-le-Duc. His restoration masterpieces include Notre-Dame de Paris, Mont Saint-Michel, Carcassonne, the Sainte-Chapelle and the Château de Pierrefonds. To some extent Dublin engaged in 19th century restoration at its two cathedrals, St Patrick’s and Christ Church.
Would it be a terrible thing to re-roof the Rock of Cashel? Are there abbeys similar to Holy Cross Abbey which could also be extensively restored? Ross Errilly in Co Mayo is one such structure, but there are others. While Viollet-le-Duc has his critics, Notre-Dame Cathedral, Carcassonne and Mont Saint-Michel are magnificent evocations of past splendour and convey some sense of their past glory to the present and coming generations.
Climate experts tell us that we are probably set to have warmer and far wetter seasons in future, coupled with heavy storms. Is it wise to leave so much of our architectural inventory in an exposed and crumbling state? Is any terrible harm done when tower houses across the country are repurposed as residences? There are many examples of heavily restored tower houses being rescued from gradual dilapidation and decay. Should we have a planning code which enthusiastically supports their restoration, with some limited degree of public access?
There are, however, two schools of thought. Some architectural historians regard heavy restoration as falsification. This results in approaches such as we can see at Trim and King John’s Castle in Limerick. In other places, purists insist on black plastic courses being inserted to distinguish restored and original masonry.
One of our biggest conservation errors, I believe, was committed in the 1950s and 1960s in relation to Tintern Abbey in Wexford. A suppressed monastery handed over at the time of the Reformation to the Colclough family and its main buildings were largely converted into a landlord’s residence. When the abbey buildings were acquired by the State, nearly all of the post-Reformation conversion was allowed to decay – leaving us with yet another ruined abbey and very little of its post-Reformation history intact. One cannot avoid feeling that there was a cultural bias at play which was indifferent to the post-Reformation history of the building.
While it might well be argued that all our resources should be channelled into housing and other important infrastructure projects, there still remains an opportunity to save much of our derelict and decaying architectural history by incentivising restorative projects to a reasonable, if not perfect, standard.
There are so many sad, crumbling ruins which have been catalogued by authors such as Duncan McLaren, Robert O’Byrne and Tarquin Blake, that there could surely be a strong case for a really positive policy of incentivised restoration as trophy homes and hotels with a little imagination and some brave risk taking.
There is a trade-off between purism in conservation and pragmatism by preservation and adaptation.
Heavy restoration should not be a dirty word. It is not simply pastiche or, in some cases, facadism. Some of our iconic monuments – including the Grianán of Aileach, Dún Aengus and Staigue Fort – were heavily restored to preserve their magnificence.
We need a reasoned national debate on these issues. There is room for diversity and experimentation.
