Turvey House was a substantially altered 16th century house synonymous with the townland of Turvey ( ga, Tuirbhe) near

Donabate Donabate () is a small coastal town in Fingal, Ireland, about north-northeast of Dublin. The town is on a peninsula on Ireland's east coast, between the Rogerstown Estuary to the north and Broadmeadow Estuary to the south. Donabate is a civil ...

in North County Dublin. Turvey is said to be a reference to the Irish mythical character Tuirbe Tragmar ("thrower of axes"), father of

Gobán Saor The Gobán Saor was a highly skilled smith or architect in Irish history and legend. Gobban Saer (Gobban the Builder) is a figure regarded in Irish traditional lore as an architect of the seventh century, and popularly canonized as St. Gobban. ...

. At various stages the house and surrounding lands formed the family seat of the

Barnewall Barnewall is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Anthony Barnewall (1721–1739), German army officer * John Barnewall (disambiguation) * Nicholas Barnewall (disambiguation) * Patrick Barnewall (disambiguation) See also *Viscount ...

family. The house is said to have been constructed with stone from the ruins of the nearby

Grace Dieu Abbey The Grace Dieu Abbey was an Augustinian abbey in County Dublin, Ireland. It was founded about 1190 by John Comyn, Archbishop of Dublin, to house an order of nuns, the Sisters of St. Augustine. It derived most of its income from lands at Lu ...

by either Sir

Christopher Barnewall Sir Christopher Barnewall (1522–1575) was a leading Anglo-Irish statesman of the Pale in the 1560s and 1570s. He was the effective Leader of the Opposition in the Irish House of Commons in the Parliament of 1568–71. He is remembered for buil ...

or Sir Patrick Barnewall. The house was demolished in controversial circumstances by construction company, the Murphy Group, in 1987.

History

The house was the home of the notable

family for many generations. In 1570,

James Stanihurst James Stanihurst (died 1573), also spelt James Stanyhurst) was for three terms Speaker of the Irish House of Commons. He was also the first judge to hold the position of Recorder of Dublin. Life He was the son of Nicholas Stanihurst, Lord Mayor ...

arranged for Sir

to hide the English Jesuit priest and martyr

Edmund Campion Edmund Campion, SJ (25 January 15401 December 1581) was an English Jesuit priest and martyr. While conducting an underground ministry in officially Anglican England, Campion was arrested by priest hunters. Convicted of high treason, he was ...

in the house to hide him from the authorities and prevent his arrest. It is during this period of hiding that Campion wrote his book ''A Historie of Ireland''. In 1590,

Mabel Bagenal Mabel Bagenal ( – December 1595) was an Anglo-Irish noblewoman and Countess of Tyrone, often referred to simplistically as the " Helen of the Elizabethan Wars". Life Mabel Bagenal was born around 1571 in Newry. She was the youngest child o ...

was sent against her will to Turvey by her father, Sir Nicholas Bagnel, to prevent her marrying

Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone Hugh O'Neill (Irish: ''Aodh Mór Ó Néill''; literally ''Hugh The Great O'Neill''; – 20 July 1616), was an Irish Gaelic lord, Earl of Tyrone (known as the Great Earl) and was later created ''The Ó Néill Mór'', Chief of the Name. O'Neil ...

. Ultimately, Mabel escaped from the house and eloped with O'Neill, marrying him at Drumcondra Castle near Dublin, the home of Sir William Warren.

Structure

The top or third floor of the house featured distinctive lunette or

diocletian window Diocletian windows, also called thermal windows, are large semicircular windows characteristic of the enormous public baths (''thermae'') of Ancient Rome. They have been revived on a limited basis by some classical revivalist architects in more m ...

s which were created after the original triplicate Dutch-style gables were removed from the front of the house to create a more fashionable flat roof when an additional floor was added to the house between 1725-50. The house contained tall narrow windows grouped in threes which at the time of demolition were two panes wide and five panes high. The house also contained an unusual baroque door surround. Alterations were made to the house including the installation of a then fashionable Venetian window during alterations by Robert Birch in 1773. The house was renovated and changed during the late 18th century to create a Georgian nine-bay, three-storey over raised basement property. The interior ceiling of the house contained an elaborate rococo ceiling in the library which was added during the eighteenth century. The large attic rooms in the house were said to have never been completely finished. The house also contained a secret or safe room. The house had originally been purchased by the Murphy Group in the late 1960s. Dublin City Council, under the direction of

George Redmond George Redmond (c. 1924 – 17 February 2016) was an Irish Assistant City and County Manager until his retirement on 23 June 1989 at the age of 65. He spent his entire career working for the Dublin local authorities commencing as a clerk in Dublin ...

, then assistant Dublin city and county manager, finally gave the order for its demolition in 1987. The structure incorporated an earlier tower house, likely from the 15th century, as well as much of the original 16th-century house associated with the Barnewall family. Much of the original rubble masonry was said to have been salvaged from the remains of the nearby Grace Dieu nunnery. Archaeological monitoring of rubble removal in 1993 revealed remains of a barrel vault over the ground floor

Images

* RTE Stills Library (1965) * Britain from Above (1948)

References

{{Castles in Dublin Castles in Fingal Georgian architecture in Ireland Tower houses in the Republic of Ireland Nethercross Demolished buildings and structures in the Republic of Ireland