|
Sunday, 05 February 2012
5:22:30
|
|
Killiney Hill
|
|
|
The Scenery and Antiquities of Ireland; published
London: George Virtue, ca. 1845. Author: Coyne, Esq., J. Stirling.
Illustrated from Drawings by W. H. Bartlett
|
|
|
Killiney Hill
stands in the townland of Mount Mapas, or Scalpwilliam. The lands of Scalpwilliam are first
mentioned under that name in the beginning of the 17th century, and from
that time followed the same devolutions of ownership as the Rochestown property.
|
|
|
The obelisk, which
stands on the summit of the hill, and which is a very prominent object, was
erected by Mr. John Mapas, in
1741, a year of scarcity and hardship, when
fever and famine devastated Ireland. It bears the quaint inscription:
"Last year being hard with the poor the wall around these hills and
this were erected by John Mapas, Esq.
June, 1742."
|
|
|
About the same time
a house had been built on or near the site of Killiney Castle. It contained considerable accommodation, and its sea and
land prospect was accounted the finest in Ireland. Except towards the sea,
"where nature had sufficiently enclosed their'," the lands were
surrounded by a stone wall, and were estimated to contain some 150 acres.
The house had been originally called Mount Mapas, but, in 1755, was
known as Roxborough. It was then in occupation of Captain Edward Maunsell, who served as High
Sheriff of the County Dublin in that year. He had married a daughter of Philip Ridgate, LL.D, the widow
of Mr. William Roberts, and on his death, which took place in 1765, in York-street,
Dublin, left by her an only son. This son, Thomas Ridgate Maunsell, afterwards resided
with his mother in Rochestown-avenue, and devoted much time to genealogical research, with the
object of compiling a history of his family. Lead had been discovered on
the lands of Roxborough, and mines had been, in 1751, opened, which, two years later,
when a vein of great thickness was discovered, were reported to be in a
most flourishing condition. They were closed a few years later, and a
second attempt to work them in 1734 proved equally unsuccessful.
|
|
|
Before his death Captain Maunsell assigned his
interest in Roxborough to Colonel the Hon. Henry Loftus, M.P. for Bannow, in the County
Wexford, the central figure in one of the most
protracted and keenly-contested legal struggles of the 18th century. He was
a descendant of the great Archbishop Loftus, of Elizabeth's reign, and was younger son of Nicholas Loftus,
or the County Wexford, who was created a peer as Baron Loftus and Viscount Loftus of Ely. His brother, who had succeeded to those titles on the death
of their father, and who had in addition been created an earl, died in
1766, leaving an only son. This son, now the second earl, who was of
extreme delicacy of constitution, and had been persistently neglected and
ill-treated by his father, was taken by his uncle, Colonel Loftus, under his
protection. Through his mother, a daughter of Sir Gustavus Hume, of
the County Fermanagh, who had long pre-deceased her husband, the young earl was
entitled to large property, and his mother's family had, before his
father's death, instituted proceedings to prove that he was incapable of
managing his affairs. His case was ably conducted by his uncle (it did not
come on for trial until after his father's death), and the decision was in
favour of the young earl's sanity. Three years later, in spite of every
care on his uncle's part, the young man died, making a will, by which he
bequeathed all his property to his uncle. His mother's relatives sought to
have this will set aside, as obtained by undue influence, but were again
unsuccessful, and Colonel Loftus succeeded to his nephew's estates, as well as to the barony
and viscountcy.
|
|
|
The pages of "Baratariana," where the
colonel figures prominently as Count Henrico
Loftonzo, allege that he deserted his old political friends
to obtain a favourable decision from "the innocent Phil Tisdal," who was Judge
of the Prerogative Court, as well as Attorney-General, and also tell of the
efforts of his wife to secure Lord Townshend, then Lord Lieutenant as husband for her niece, the lovely Dolly Monro, and Loftonzo 's own intrigues to
obtain an earldom, which was afterwards conferred on him.
|
|
|
Possessed with an
unbounded passion for improvement, and a skill equal to that passion, as a
contemporary writer says, Loftus converted the barren hills and rocks round Roxborough, called by him
Loftus Hill, into good meadow and pasture lands, frequently being obliged
to blast the rock, and to draw earth to cover it, in order to obtain his
object. Round the hill he cut the present road, and planted the west side
with trees and shrubs. The house was a large one, but the offices were
small. It was his intention to rebuild them, but this he did not
accomplish, as in Rathfarnham Castle, the ancient seat of the family, which he repurchased
for his nephew, and succeeded to himself, he found greater scope for the
extravagant magnificence which is displayed in the classic gateway on the Dodder, constructed by
him. After his succession to the titles Lord Loftus disposed of Loftus
Hill; in 1778 it was occupied by Mr. Medlicott, and subsequently by Mr. Minchin..
|
|
|
The hill was, in
1790, taken by Lord Clonmell, with the intention of erecting a mansion there in place of his
seat at Temple Hill, but his improvements ended in the construction of a park,
at a cost of some £3,000 which, on its completion, he stocked with deer.
Nearly 200 men were employed by him at one time in that work, and in making
roads and planting.
|
|
|
A tourist in 1796
describes a handsome banqueting hall, which was built by Colonel Loftus, and mentions that
in addition to the obelisk, which Lord Clonmell had restored, a memorial was about to be placed on the hill,
in pursuance of the will of the last Mr. Mapas, who left a large sum for the erection of a monument to his
family.
|
|
|
During the last
century the neighbourhood was much developed by Mr. Robert Warren, of Killiney Castle, whose name, as its
restorer in 1840, the obelisk bears, and the hill having been purchased for
a park, was, in 1387, opened and dedicated to the public use by the late Prince Albert Victor of Wales, in memory of Queen Victoria's
Jubilee (plaque pictured left).
|
|
|
|
|
|
