Architects Continued

John B. Keane

John B. Keane (d. 1859) was the architect of the Carlow Gaol. He was working as an assistant to Richard Morrison by 1819-1820. He is thought possibly to be the same person as the John Kane, junior of Brookeborough, Co. Fermanagh, to whom Bryan Bolger wrote in 1809 that Morrison was looking for a drawing clerk. In 1846-1848, he was engineer to the River Suir navigation. As well as Carlow Gaol, John B. Keane also designed the Mausoleum at Oak Park for Henry Bruen and the Carlow County Infirmary in 1838.

Francis Johnston

Francis Johnston (1760-1839) was born in Armagh. He worked at first for Thomas Cooley and later set up private practice in Dublin. He designed some major country houses and worked for the Board of Works between 1805 and 1826. His major work in Carlow was the Lunatic Ayslum, built in 1831.

George Wilkinson

George Wilkinson (1814-1890) was born in Oxfordshire. Having designed workhouses in England he was appointed architect to the Irish Poor Law Commissioners. He was responsible for the design of all 160 Irish workhouses, including the workhouse at Carlow, built in 1841.

Gallery

The Gaol, Carlow

The Carlow Gaol stood upon a site of two statute acres. It was surrounded by a twenty-foot wall of limestone, coped with granite, and had an impressive entrance of cut granite. The property included a governor's four storied dwelling house, a female prison, a hospital and convalescent ward, debtors' and convicts' prisons, a two storied house of correction and untried prisoners' apartments. The Gaol also had two gatekeepers’ apartments, stables, straw and coach houses and a walled-in garden of about half an acre. The Gaol was later an engineering works and is currently a Shopping Centre. The Governor's house is now incorporated into a restaurant in the centre of the development. The granite entrance is still in use and features stags/animal heads which were salvaged from the 1930’s fire at Duckett’s Grove, Carlow.

Carlow County Library

The Gaol, Carlow - Carlow County Library

St Dympna's Hospital (former Lunatic Asylum, Carlow)

The Lunatic Asylum now St. Dympna’s Hospital is situated in extensive grounds between the Athy Road and the Old Dublin Road. It was built to a design by Francis Johnston. The central part of the Building is in a U plan of five bays, two storeys high. On either side are long wings terminating in advanced end bays. The outer bays of the central block have strip pilasters and pediments. The doorcase features scroll brackets supporting a curvilinear cornice. Over the centre is an octagonal clock tower and dome which are set on a square base. The main building material used was granite ashlar but later additions have limestone snecked walls with brick trim and parapets.

Carlow County Library

St Dympna's Hospital (former Lunatic Asylum, Carlow) - Carlow County Library

Oak Park iron bridge detail

The Metal Bridge at Oak Park is considered to be of international importance. It was commissioned by Henry Bruen 11 around the year 1817. It was designed by the architect George Papworth. The castings for the bridge were most likely to have been supplied by the Coalbrookdale Company, Shropshire, England. The bridge consists of five parallel cast-iron arch ribs of 40 ft. span and 6 ft. rise and spaced 3 ft. 9 inches apart. The iron railings forming the parapets are composed of vertical bars fixed between top and bottom rails. The bottom rail is supported on ball feet. The photograph shows a wrought-iron snake motif which is featured at regular intervals along the parapet railings.

Carlow County Library

Oak Park iron bridge detail - Carlow County Library

Lisnavagh House, Lisnavagh, Co Carlow

Lisnavagh House is situated near Rathvilly in County Carlow. It was designed by Daniel Robertson in the Tudor style and completed in 1849. Lisnavagh is considered to be one of the largest of Robertson’s Tudor Manor houses. It is built of grey stone with many gables and mullioned windows. It also has some oriel windows. The house has very little ornament but features a loggia of segmental-pointed arches.The magnificent gardens are open to the public.

Carlow County Library

Lisnavagh House, Lisnavagh, Co Carlow - Carlow County Library

Dunleckney Manor, Bagenalstown, County Carlow

Dunleckney Manor, Bagenalstown, County Carlow is the subject of this sepia photograph by E. F Barton c. 1870. It shows the main avenued approach to Dunleckney Manor. This house was the ancient seat of the Bagenals of Idrone. In 1660 Dudley Bagenal regained his father's estate which had been earlier confiscated because of the part played by Sir Walter in he Confederate War. Dudley supported King James at the Battle of the Boyne and lost the estate again but it was later regained by Dudley's son Walter in 1712. In 1785 Sarah Bagenal heiress of the Bagenal Estate married Philip Newton of Bennekerry. In circa 1850 the house was renovated by the architect Daniel Robertson in the Tudor style.

Carlow County Library

Dunleckney Manor, Bagenalstown, County Carlow - Carlow County Library

George Papworth

George Papworth (1781-1855) was born in London. He was the third son of the English stuccoist John Papworth. In 1799 he became the pupil of his elder brother, the architect John Buonarotti Papworth, and acted as his clerk of works until 1804. He moved to Ireland in 1806 and took charge of the Circular Stone Manufacturers of North Strand, Dublin who produced stone tubes for pipes and other uses. He also started to build up an architectural practice. He was architect to the Dublin and Drogheda Railway Company and to the Royal Bank. He was later appointed Professor of Architecture by the Royal Hibernian Academy.The cast-iron bridge at Oak Park c. 1817 is one of Papworth's earliest works. Other work followed including the Dublin Library in D'Olier Street (1818-1820) and the single span cast-iron King's Bridge in Dublin which was build to commemorate the visit of George IV to Ireland. The foundation stone for this bridge was laid in 1827.

Daniel Robertson

Daniel Robertson (d.1849) was a talented designer of country houses both in the Gothic and Classical Styles. He practised in Ireland between c. 1830 and 1849. It is conjectured that he designed the former Courthouse in Bagenalstown c. 1835. Robertson's Tudor villas in Co. Carlow include Ballydarton, Fenagh near Bagenalstown c. 1833/1834 and Castletown near Carlow c. 1835/1836. He also designed Dunleckney Manor near Bagenalstown c. 1835 - 1840 and Lisnavagh House, Rathvilly, Co. Carlow (1846-1849).

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