21 March, 2013

Glebe House, Castletown

The present Glebe House in Castletown, Pallaskenry, which was the traditional residence of the Church of Ireland rector of the parish of Kilcornan, was built in 1810. There is no information about the architect of the building. The surviving Glebe House was the second building on that site. Some readers may recall that in 1735, the Glebe House in which Rev Roger Throp, the Church of Ireland Rector resided, was mysteriously burned down. Throp laid the blame for this and the shooting dead of his ‘valuable’ saddle horse at the door of Colonel John Waller, whom Throp alleged was his ‘bitter and vindictive enemy’. Even though Waller had appointed Throp to the post, it would appear that relations between the two soured when the clergyman refused to countenance Waller’s alleged unjust and tyrannical behaviour.

         Following the dispute, Throp became depressed and ‘fell into a rapid decline’, dying soon afterwards in 1736. Though Throp’s brother attempted to raise the matter in the British Parliament in 1739, Waller succeeded in preventing this, largely because of his political influence as a member of the Irish parliament. The Throps, however, also had influential friends, among them Dean Swift, who lampooned Waller in a well-known balled, ‘The Legion Club’, part of which ran, ‘See the scowling visage drop, just as when he murdered Throp’.

Waller the Builder

It was Captain John Waller, son of the man lampooned by Dean Swift, who built and paid for the church (of Ireland), which was designed by James Pain and completed in 1831. The same man gave both the site and a substantial donation for the building of Kilcornan Catholic church in 1828. It is also likely that he was the main driving force in the erection of the Glebe House in Castletown in 1810. Since there is no longer a resident Rector in Castletown/ Kilcornan, the Church of Ireland sold the Glebe House some years ago and it is now in private ownership.

Architecture

The main building in the Glebe House consists of a 3-bay, two-storey house, with a recessed 4-bay, two storey addition on the east side. There is a hipped slate roof with rendered chimney stacks and terra cotta ridge tiles. Before recent renovation, there were large nine-over-six pane windows to the south and six-over-six pane windows to the north. This arrangement has, however, been changed in recent times. There is a round-headed opening to the south elevation, flanked by timber pilasters, with fluted consoles. There is a fanlight over the front door. To the south of the house are the remains of a walled garden. The NIAH survey notes that the house retains much of its original form and is characteristic of the Glebe Houses of that period. It also notes the restraint in ornamentation, which, it suggests, adds symmetry to the building and focuses on the front entrance.

         Originally, there were sixty acres of land going with the Glebe House. Griffith’s Valuation (1850) lists only 57 acres, but this area was gradually reduced over the years.