Newbridge House | |
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General information | |
Type | House |
Architectural style | Georgian |
Address | Donabate, North County Dublin |
Town or city | Donabate |
Country | Ireland |
Coordinates | 53°29′11″N6°10′04″W / 53.4865268°N 6.1677319°W |
Elevation | 50 m (160 ft) |
Groundbreaking | 1751 |
Estimated completion | 1765 |
Technical details | |
Material | limestone and granite dressings |
Floor count | 3 over basement |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Designed by James Gibbs and executed by George Semple |
Developer | Charles Cobbe |
Other designers | Richard Williams (plasterwork - 1764) |
References | |
[1] [2] |
Newbridge Demesne is an early 18th-century Georgian estate and mansion situated in north County Dublin, Ireland. It was built from around 1751 by Charles Cobbe, Archbishop of Dublin, and remained the property of his Cobbe descendants until 1985. It was then acquired by Dublin County Council, in an arrangement, under which Newbridge House would remain the family home.[ citation needed ]
Set within 400 acres of partially wooded parkland, Newbridge House is one of the finest surviving examples of Georgian architecture. The demesne now forms one of Fingal's regional parks, and contains historic buildings including the main house, a show farm and a cafe and shop.
On 19 June 1736, Charles Cobbe, then Bishop of Kildare, paid £5,526.5.6 for the townlands of Donabate, Lainstown, Haggardstown and Newbridge, containing 490 acres. However, Bishop Cobbe had a prior interest in these lands, having come to the financial assistance of the Weyms family (port owners) some years earlier. When they had difficulty in repaying a mortgage taken out on the lands. On 21 July 1742 Bishop Cobbe made his second purchase of lands in the parish. These consisted of the townlands of Kilcreagh, Corballis and Baltra, containing in all 510 acres. The purchase price was £6,425.00. As with the first purchase, the Cobbe interest came into being through the owner, Maurice Keating, having difficulty repaying a mortgage. The final purchase of land by the Cobbe family was made in 1811, when Charles purchased the fields north of Newbridge Demesne and bordering Turvey Avenue.[ citation needed ]
The Archbishop was succeeded by his son, Thomas, who in 1751 married Lady Elizabeth Beresford, daughter of the Earl of Tyrone. She brought a dowry with her, thus enabling major improvements to be made to the house. In the Red Drawing Room, added by them, they lavishly entertained and hung many superb pictures purchased on their behalf by the incumbent of Donabate Church, the Rev. Matthew Pilkington, who was well qualified to do the buying, as it was he who composed the first major English Dictionary of Painters. [ citation needed ]
Their eldest son, Charles Cobbe, died in 1798, when their eldest grandson, another Charles, became heir apparent. He joined the army, served in India, and returned to Bath in 1805. Four years later he married Frances Conway and immediately came to live at Newbridge, where he carried out much refurbishing with the aid of his wife's money. During the family's absence in Bath, the Estate had become run down. Charles's considerable energies were used to build it up again. He threw down the "wretched mud cabins" occupied by his tenants and built new houses on his estates which were paid for by the sale of some of the family's most prized paintings, such as the Gastor Poussin and a Hobbema. Charles Cobbe died in 1857 and was succeeded by his son, another Charles. He, in turn, died in 1886, leaving no male issue, his estate passing to his wife for her lifetime. Before her death she persuaded Thomas Maberley Cobbe, a grandnephew of her late husband, to return to Newbridge from America to take over the estate. He died young in 1914, leaving two infant sons, Thomas and Francis, of whom the latter died in 1949. Thomas did not marry, and on his death in 1985 he was succeeded by Francis's family, Hugh, Alec, and Mary.
The property was then acquired by the County Council in 1985, but the Cobbe family continued to reside at Newbridge House from time to time, due to a special arrangement with the County Council. [3]
One of the earliest and largest structures still standing in the Donabate locality is Lanestown castle, a late medieval castellated tower house located on the grounds of Newbridge House. It was originally the largest of four tower houses in the immediate area north of the Broad Meadow estuary along with Portrane Castle (Stella's Tower), Turvey House (now demolished) and Donabate (attached St. Patrick's Church of Ireland Church). The tower was probably part of the £10 Castle scheme initiated in 1429 by King Henry VI in which a landowner would be funded £10 if he built a defensive tower to aid in protecting the Pale. [4] [5]
Newbridge House was built by Archbishop Cobbe between 1747 and 1752 to the design of architect James Gibbs. Newbridge still contains most of its original furniture. The interiors include the Red Drawing Room, the Museum of Curiosities and ornate plasterwork found throughout the house. The house now offers tours of both the house and farm for money, alongside public events throughout the year. [6] [7]
The estate still maintains a small farm, including a square cobbled courtyard adjoining the house that was designed by Robert Mack, and built about 1790 after the completion of the main house.[ citation needed ]
Newbridge Demesne opened as a County Dublin Regional Park in 1986.[ citation needed ]
Part of the land which once made up the estate now contains Tesco Donabate Distribution Centre, the 11th largest building by floor area in the world. [8] [9]
The Cobbe Portrait is an unattributed panel painting of William Shakespeare painted from memory, believed by some to be the only surviving painting of Shakespeare. Support for this theory is drawn from the inheritance of the portrait by the Cobbe family from Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, and its resemblance to the Janssen portrait, a long-standing candidate to be a portrait of Shakespeare. Scientific examination has dated the panel and paints used to Shakespeare's lifetime, but the claim that it is of Shakespeare has been regarded with scepticism. [10]
Swords in County Dublin, the county town of the local government area of Fingal, is a large suburban town on the east coast of Ireland, situated ten kilometres north of Dublin city centre. It is the eighth largest urban area in Ireland, with a population of 40,776 as of the 2022 census. The town was reputedly founded c. AD 560. Located on the Ward River, Swords features Swords Castle, a restored medieval castle, a holy well from which it takes its name, a round tower and a Norman tower. Facilities in the area include the Pavilions shopping centre, one of the largest in the Dublin region, a range of civic offices, some light industries, the main storage facility and archive of the National Museum of Ireland and several parks. Dublin Airport is located nearby.
Fingal is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is one of three successor counties to County Dublin, which was disestablished for administrative purposes in 1994. Its name is derived from the medieval territory of Scandinavian foreigners that settled in the area. Fingal County Council is the local authority for the county. In 2022 the population of the county was 330,506, making it the second most populated council in Dublin and the third most populous county in the state.
Donabate is a small coastal town in County Dublin, Ireland, about 21 kilometres north-northeast of Dublin, within the local government area of Fingal. 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 parish in the ancient barony of Nethercross.
Portrane or Portraine is a small seaside village located three kilometers from the town of Donabate in Fingal, County Dublin in Ireland. It is in the barony of Nethercross in the north of the county.
Ardgillan Castle is a country house near Balbriggan, County Dublin, Ireland. It is set in the 200-acre (0.81 km2) Ardgillan Demesne, a public park in the jurisdiction of Fingal County Council.
Naul, is a village, townland, and civil parish at the northern edge of the traditional County Dublin in Ireland. The Delvin River to the north of the village marks the county boundary with County Meath. Naul civil parish is in the historic barony of Balrothery West.
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Rostellan is a civil parish, townland and village in the historical Barony of Imokilly, County Cork, Ireland. An electoral division of the same name forms part of the Cork East Dáil constituency. For census purposes, the village of Rostellan is combined with the neighbouring villages of Farsid and Aghada. As of the 2011 census, the combined settlement of Aghada-Farsid-Rostellan had a population of 1,015 people.
The Cobbe family is an Irish landed family. The family has a notable history, and has produced several prominent Irish politicians, clergymen, writers, activists and soldiers, such as philosopher, writer and social reformer Frances Power Cobbe and General Sir Alexander Cobbe VC.
Charles Cobbe was Archbishop of Dublin from 1743 to 1765, and as such was Primate of Ireland.
Abbotstown is a townland in the civil parish of Castleknock in Fingal, Ireland. It is also the name of an historical demesne and country estate that is close to Blanchardstown. Historically the estate belonged to a number of aristocratic families. When these neighbouring families intermarried, their combined estates in Abbotstown and the townland of Sheephill were usually, though informally, called "Abbotstown". Despite a significant level of suburban development in the wider Dublin 15 area from the 1980s onwards, Abbotstown and Sheephill remained largely undeveloped, as the demesne was held by several state bodies. Today, the majority of the combined demesne remains unspoilt and now accommodates the administration offices and sporting grounds of the various bodies associated with Ireland's National Sports Campus. Abbotstown proper, however, does not contain any part of the campus nor the eponymous Abbotstown House itself. Instead, almost the whole of the land is given over to Connolly Hospital and the "St Francis Hospice".
Nethercross is a feudal title of one of the baronies of Ireland. Originally part of the Lordship of Meath, it was then constituted as part of the County Dublin. Today, is in the modern county of Fingal.
Dripsey Castle is a country house in the townland of Carrignamuck, situated 3.3 km (2.1 mi) north-east of Coachford village and 2.5 km (1.6 mi) north-west of Dripsey village. The house and demesne were dominant features in the rural landscape of Ireland, throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Location often reflected the distribution of better land, and this is evidenced in mid-Cork, where many of these houses are situated along the valley of the River Lee and its tributaries.
Kenure House was a large Georgian house and estate in Rush, County Dublin, Ireland. The main house was constructed between 1703 and 1713 by the Duke of Ormond on the grounds of an earlier house but was destroyed by fire and rebuilt around 1827. A later portico and further additions were added in 1842 to a design by George Papworth. The main house was demolished by Dublin Corporation in 1978 and the granite portico is the only portion of the main house which still stands as of 2022.
Tesco Donabate Distribution Centre is a national retail distribution centre located in Donabate, Fingal, Ireland. Built for and used by Tesco Ireland for distribution of a wide range of goods, as of 2022 it is the 11th-largest building by volume in the world, with a volume of 1,550,000 cubic metres (55,000,000 cu ft); for comparison, this is 42% of the volume of NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building.
Castleknock is a civil parish and a townland located in the south-western corner of the modern county of Fingal, Ireland. The civil parish is part of the ancient barony of Castleknock. It is centred on the suburban village of Castleknock. The townland of Castleknock itself is the location of the eponymous "Cnucha's Castle" – Castleknock Castle. The town with the biggest population in the parish is Blanchardstown. In geology, the parish rests on a substratum of limestone and comprises 2943 statute acres, the whole of which is arable land.
Castlefreke, also known as Rathbarry, is a townland and village in County Cork, Ireland. The townland is located in the civil parish of Rathbarry on the R598 regional road, to the east of Rosscarbery.
Clonsilla or "Clonsillagh" is a civil parish and a townland located in the south-western corner of the modern county of Fingal, Ireland. The civil parish is part of the ancient barony of Castleknock. It is centred on the suburban village of Clonsilla. In geology, the parish rests on a substratum of limestone and comprises 2943 statute acres, the whole of which is arable land. It is roughly bounded to the north by the old "Navan Road" – the modern N3; to the east by the civil parish of Castleknock; to the south by the River Liffey; to the south-east by the civil parish of Leixlip, chiefly in County Kildare, and to the north-west by the civil parish of Dunboyne in County Meath.
Turvey House was a substantially altered 17th-century house, with tower house elements, synonymous with the townland of Turvey near Donabate in North County Dublin. Turvey is said to be a reference to the Irish mythical character Tuirbe Tragmar, father of Gobán Saor. At various stages, the house and surrounding lands formed the family seat of the Barnewall family. The house is said to have been constructed with stone from the ruins of the nearby Grace Dieu Abbey by either Sir Christopher Barnewall or Sir Patrick Barnewall.