Pembroke Estate papers,
which cover the development of Dublin city and county, dated c.1240-1968,
[NAI]
accessions 1011
and 2011
and 97/46.
Index in RR.
The vast estates of the
Fitzwilliam family
began accumulating
on the South side of Dublin city
in the mid-1300s,
over the centuries they accumulated the lands, among others, of
Dundrum,
Baggotrath,
Merrion,
Simmonscourt and
Mount Merrion,
it was the
6th Viscount Fitzwilliam
who began the massive development of the area in the mid-18th cent,
which soon turned it into Dublin's (indeed Ireland's) most desirable area,
this was continued by the
7th Viscount Fitzwilliam,
he left the estate
to his relative the
11th Earl of Pembroke
in 1816,
since known as the "Pembroke" Estate,
the Earls of Pembroke continued the development of the area,
the estate still exists in some form, though much reduced in size,
see the current Earl of Pembroke.
These vast estates extended through SE Co.Dublin
from Merrion Square in town
along the coast through Merrion out to Blackrock,
inland through Mount Merrion to Dundrum
and beyond to the Dublin mountains.
It was the largest family-owned estate in County Dublin,
and an absolute goldmine as the city exploded southwards from the late 18th cent. onwards.
Indeed cumulatively it was probably the most valuable estate in Ireland,
and is still the premium location in Dublin today.
The full estate no longer exists.
If it did, it would today be
worth over € 1 billion,
perhaps as much as € 10 billion.
This whole area is also famous as Dublin 4,
denoting the address
(or commonly just used as shorthand for the mindset)
of Ireland's liberal intelligensia.
And Dublin 2, the premium office area in the city,
is much of the land inside the Canal, around the two Fitzwilliam squares.
A house called "Cherbury" on Booterstown Ave
(built pre-1762, also called "Herbert House", demolished mid-1970s,
see [Pearson, 1998]
and
[Lyng, 2000]).
At the site there is now Cherbury Mews,
and two roads Cherbury Court and Cherbury Gardens.
Detail of John Rocque's
map of Dublin, 1756
(just before the big Fitzwilliam development of the area).
St.Stephen's Green, on LHS, is still at edge of countryside.
Green spot on LHS is Duke of Leinster's house,
about to begin a trend for the SE of the city.
Then moving E on Fitzwilliam land to green spot in middle,
which is site of old Baggotrath Castle.
Moving to RHS to the villages of Ballsbridge and Donnybrook.
Green spot on RHS is Simmonscourt Castle.
The Fitzwilliam territory of SE Dublin.
From [Ball, vol.2, 1903].
This is rather inaccurate: Baggotrath
should be a good bit nearer to the Canal. Dundrum Castle
should be on the opposite side of the road.
And Frescati
should be on the opposite side of Mt Merrion Ave.
The worst vandalism on Georgian SE Dublin
was when the ESB
demolished half a block of houses along the vista from
Fitzwilliam Place to
Holles St Hospital in 1965.
Neil Blaney,
Minister for Local Government,
pushed through the destruction against protest.
The 16th Earl of Pembroke,
who had just sold the freehold in 1964,
had wanted to save the houses,
and afterwards he donated half of the proceeds of the sale to the
Irish Georgian Society.
But despite this destruction, the area is still remarkably intact today,
and the ESB have made up for their sins by restoring a Georgian house,
29 Lower Fitzwilliam Street,
which is now open to the public.
An even worse vandalism was narrowly averted:
In 1930
the Catholic church
purchased Merrion Square
from the Pembroke Estate
and planned to build a cathedral on the site.
But luckily this plan was eventually scrapped.
There is a Pembroke pew
in St. Stephen's Church
[the "Pepper Pot church", or the "Pepper canister",
built 1821] on
Mount Street Crescent, Dublin.
"I can understand that the consortium of belted earls
and their ladies and left-wing intellectuals
who can afford the time to stand and contemplate in ecstasy
the unparalleled man-made beauty of the two corners of Hume Street
and St. Stephen's Green
may well feel that the amateurish efforts of Mother Nature
in the Wicklow Mountains are unworthy of their attention."
- Kevin Boland,
Minister for Local Government,
defending the destruction of Dublin, 1970.
Also expressing an official line of hatred of all of Ireland's
actual surviving architecture,
and a bleak harking back to dull nature
and an imaginary Celtic past.