Bray, Sidmonton, and Sons called Tommy
Sometimes, ordinary research into a building’s history can reveal a particularly interesting and memorable story.
Such was the case in Bray; where a small detail in the history of this particular protected structure resonated poignantly with this writer; in such intensity that has not abated since the completion of the project some three years ago.
Bray, the ancient manor of the De Riddlesforts, became the possession in 1619 of the Brabazon family, created earls of Meath in 1627.
The coming of the railways meant a tremendous change to the fortunes of Bray. Following the opening of the Bray Station of the Dublin & Wicklow Railway in 1854, the town was developed as a spa town and holiday resort for the gentry of Dublin to escape to for the Summer; akin to an Irish Brighton. The town was initially developed to the north around the railway station with a Turkish bath and luxurious hotels , by William Dargan the railway entrepreneur, and the local Brennan family.
Anxious not to miss out; the area around the south, in possession of the Brabazons, was developed from the 1860’s onwards by the 11th earl. The success of the venture would see a doubling of the population of Bray between 1850 and 1870.
An avenue to ‘Novara’ a still extant large house in the area, was developed as ‘Novara Road’, and a residential square around an open green, called ‘Sidmonton Square’ was developed beyond this, named apparently, after a manor of the Chaworth family, wife of the 5thth earl, and the United Kingdom peerage title (Baron Chaworth) of the 12th earl.
5 Sidmonton Square would seem to have been built about 1870 and is marked along with its twin on Heffernan’s Illustrated Plan of Bray of c. 1870, with the other similar pair to the north angle of the square. The intervening pair were not constructed until some 18 years later, and are different in dimensions and internal layout, from the others, although superficially similar from the outside.
The house would appear to have been designed to incorporate internal plumbing; which would situate it amongst the earliest examples of this innovation. This would undoubtedly have made the property more attractive for high status individuals to rent for the Summer season. An old toilet was found cemented into the floor of the shed to the rear, which unfortunately could not be removed in one piece. The steel water tank was removed from the staircase landing to the exterior, this was apparently a replacement of the original.
Externally all the basement cills originally featured cast iron metal window security bars, which are no longer extant. This feature would have helped secure the house for the periods when it was unoccupied. As the house was not included in either the 1901 or 1911 census, conducted at end of March and early April of these years it was presumably unoccupied at this time. This supports the idea that these houses were primarily designed and developed to be inhabited for the Summer season.
It has not been possible to ascertain the architect of the houses with any certainty, although it is almost certain that an architect was involved; given the skill of the design.
The house is a semi-detached villa, and resembles the detached country villas of the early nineteenth century, and also the contemporary detached villas of suburban Dublin, a style that has been described by Maurice Craig as ‘classical cottages’. It has been noted that in coastal locations these houses are usually constructed of stone with rough cast rendering, as was probably the case with no. 5 Sidmonton Square.
Architects known to have been involved in the construction of houses elsewhere in neighbouring Dublin at the time include; George Papworth, William Murray, Murray & Denny, .E.H. Carson, and Sandham Symes.
The 11th earl of Meath also developed the Town Hall, completed in 1882, principally as a gift to the town. but also as a means to stimulate development in the more unfashionable southern part of the town (owned by him).
The architect was Thomas Manly Deane of the architectural firm Deane and Woodward, famous throughout the United Kingdom for their Museum Building Oxford of 1855-60, their Museum Building Trinity College Dublin of 1853-57, and their Buildings for the great Kensington exhibition of 1851 (which would be copied in the County Laois mansion of Rathdaire in 1855).
The partnership had been founded in Cork in 1851 between Sir Thomas Deane (Knighted 1830), his assistant Benjamin Woodward, and Thomas Newenham Deane the only son of his second marriage. The elder Deane died in 1871. Woodward had predeceased him in 1861.
The firm of Deane and Woodward are unlikely to have been involved in the design of 5 Sidmonton Square as they were enthusiastic exponents of the ‘Ruskinian Gothic’ idiom.
Their most famous building in Dublin is probably the National Library and National Museum Building, and associated Lecture Hall (now now Dáil Eireann), designed by Thomas Newenham Deane and Thomas Manly Deane.
Thomas Manly Deane was born on 8th June 1851 in Cork and educated in Holyville park School, Monkstown, and Trinity College Dublin. He was articled to his father but completed his apprenticeship in the offices of the great William Burges in London, where he worked on designs for Cardiff Castle for the Marquess of Bute, and also worked at the Slade School. In 1876 he won the Royal Academy Travelling Scholarship, whereby he travelled to Italy, returning to his father’s office in Dublin in 1878.
The impressive market house building in Bray was designed principally by the younger Deane, but also had input from English Architect Edward Guy Dawber. It features numerous heraldic devices of the Brabazons, notably the stained glass by Heaton, Byrne, and Bayne.
Known as ‘Tommy’, Deane went into partnership with his father in 1884. Deane Senior was knighted in 1890 for his work on the national Museum complex, and died in 1899.
5 Sidmonton Square would have in residence Thomas Manly Deane in 1896, when he came to live for an extended holiday in 1896 from Lansdowne Road with his wife Florence Mary Wright of Erw-Lydan, Penmaenmawr, Carnarvonshire, Wales (married 1880), and their young son Thomas Alexander David. The latest Thomas Deane had been born 1893. Perhaps Deane retained happy memories of his time designing and constructing the Town Hall.
Deane went into partnership with Sir Aston Webb to undertake the College of Science in Merrion Street (now Government Buildings) which was constructed from 1908 to 1914 and only finished in 1922.
Thomas Manly Deane would be knighted in 1911, partly for his work on this building, the foundation stone for which was laid by King Edward VII.
Given his name, and family lineage, it is likely Thomas Manly Deane had ambitious plans for the young Thomas Alexander David.
Thomas followed his father into Trinity College Dublin in 1914, where he was a member of the Dublin University Officers Training Corps. After the outbreak of the Great War, he was in the Royal Marine Light Infantry in Portsmouth where he was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in February 1915. His address was given as Bray , Co. Wicklow. His father’s address however was given as Ailesbury Park, Dublin.
He was reported as missing in operations in the Dardanelles in Turkey on 10th May 1915. it was subsequently established that Lieutenant Thomas Alexander David Deane had been killed in action at Gaba Tepe, Anzac, on the 3rd May 1915, age 22. His name is recorded on Panel 2 to 7 Helles Memorial in Turkey.
In 1919, a memorial to the 471 students, staff and alumni of Trinity College who had fallen in the recent war was commissioned by Provost John Pentland Mahaffey. The architect chosen for this prestigious and important commission was Sir Thomas Manly Deane. This commission, though he would hardly have wanted it to go to anybody else, must have been terribly personally important and unbearably sad. The appropriately simple and austere memorial was finished in 1928.
The name of Deane, Lieut. Thos. Alex. David, is also inscribed on the War Memorial in Bray; one of the first war memorials in the Free State, unveiled in 1923 by Lord Powerscourt. This was also designed by his father. The form is a Celtic Cross in Tullamore granite ,on a plinth of Wicklow granite. This commission was effectively the last of the practice., which ceased trading soon thereafter.
As an architect myself, also with an only son called Thomas, who has an affinity for all things architectural , I cannot imagine a more unbearable commission than those latter which fell to Sir Thomas Manly Deane.
Sir Thomas Manly Deane retired from the RIAI in 1925, and with failing eyesight retired to Erw-Lyden, a large house Edwardian house in Penmaenmawr near the walled town of Conwy in North Wales, the homeplace of his wife. Accepting a Knighthood usually represented Unionist sympathies at the time, so perhaps he found the temperament of the new Free State not to his liking. He was reported to suffer from failing eyesight in his latter life, particularly difficult for an architect. He died in Wales on 3 February 1933.
The war memorial in Trinity College was rededicated on 26th September 2015, to correct what was described as a century of collective amnesia within the university.
25 September 2019.
Sources.
- Tom Burnell, war historian.
- ‘Trinity rededicates Hall of Honour to first World War dead’. Sat, Sep 26, 2015. Peter Murtagh
Bibliography.
- Craig, Maurice James; ‘The Architecture of Ireland; From Earliest Times to 1880’, (London & Dublin 1982).
- Davies, Mary ‘That Favourite Resort; The Story of Bray Co. Wicklow (Bray 2007).
- Davies, K. M. (Kathleen Mary), –Irish Historic Towns Atlas; No. 9 (Bray). Royal Irish Academy 1998.
- Digby Scott, Canon George; ‘The Stones of Bray’ (Dublin 1913 Bray 1984).
- Garner, William, ‘Bray Architecture Heritage’, (Dublin 1980).
- O’Dwyer, Frederick; ‘The Architecture of Deane & Woodward’, (Cork 1997).
- O’Sullivan John, Dunne, Tony, Cannon Seamus ‘The Book of Bray’ (Dublin 1989).