Irish Arts Review

Preserving the PastAuthor(s): Grellan D. RourkeSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 23, 175th Anniversary of the Office of Public Works(2006), pp. 22-25Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25503513 .

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I PRESERVING THE PAST

Preserving the Past

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Since its foundation in 1874, the National Monuments Service has developed and

adapted to meet the needs of monuments preservation, writes GRELLAN D. ROURKE

The establishment of a National Monuments

Service can be dated to 1874, although the

first historic sites were handed over to the

OPW five years previously. There are now

about 740 National Monuments in state care and it is

the job of the conservation staff within the National

Monuments Service to protect and preserve them.

There is a huge variety of monuments, from decorated

stones, early archaeological sites, monastic abbeys,

medieval castle complexes, simple churches, military

fortresses, 18th-century buildings, to industrial heritage,

vernacular cottages and even bridges. Some monuments

are more vulnerable than others and a balance must be

achieved between preservation and visitor access.

These diverse monuments present a range of chal

lenges and the OPW has a network of workshops and

a skilled workforce around the country to undertake

this work. To ensure continuity of expertise and pass

on specialist skills, an innovative apprenticeship

scheme was set up in 2001 - for the first time it

included formal apprenticeships in stone masonry

and thatch. To date, more than fifty apprentices have

been accepted, and a small number have qualified.

Specialists are also employed from the private sector.

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OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION

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HIHI W????B????HB???S??S^^iS????itn Coastal erosion can present serious problems of

preservation, as in the case of Dunbeg promontory fort

on the Dingle Peninsula where a major fault runs

through the site. It has not been possible to halt the

damage; however, the site has been fully excavated and

published and safe access provided for visitors. But there

have been successes: the dry-stone oratory on Church

Island, Valentia, has been saved and at Carrigaholt

Castle in Co Clare a major rock shield was put in posi

tion to take the brunt of the wave force. This work was

carried out with expertise from the Department of

Communications, Marine <Sl Natural Resources.

Archaeology can play an important role and such

expertise is now supplied through the Department of

the Environment, Heritage <Sl Local Government. At

Trim Castle in Co Meath major excavation and den

drochronology informed our understanding of how the

site developed. Limited repair was undertak

en and modern walkways and stairways were

inserted into the main structure to facilitate

public access. A tent-like structure was posi

?tioned where the roof once stood and pro

tects the interior from the elements (Fig 5).

This was a new approach to presentation and

won a Europa Nostra prize.

The location of a site can create its own

particular dynamic. Skellig Michael (Fig 4) is

one of the best-preserved early monastic sites

and is one of the few UNESCO World

Heritage Sites in Ireland. It is constructed almost entire

ly of dry-stone, which causes particular problems where

structural failure is taking place. It is only possible to

work on the island over the summer months and there

has been an ongoing project of archaeological investiga

tion, structural consolidation and conservation under

taken by an interdisciplinary team. This work has great

ly pushed the boundaries of knowledge of the Early Christian period and for some years this work has been

recorded on film. Recording in all forms is an essential

tool of the conservator and in due course will form an

integral part of a major publication on this site.

Research is an extremely important strand running

through the work of the National Monuments Service

and is carried out with both the State Laboratory and

the private sector. Great expertise has been developed in

recent years in the field of historic mortars and plasters.

This is an ongoing project and the information gathered

will eventually provide detailed knowledge of how mor

tars developed in Ireland and spread over the country.

Ardfert Cathedral (Fig 3) provided a good study subject.

OPW The Office of Public Works Oifig na nOibreacha Poibti

1 Detail of wall

painting in St

Bridget's Church on Clare Island, Co Mayo

2 The banqueting chamber at Ross

Castle, Co Kerry

showing the adzed

native oak roof with

the minstrels' gallery in the background

3 East end of

Ardfert Cathedral, Co Kerry showing the south wall after

structural

intervention and

restored view of the

south lancet

windows

4 Skellig Michael is

one of the few

UNESCO World

Heritage Sites in

Ireland - the

monastic settlement can be seen in the

foreground

5 Trim Castle, Co

Meath - a Europa Nostra prize was

awarded for the

innovative approach to presentation

6 The restored

Swiss Cottage in

Cahir, Co Tipperary is one of the earliest

cottage orn?

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Il PRESERVING THE PAST ^^^^^H?l HHH^^^I

It is important that sites with high visitor numbers are managed appropriately to

preserve the site while still permitting access

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7 Aerial view of

Portumna Castle, Co Galway showing the restored formal

garden layout

8 Removal of the

Cross of the

Scriptures at

Clonmacnoise, Co Offaly

- this high cross is now located

in the visitors' centre

and a cast replica stands in its place

9 Repairing a stone

window in situ at

Portumna Castle, Co. Galway

10 Fresco

fragments in the

early 12th-century Cormac's Chapel in Cashel,

Co Tipperary

It is very complex building made up of parts dating from

at least eight different periods stretching from the 11th

to the 19th centuries. Analysis of samples gave a remark

able picture of how the mortars had developed over time

and formed the basis for the re-creation of historic mor

tars for use in the conservation project. Structural inter

vention can play a major role in the preservation of a

large monument where serious deformation has taken

place and the structure begins to fail, sometimes over a

considerable period of time. At Ardfert the first inter

ventions to preserve the structure took place during the

19th century. A more recent innovative approach has

resulted in the entire south-east wall being cantilevered

off the rock beneath, allowing for the removal of the

large disfiguring stone buttress. Now for the first time in

over one hundred years the fine south lancet windows at

Ardfert can be appreciated in their entirety (Fig 3).

Many historic buildings are in a ruinous state and in

recent years a series of restoration projects has brought

a small number back into use, such as Parke's Castle on

Lough Gill in Co Leitrim and Ross Castle (Fig 2) on

Lough Leane, Killarney. Traditional crafts were used in

both castles - at Ross, wicker work was used in the

repair of the vaulting and all the oak members were

adzed and the entire roof and floors pegged together.

With Clonmacnoise in mind, trainees have studied

casting for making replicas of decorative stones at the

Centre for Restoration in Mainz. Clonmacnoise is

home to a wonderful collection of high crosses and dec

orated commemorative stones. Many of these had suf

fered greatly over time. The high crosses have been

brought indoors (Fig 8) and cast replicas positioned out

side when archaeological investigation was satisfied

that the locations were original. Replicas have been cast

of some of the more vulnerable decorative slabs.

Ireland has a small collection of wall-painting frag

ments - much has been lost, so it is important to record

and preserve what remains. On the Rock of Cashel

stands the remarkable early 12th-century Cormac's

Chapel where frescoes had long been hidden beneath

layers of limewash (Fig 10). Conservation work has been

underway here for many years. This work must progress

very slowly - little by little the adverse internal envi

ronment has been turned around and the fresco frag

ments have been uncovered, conserved and document

ed by wall-painting conservators from Britain, commis

sioned with the advice of the Council of Europe. Since

work began conservation expertise has developed in

Ireland and projects have been undertaken to preserve

wall-paintings in St Bridget's Church, Clare Island, Co

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Mayo (Fig 1) and in Ardamullivan Castle, Co Galway. Work on Clare Island is now completed and the project

has been published by the Royal Irish Academy. It is important to bring interiors alive and in the last

two decades furniture has been purchased for particu

lar projects. There is now a fine collection of early oak

furniture housed at Cahir, Carrick-on-Suir and Ross

castles. Also on display at Cahir and Ross is a range of

vessels recreated by a ceramics artist and an archaeo

logical specialist in mediaeval pottery, based on frag

ments uncovered in excavations throughout the coun

try. There has also been the opportunity to make fac

simile furniture and a number of such pieces are on dis

play at Barryscourt Castle in Co Cork. A specialist con

servator was employed to repair and conserve a wattle

screen partition and some very early 17th-century tim

ber panelling at Tintern Abbey, Co Wexford.

There is a strong decorative plasterwork tradition in

Ireland and early surviving examples include the

Elizabethan mansion at Carrick-on-Suir, where a sec

tion of the decorative ceiling in the great hall has been

restored. Brick is a more recent material - Jigginstown

manor house in Co Kildare dates from the 1630s and

displays a remarkable level of skill and craftsmanship.

The bricks were made in the locality and 'cut and

rubbed' to make elaborate decorative elements. It was

never fully completed and had suffered serious deterio

ration. Detailed research and examination have been

undertaken and, with the help of expert advice, a pro

gramme of conservation has now been put in place.

Projects are not just confined to the structures

themselves. Portumna Castle in Co Galway, a fine for

tified Jacobean mansion, has been a major project (Fig

9). The curtilage of the castle forms an integral part of

the project and excavation and research has informed

the recreation of the formal gardens (Fig 7).

There are unique monuments, too, like the Swiss

Cottage in Cahir, one of the earliest cottage orn? (Fig 6).

This was in a very poor condition when it passed into

State care and a major restoration project was undertak

en fifteen years ago. The entire building was re-thatched

with repairs to the stick-work verandahs on the outside,

and the exotic original wallpaper was conserved and, in

places, restored. Newmills in Co Donegal is one of the

few monuments of industrial heritage in care. The build

ing has been restored and the combined corn and flax

mill mills are fully operational. Conservation plans have

been prepared for places like Poulnabrone portal tomb

in the Burren, Ennis Friary in Co Clare and Durrow

Abbey in Co Offaly. It is important that sites with high visitor numbers are managed appropriately to preserve

the site while still permitting controlled access. A five

Aighleann O'Shaughnessy Aighleann O'Shaughnessy studied Architecture at University

College Dublin and joined the OPW on graduating in 1971. In

1973 she moved to the National Monuments Service, and has been

Senior Architect since 1988. She is Senior Conservation Architect, in

charge of two of the six regions into which the country is divided,

which covers an area roughly defined by drawing a line just south of

Glendalough, across almost to Limerick city and down to Bantry Bay.

Aighleann and her team are currently

completing a project at Tintern Abbey in Wexford,

which came into state care in 1963, when initial

works were carried out under Percy LeClerc.

'Cormac's Chapel on the Rock of Cashel is anoth

er ongoing project that is very important. It is a

Romanesque chapel, with 12th-century frescoes,

unique in Ireland. While much work has been

carried out, we still need to stabilise the environ

mental conditions in the building and do some

more work on conservation of the stone.'

There have been changes during Aighleann's time with the OPW,

not only in organisational and financial respects, but also in conserva

tion techniques and approaches: 'When I started in Monuments there

was a standard mix for mortar, for example, which included use of

cement. Now we carry out careful analysis of existing mortars, and

replicate historic mortars using lime. We don't use cement anymore.

Also, there are better tools available for carrying out the very fine

work. And there are more possibilities in terms of careful structural

intervention, for example in the use of stainless steel ties. Laser

technology has become increasingly useful in recent years. Laser

scanning is used for surveys of both buildings and objects, and to

create a replica of an existing object without having to take a mould.'

To Aighleann, a very important development in recent years is the

OPW's introduction of apprenticeship schemes, to train young people

in traditional skills: 'Even if they leave us and go out into the greater

world, those skills, and the awareness of materials, are still going to

be there for everyone's benefit.'

Apart from her work in the OPW, Aighleann maintains her interest

in heritage through membership of groups such as the Royal Society

of Antiquaries of Ireland, the Institute for the Conservation of Historic

and Artistic Works in Ireland, and ICOMOS Ireland.

year management plan is now in operation at sites like

Clonmacnoise and Portumna Castle. It may even be

possible to manage a site without having a full-time

presence there. Adare Castle complex in Co Limerick

will be fully open to the public next year following a

major conservation project and visitors will be taken to

the site by minibus from Adare so there will be no need

for additional construction at the site.

Grellan D Rourke, Senior Conservation Architect, National

Monuments Service, Heritage Services, OPW.

OPW 175TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION |

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