Irish Heritage Studies Volume 2 (2026)

A reassessment of the Romanesque church of St Saviour’s at Glendalough, co. Wicklow – part 1 
 – Christiaan Corlett

St Saviour’s Church at Glendalough, in the heart of the Wicklow mountains, was founded as an Augustinian house in the mid-twelfth century, and features some of the finest Romanesque carvings in the region. As currently presented, it comprises a modest nave and chancel church, as well as a compartment that flanks the north side of the nave. By the time the church was taken into State care as a National Monument in 1875, the building was in very poor condition and had virtually collapsed into a heap of rubble. The following year, the OPW, under the direction of Sir Thomas Newenham Deane (1828–1899), undertook restoration designed to stabilise the surviving walls and ensure the preservation of a large collection of carved stone that was found amongst the rubble. This certainly arrested the deterioration of the church and saved many important carvings from damage, and even theft. However, Deane did not take the time to study the building in detail before embarking on his dramatic intervention. The present paper – part 1 – takes a comprehensive look at the early antiquarian accounts of the church and how they informed Deane’s work with which we are presented today. Part 2, in the next volume of this journal, will critically evaluate the surviving remains and offer a very different interpretation of this important Romanesque church.

In search of the lost priory of the Knights Hospitaller Kilmainham
 – Barry Kehoe

This paper focuses on the search for the location of the chief priory of the Knights Hospitaller in the grounds of the Royal Hospital Kilmainham (RHK) and highlights the importance of the site in Ireland’s colonial governance from the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. In 2020 historian Barry Kehoe initiated a research project to explore the deeper history of the site of the RHK, to gain a better understanding of Kilmainham before the hospital’s construction. The research resulted in Dublin City Council Archaeology, the Irish Museum of Modern Art, and the OPW collaborating on a forensic archaeological illustration project to reconstruct the lost priory of the Knights Hospitaller that once stood somewhere on the site. By drawing on new research, archival discoveries and recently commissioned geophysical surveys, it is now possible to give a more accurate indication as to the location of the priory in the grounds of the RHK. The potential location, as indicated by this paper, is yet to be investigated by an archaeological excavation currently in the early stages of planning. 

‘A Garden of Pleasure’: the creation of a formal garden in the mid-seventeenth century at Kilkenny Castle
 – Jane Fenlon

In 1662, when the Duke and Duchess of Ormond made a triumphant return to their principal seat at Kilkenny, a programme of building was launched that would result in the transformation of the castle, its setting and environs. Contemporary taste regarded courts, surrounding gardens and parkland as essential elements that complemented the architecture of the house. A new formal garden layout based on Italianate and French designs – as experienced by the ducal couple during their extended sojourns in England – would form part of their renovation programme and provides the main focus for this paper.

Captain Pearce’s genius? The eighteenth-century painted hangings of Dublin Castle
– William Derham

In 1731 a grand ball was held in the Old Hall at Dublin Castle, hosted by the Lord Lieutenant Lionel Sackville, 1st Duke of Dorset. The Old Hall was in a dilapidated state, and the duke engaged Edward Lovett Pearce (c.1695–1733) to superintend its rehabilitation. It was transformed by a set of canvas hangings which were recorded in situ in a surviving painting. The hangings themselves were considered lost until several fragments of painted canvas were rediscovered in England in the 1970s, and acquired by the OPW 2024. This paper poses questions about the date of the creation of the hangings, the date of the painting in which they appear, the space for which they were made, their artistic attribution and the larger context of temporary decoration at Dublin Castle.

Further evidence for a servant of South Asian ancestry in Georgian Dublin’s Ely household
– Eoin O'Flynn

This paper considers a reference to an individual named Caesar in an earldom of Ely/Loftus family account book from 1783. It is argued that this piece of evidence further supports the case for a servant of probable South Asian ancestry in Dublin’s Ely household in the later eighteenth century. The paper also raises the possibility that Caesar can be identified with the elaborately costumed boy in the corner of Angelica Kauffman’s 1771 group portrait The Ely Family, now part of the National Gallery of Ireland’s collection. This paper hopes to contribute to the wider debate on Ireland’s multiracial past, as well as more specifically engaging with the scholarship on the Ely/Loftus family and their Dublin homes, including Rathfarnham Castle.

Hibernia and Irish ceiling decoration at Dublin Castle: personifying Protestant politics, c.1750–c.1802
– Ciarán Rua O'Neill

This paper considers two major examples of eighteenth-century decoration at Dublin Castle that feature prominent depictions of Hibernia, the female personification of Ireland: Bartholomew Cramillion’s stuccowork Minerva Introducing the Arts to Hibernia (c.1750s) and Vincent Waldré’s painted ceiling in St Patrick’s Hall (c.1787–1802), the central panel of which portrays King George III flanked by Britannia and Hibernia. In so doing, it reveals the distinct capacity of imagery of Hibernia to manifest visually interrelated political, economic and cultural concerns in Ireland during the latter half of the eighteenth century, particularly as they related to patriotic, Protestant notions of ‘improvement’ and antiquarianism.

The evolution of Doneraile Demesne, co. Cork – part 2
– Michael O’Sullivan

Doneraile Court and Demesne has been in the stewardship of the State since 1969. Prior to that, it was the longtime home of the St Leger family (Viscounts Doneraile from 1703) between 1630 and 1969. Part 1 of this paper dealt with the development of the demesne in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries (see IHS volume 1). Part 2 considers the nineteenth-century additions to this earlier demesne and the retrenchment of the twentieth century, up until the sale of the property to the Irish State. The early nineteenth-century embellishments reflected a desire to maintain fashionable links with the English royal court following the disestablishment of the Irish parliament. A mid-century marriage resulted in expansive consignments of tropical plants from Kew Gardens and a closely managed maturation of specimen trees and woodland belts. Late nineteenth-century endeavours resulted in a positive commercial role for the Doneraile gardens, with the alignment of Granston Manor, co. Laois, and Doneraile Court in the Castletown estate portfolio. A financial crash and an inexorable decline during the twentieth century, notwithstanding the herculean efforts of a land agent committed to the Donerailes, marked the final days of ownership by the St Leger family.

Symbolic protest at Sligo Abbey: flag-raising and nationalist expression, 1869–1920
– Melissa Melanephy

This paper examines politically motivated flag-raising incidents at Sligo Abbey between 1869 and 1920. Drawing on local newspaper coverage and archival sources, it considers how the abbey’s prominent architecture and symbolic associations were used to express nationalist sentiment during periods of political tension. The study places these impromptu acts within broader traditions of vernacular protest in Ireland, particularly in response to public order restrictions such as the Party Processions Act (1850). It presents the abbey not only as a medieval monument but as a contested civic site where visual symbols conveyed expressions of identity, resistance and local engagement with national politics.

Transient hands: a case study of graffiti and interpretation at the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, Oldbridge Estate, co. Meath
– Ellen Brickley

In September 2023, a piece of pencilled graffiti was observed and photographed in an unrestored room on the upper floor of the Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, located in Oldbridge House, co. Meath. The graffiti read ‘Peter Collins / Painter 1924 / July 11th’. This paper considers graffiti at heritage sites, examines theories of best practice on the preservation or removal, then outlines the results of genealogical research into Peter Collins, and considers if there is a place for the graffiti, its writer and his broader story, in the public history narratives of Oldbridge Estate.