Kimmage Manor (Kimmage House)

Kimmage Manor (Kimmage House)

KIMMAGE MANOR

Kimmage Manor was originally called Kimmage House. Whereas the house itself is situated in the townland of Kimmage, the property on which it stands straddles the Poddle, reaching into the adjacent townland of Perrystown. Known locally as ‘The Manor’, the building was developed from an existing ‘mansion house’, described in the deeds of conveyance when Sir Frederick Shaw, (1799-1876), purchased the lease of the property, which was to become his home from 1829 until he died. It was ‘The House’ of his Crumlin estate. Gardens and other buildings were included in the sale. Shaw tasked Architects Richard and William Morrison with reinventing the house, resulting in its eventual “unique Tudor revival style with triangular gables, spiral turrets and tall chimneys.”

LINKS TO GENERAL IRISH HISTORY
Kimmage Manor is accessed via Whitehall Road, (Bóthar an Racardáir). This road was built under the instruction of Sir Frederick Shaw, as an alternative to the property’s original approach from the Kimmage side. That earlier avenue reportedly ran from where Greenlea Road is today. It has been suggested that the new road had possibly been created as a measure to minimise risks from highwaymen, given Frederick’s high profile and social standing, firstly as Recorder for Dundalk, and later, as Recorder of Dublin from 1830-1876, i.e., a part-time judge in the city’s Crown Court. The Irish version of the road’s name is Bóthar an Racardáir – a nod to Frederick’s official status, and the road leads on up to the townland of Whitehall, which (townland itself) is a nod to British locus of power in London.
Frederick became 3rd Baronet, after the death of his older unmarried brother, Robert (1796-1876), the second baronet. This baronetcy had been established by King George IV in 1822, for their father, also called Robert, (1774-1849) for services rendered. Although neither Robert lived in Kimmage Manor, Robert Snr.’s wife, (Frederick’s mother) Maria Wilkinson had inherited great wealth and land including in Crumlin, and Frederick’s childhood home was Bushy Park House.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Frederick was elected as MP in 1847, but withdrew from Parliament within a year, supposedly for health reasons.  It is of note that Frederick chose to go against the flow of his peers in the Conservative Party by voting to support Peel’s repeal of the Corn Laws. Frederick is also though to have turned down the offer of the post of Lord Lieutenant of Ireland.

Frederick married Thomasina Emily Jocelyn whose (maternal) grandfather was the first Earl of Roden, founder of the Orange Order. The couple had eight children – five sons and three daughters. In 1897 one of their granddaughters, Flora, as Colonial Editor of The Times (London newspaper), proposed the name for what we now know as Nigeria. Flora married Lord Frederick Lugard, the Governor General of Nigeria in 1902. When Frederick died he was buried in St. Mary’s churchyard, Crumlin, and his son and heir (4th Baronet) Robert moved to Bushy Park House. Kimmage House was let to various tenants, including Erskine Chetwode, before Mr. William and Mrs. Mary Ida Clayton took up residence there.

THE CLAYTON FAMILY
It was only after Kimmage House as the subject of an in-perpetuity lease to the Clayton family in 1898 that the house was called Kimmage Manor. Perhaps an adaptation – a bay window – prompted the occupiers to elevate the name to ‘manor’? The word ‘Manor’ was a mere moniker, as no administrative or other official role accompanied the change of name.

THE SPIRITANS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                Formerly known as The Holy Ghost Fathers, the Roman Catholic order bought Kimmage Manor in 1911 as a training centre for missionary priests, after which it became their headquarters. Kimmage Manor church became a chapel of ease for the Parish of Crumlin for local people to attend Mass, etc., before becoming a parish in its own right in 1990. The size of the original property had been increased by the purchase of adjacent lands from private owners and the Kimmage Farm turned out to be more than capable of supporting all at the novitiate. A parcel of land was apportioned to the creation of Templeogue College in the 1960s, and land was subsequently sold for the creation in the 1990s of a substantial mixed mode housing development fronting onto both Whitehall Road and Wainsfort Road. The Order retained ownership of the graveyard situated on its original land, where some deceased members of the community are buried.

‘The Manor’ has served many purposes: The Kimmage Manor Institute whose status as affiliate with Maynooth College in respect of theological education,  led to other religious Orders attending. The Kimmage Development Studies Centre attended by both overseas and domestic students, and the Marian Nursing Home (now closed) for aged confrères.

 

McCarthy, T. (2010) The Shaws of Terenure. Dublin. Four Courts Press.

Ryan, P.J. (2011) Kimmage Manor – 100 Years of service to the Mission. Dublin. Colomba Press.

 

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