I am currently working on a project to research and document the cottages of Dublin City.  Living in an area like Portobello gives an accute awareness of the quaintness of these city cottages, juxtaposed as they are against the modern city that surrounds them.  Much has been made of the grand architecture of the city with all architectural books and studies concentrating on their splendour and deservedly so.  My focus though – as usual – is on the every day homes of the every day folk, many of those cottages have set the scene for some of the most fascinating stories and events in Dublin history and I am hoping to document what I can of those stories.

Alongside documenting their history I would also like to showcase their evolution into modern 21st century homes.

So while I am busy in the planning stages of this project I am asking for any help that you or someone you know could give me – books you could reccomend, studies, contacts I could speak with, agencies that can help etc… Any and all information would be greatly appreciated!  My contact details are included at the end of this post.

 

Cottage Owners/Dwellers – history of your cottage, explaining the process of renovating your cottage and or the experience of living there.  No story is insignificant.

Architects/Engineers – Perhaps your clients are city cottage dwellers with a story to tell or you would like a project you undertook to be showcased.  Also any knowledge and/or contacts that you have would be of huge benefit.

Local Historians – If you are a historian and would like to help with this project I would be absolutley delighted to hear from you.

Local Authorities / Historical & Architectural Societies – No doubt I will be in contact but just incase my queries have not filtered through to the correct area, if any information could be provided it would be greatly appreciated.

 

The goal is to post a new article for each area, each week for six months and hopefully piece together a living history for Dublin’s City cottages.

If you have any questions or would like to help, please do not hesitate to contact me,

Kind Regards,

Orla Fitzmaurice
087 9807024  (Best time for contact 2pm – 8pm)
orla@cottageology.com

The following is a guest post from Mayo RIAI (Conservation Grade III) Architect – Mark Stephens. Mark also publishes the daily newsletter ‘The Architect Mark Daily‘  I am delighted to get an Architects advice and opinions on renovating Irish Cottages and I hope you enjoy the article.  Take it away Mark:

 

My starting point for any project is always, “If this was my
house, and taking the clients brief into account, what would be the
best possible thing I can do?” As an architect I’m aware at all
stages of creating an elegant, sustainable solution that the planners
are going to like but also that the premise of “the best solution for the
property” is one that holds well.  If I don’t like what I’ve designed
then how can I expect the clients to.

The premise of this post therefore is – if I were
given a traditional Irish cottage then what would I do with it? We’ll
need firstly to have a look at the design of these now neglected
Irish cottages and how they fit into 21st century living.

The Traditional Irish Cottage

The vast majority of what you see as ‘The Traditional Irish Cottage’
fall into a similar design; usually two bedrooms with a central
living and cooking space. This central living space was the heart of
the house which had an open fire for cooking and heating and
frequently had a small ‘outshot’ which would house a small purpose
built bed for Granny or Granddad to sleep in.

The cottage would have been built with whatever materials were to
hand; stones for the walls, salvaged timber and thatch for the roof.
Because of the scarcity of materials the house was only a single room
deep and due to the tax on glass, the windows would have been small and
vertically orientated (the lintel over the window spanning a shorter
distance).

The house would have been constructed by the owner with help from
neighbours and friends. It is these characteristics that Ireland is
now returning to in terms of new rural houses; the Cork Design Guide and the Mayo County Council Guidelines for Rural Houses
both favour new houses that are a single room in depth (approximately
7-8 metres), have vertically orientated windows and are constructed and
finished in traditional materials.

But returning to our premise, what would I do if given a 19th century
traditional Irish Cottage? Well, as you can see if the house is to be
lived in for any extended period then the accommodation is
insufficient by current day standards and the likelihood is that
you’ll need to extend the property. Luckily the planners are happier
when an existing property is extended (as long as all other planning
factors such as road safety and site percolation are acceptable)
rather than building anew. But what is the best way to sympathetically extend a traditional cottage without losing its original charm and
honesty?

Restoring an Irish Cottage

Let’s assume therefore that your cottage has fallen into disrepair and
firstly needs to be restored; we’ll need to tackle
this before we can even consider extending it. As an RIAI architect
accredited in Conservation (Grade III), the principle of ‘minimal
intervention’ is the primary concern in work of this type; that
is the minimal amount of work required in order to arrest the
disrepair and to give the building a future for many years to come.
This means using the correct materials and techniques to restore a
building back to its original integrity. For a traditional cottage
this means using lime mortars and renders for the stone walls, ideally
repairing the original windows or failing that, to install appropriately
proportioned windows and doors that are sympathetic to the cottage’s
period.

The importance of materials

The process of a house restoration takes time and care.  If
you’re employing someone else to do it, it can work out quite expensive due to the amount of time and care it can take to do the job right.  A gentle restoration of this type using
the correct materials and construction is not a process to be taken
lightly; it’s very easy to use incorrect materials that actually
increase the level of damp in a property rather than eliminating it.

Lime Render

The biggest problem with stone cottages is the prevalent use of
Portland Cement based renders on walls that originally would have
been finished in a naturally hydraulic lime based render. The problem
with modern cement based renders on walls of this type is that water
can penetrate any cracks in the render due to any slight wall movement
(walls were frequently built on no or little or no foundations
remember). This water then cannot find a way out of the building and
crystallises as salt deposits on the walls; these deposits show as
bubbled wallpaper or as salty crusts on the walls. The use of lime on
walls allows the walls to dry out naturally and is therefore essential
in restoring properties of this period.

For more information on using Lime in your building, the book ‘Lime Works’ by Patrick McAfee is a brilliant resource on lime for render, mortar and floors.

Insulation

Trying to obtain current levels of insulation in a traditional stone
wall of this type is nigh on impossible; by drylining internally you
will be drastically reducing the size of the rooms.  By insulating and
rendering externally you’ll be drastically changing the appearance of
the property. Instead (again with the premise that it’s my house and
wanting to do the best that I could) I would simply return to
the way the house was heated originally; by lighting a fire in
the fireplace! You could however increase the thermal efficiency of
the fireplace by installing a multi-fuel stove instead of leaving the
fire open.

Extending your Irish Cottage

So, you’ve carefully and diligently restored your lovely cottage but
in what manner should it be extended?

I love tradition and the traditional Irish cottage is a great landmark
in the collective history of Ireland (unfortunately tinged with
oppression and sadness of this period) and it is for these reasons
that it is essential that these landmarks are kept (rather than
demolished) and if at all possible restored and brought back to their
former glory.

But these houses are of a completely different time and period; and as
such I feel that any extension we make to them should be
indicative of today’s time; that is of the 21st century. In doing this – rather than slavishly copying the old – makes the building more
honest, more legible and ‘easier to read’. The beautiful cottage is
shown as ‘it would have been’ and the new section is shown as something
contemporary and of today’s time. Working in this way we actually
enhance the original house rather than detract from it.

A good way of achieving a successful junction between old and new is
to create a separation between the two, either through a step in
elevation or through the use of a lighter material such as glass that
creates a ‘separation’ between the existing and the new.

The conclusion therefore is not to be afraid of commissioning a
contemporary, elegant structure that connects to your lovely cottage;
doing this actually ‘sets-off’ the old rather than detracting from it
with a simple copy of the old.

If you have an Irish Cottage of this type and would like to discuss
further how you would like to restore and/or extend it then please do
not hesitate to CONTACT ME.

Mark Stephens RIBA MRIAI
Mark Stephens Architects
Rooskey, Foxford, County Mayo
Tel: 085 159 4084
Email: info@markstephensarchitects.com
Web: http://markstephensarchitects.com

It’s the month where daffodils give way to bluebells – fields of lavender that threaten to distract me while driving as I peer in over ditches.  They are a bright and welcome sight that cut the prevalent yellows of the early spring season.

The first few days of April are often referred to as the ‘borrowed’ or ‘borrowing’ days – meaning that they have borrowed the bad weather from March and that is certainly true of April this year.  The borrowing days are supposed to last anywhere between 3-8 days so we should be out of them by Easter Monday!  This saying comes from the old story of ‘An tSean Bho Riabhnach’ – the old brindled cow who laughed at the back of March’s weather as he managed to survive it only for it to be extended into April and skin him with its severity, for this reason these first few days were also called the ‘skinning days’ and by god I know the feeling after facing down a hail storm on April 3rd.

Lenten Fasting

We are all supposed to be fasting in preparation for Easter at this point, though it is rare to find many young folk observing this tradition these days.  In days gone by though you would have done without all manner of goodies for the past few weeks and especially this week in the run up to Easter Sunday.  All meat products were off the menu – that included eggs, milk, butter and all animal fats for frying.  This was a particular hardship as vegetable oils had not yet been introduced to Ireland and milk was used to leaven the bread.  As a result bread was made with a substitute of sourdough or yeast and those who did not have the skill or knowledge to make this type of bread made do with a flat oatcake type bread.  Children under seven were allowed milk – but only if they cried for it three times! The Irish cottage diet for early April generally consisted of dry bread, potatoes, porridge, salted fish, onions and black tea – yum, who needs weight watchers!

These days the closest we get to abstinence is Good Friday where there is a ban on alcohol from midnight Thursday until midnight Friday – the horror!  One of the funniest things you will see is the mad dash to the off licence around 9:30 Thursday evening as the masses prepare for the ultimate sacrifice – one day minus the pub.  Abstinence from alcohol was not required throughout lent but many people observed it for the entire duration in sympathy with the suffering of Christ.

Palm Sunday

Held on the last Sunday before Easter, this year Palm Sunday fell on April 1st – also known as April Fool’s day.  One member of each family would go to church to receive their blessed palm for the household to mark Jesus’s triumphal entry to Jerusalem.  The palm was generally boughs from conifer tress like silver fir, spruce, cypress or yew trees.  In some parts of the country it was tradition to bring your own palm bough to be blessed.  Our palm always hung above ‘gods picture’ over the main fireplace in the living room for the week leading up to Easter Sunday and provided a lovely fresh scent as the heat rose at night.

Easter Week

Of course one of the main tasks in the run up to Easter was the spring clean.  Inside the cottage, floors, windows, doors and children were scrubbed until there was not a speck of dirt to be seen, woodwork was painted and pots scoured.  Cloths were mended or if the means allowed – new clothes procured, children in particular were to be paraded in their finest for mass on Easter Sunday morning.

Outside the house the walls of the cottage would get a fresh coat of lime wash, the farmyard and Byre were swept and cleaned for fear of the wrath of neighbours – not to make ones stead as clean as possible was seen as slovenly and unworthy.

Good Friday

Most people did not eat before mid-day on Good Friday and would go bare foot in sympathy with the plight of the saviour.  From noon until 3pm was the time Christ was purported to have been hung on the cross and many chose to be silent during this time.  No blood was to be shed, wood worked or nails to be driven during this solemn period.

Outside the cottage, the farmer would sew a small crop to invoke a blessing on his yields for the year and eggs laid on this day were marked with an X to be eaten on Easter Sunday.  Chicks laid on Good Friday were said to become great laying hens.  Good Friday was and is still the day that people visit the graveyard to pay respects to those who have passed away.

Fishing off all kinds was deeply frowned upon on – either by net or by boat so those living by the shore would indulge in ‘bia tragha’ – or shore food only – mussels, crabs etc…

Easter Saturday

Easter Saturday was the blessing of the holy water which was to be sprinkled on each member of the family, over the hearth of the cottage, the byre, farmyard, animals and crops to ward off illness and danger.

In place of meat during the Lenten season, the household would have feasted on salted herring and as a celebration of the end of their Lenten sacrifice the poor old herring would be impaled on a pike and marched through the town. This was a type of mock funeral, held on Easter Saturday with the fish being whipped by the locals until it had been shredded or was dumped into the water at the end of the procession – often called the whipping of the herring.  I’ve never had the pleasure of seeing this ritual and have not even heard of it amongst the inhabitants of North Kerry but perhaps it still happens somewhere!

Easter Sunday

Dawn mass on Easter Sunday brought to an end the fasting as the entire village would gather on top of the hill to see the sun rising, symbolising the rising of the saviour from his grave.  Children and those who didn’t want to look directly into the sunlight viewed the sun rising in a pan of clean water which was often sneakily agitated by the adults for effect to show ‘The dance of the sun’.

And so with religious matters mostly dealt with, it was time to eat.  Eggs were the call of the day as they also symbolised fertility and growth – an altogether pagan view mixed in with Christianity, but that’s something us Irish do well – we don’t tend to fight or discard tradition, we just take bits of it and mould it around our current circumstances.  Easter Sunday feast consisted of a plate of eggs – including the ones marked with the X from Good Friday – the more you ate – the better the boast!  No one was to do without eggs that morning with the farmer’s wife making the gift of eggs to their labourers and poor neighbours.  For the children, the mother often dyed the eggs and painted them bright colours to engage and amuse them and this may be where the chocolate Easter egg phenomenon arrived from.

With meat back on the menu – the Easter Sunday meal was a riotous affair of spring lamb or roast veal or kid and potatoes with lashings of butter.  Even in my home today the tradition of roast lamb for Easter dinner is so strong that all would kick up a fuss if it was absent. Well off farmers would kill a cow especially for this feast and pass the lesser cuts down to their labourers and poorer neighbours which was where the tradition of eating Corned Beef and cabbage for some on Easter Sunday came from.

The young folk had a tradition called Clúdog or Clúideog – gathering eggs from neighbours and roasting them at the edge of the farm in the open air or in a dry shed. They later played games like rolling the eggs down a path – pitting their eggs against each other with the winner taking all.  Again the eggs were painted for this ritual and the colourful shells were often kept for the May bush.

The Cake Dance

With the longer days and the end of the abstinence from socialising the whole community would come together on Easter Sunday night to partake of the Cake Dance.  A large currant cake (also known as barnbrack) would be baked, festooned with ribbons and flowers and placed atop a central podium which everyone would dance around.  Music and festivity was in the air and usually courting couples competed to be named the best dancers and thus win the cake at the end of the night – a great privilege though the cake was then divided amongst all the dancers.  This tradition gave rise to the saying ‘That takes the cake’.

Easter Monday

Originally Easter Monday was a religious day of obligation meaning that there was no work that day, only mass.  As a result it became a great day for markets and festivities, of course with such events came merriment and devilment.  On seeing this – the bishop of Kildare & Leighlin – Dr. John Doyle petitioned to abrogate the day so it was no longer a day of obligation.  This put an end to the great tradition of Easter Monday, though it has seen a comeback with it being a Bank Holiday in Ireland in lieu of Easter Sunday – just try seeing any religious figure taking that away!

I recently got a very intriguing email from a reader who has old architectural plans and quotes for an Irish cottage that he got on a trip to Northern Ireland about 20-30 years ago. The plans date from about 1842 for a cottage that it appears was to be built for The Lord of Londonderry, the plans and quotes are on tissue paper. The name “Dublin Lodge” appears on one document.

Here is some further information he could provide: “On the drawing of the whole structure, the text on the lower left says, “Approved by Lord Londonderry, Mar 10 1855″ So it may be we have documents for 2 structures — the price list is dated 1842, but the drawings are about 10 years later — unless it took that long to get from concept to construction which is of course possible.”

He would love to find out if the structure was actually built and if it is still standing today. Who doesn’t love a treasure hunt of any sort so I figured I’d throw it out there to see if anyone recognises either the plans or the building or even knows who I could speak with in Northern Ireland/Derry to help track down the building!

Attached are some scans of the plans and quotations:

Anyone interested in renovation should check out this great blog on the gorgeousness of lime mortar – limewindow!