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Full Irish New Architecture in Ireland 1st Edition Sarah
A. Lappin Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Sarah A. Lappin
ISBN(s): 9781568988689, 1568988680
Edition: 1
File Details: PDF, 28.86 MB
Year: 2009
Language: english
Full Irish
 Full Irish
New Architecture
in Ireland
Sarah A. Lappin

Princeton Architectural Press, New York

Published by Project editor: Clare Jacobson
Princeton Architectural Press Copy editor: Dan Fernandez
37 East Seventh Street Designer: Jan Haux
New York, New York 10003
Special thanks to: Nettie Aljian, Bree Anne Apperley, Sara Bader,
For a free catalog of books, call 1.800.722.6657. Nicola Bednarek, Janet Behning, Becca Casbon, Carina Cha,
Visit our website at www.papress.com. Penny (Yuen Pik) Chu, Carolyn Deuschle, Russell Fernandez,
Pete Fitzpatrick, Wendy Fuller, Aileen Kwun, Nancy Eklund Later,
© 2009 Princeton Architectural Press Linda Lee, Laurie Manfra, John Myers, Katharine Myers,
All rights reserved Lauren Nelson Packard, Dan Simon, Andrew Stepanian,
Printed and bound in China Jennifer Thompson, Paul Wagner, Joseph Weston, and Deb Wood
12 11 10 09 4 3 2 1 First edition of Princeton Architectural Press —Kevin C. Lippert, publisher

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
written permission from the publisher, except in the context of reviews. Lappin, Sarah A. (Sarah Anne), 1972–
Every reasonable attempt has been made to identify owners of copy- Full Irish : new architecture in Ireland / Sarah A. Lappin.
right. Errors or omissions will be corrected in subsequent editions. p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references.
Photo credits: ISBN 978-1-56898-868-9 (alk. paper)
Front cover: Mimetic House by Dominic Stevens Architect, 1. Architecture—Ireland—History—20th century. 2. Architecture—
photo by Ros Kavanagh Ireland—History—21st century. 3. Architecture—Northern Ireland—
Back cover: Solstice Centre by Grafton Architects, History—20th century. 4. Architecture—Northern Ireland—History—
photo by Ros Kavanagh 21st century. I. Title.
5 bottom, 6, 11: Sarah A. Lappin NA989.L37 2009
ii, vi, 5 top, 12–13: Andy Frew 720.9415’0904—dc22
2008050460
 Table of Contents

1 Introduction 170 McCullough Mulvin Architects

186 Hassett Ducatez Architects
14 Boyd Cody Architects
192 MacGabhann Architects
32 Alan Jones Architects
208 O’Donnell + Tuomey Architects
40 de Blacam and Meagher Architects
226 ODOS Architects
58 Bucholz McEvoy Architects
76 de Paor Architects 234 Acknowledgments

94 FKL Architects
110 Dominic Stevens Architect
116 Grafton Architects
134 Henchion+Reuter
148 Hackett Hall McKnight
156 heneghan.peng.architects
vi
 Introduction
Fully Irish: Identity and Context

The New York World’s Fair in 1939 brought to a public and visible circulation in concrete and steel. All he
readying for war such well-documented events as Alvar needed was the Irish bit, and he decided to insert that in
Aalto’s jaw-dropping Finnish pavilion and Oscar Niemeyer the building’s plan.
and Lúcio Costa’s collaboration for the Brazilian entry. The pavilion was built in the shape of a shamrock.
Few people know it was the Irish pavilion, designed by
Irish architect William Scott, that was chosen by a jury of Purpose and Practice
international judges as the best building in the show. To This book is an introduction to contemporary Irish
represent a nation that was at the time a mere seventeen architecture for those unfamiliar with its built form and
years old, Scott was instructed to design a building in the its geographic, political, social, and cultural context.
then avant-garde style of high modernism yet still It examines the work of sixteen firms from the Republic
recognizably “Irish.” His pavilion was to show the world of Ireland as well as Northern Ireland from various
that Ireland was a society on the cutting edge, free of generations. As much as possible, the work shown here
its former colonial rulers, willing and able to emulate is built on the island of Ireland, and all of the firms have
fashionable architecture from outside its borders, while their main offices there as well.
still appealing to the millions of Irish Americans who Good architecture in the Republic and Northern
would see the show and its printed materials. So Scott Ireland is not limited to the work shown in this volume,
employed what one would expect from the modernist of course. However, as the built environment of Ireland,
vocabulary: white walls, soaring glazed window walls, both North and South, now undergoes more rapid

1
changes than at any other time in history, it is not heavily influenced by in-depth thinking and writing rather
enough, for this author, that architects design good or than in achieving final built forms for specific clients on
even great buildings. Architects must engage in dialogue actual sites. If this book were to be written ten, five, even
with planners, developers, clients, educators, and, most three years from now, any of these firms may have
importantly, users to ensure excellence in architectural expanded into larger projects; certainly they all have the
design and the built environment in this era of rapid capacity do to so.
change. Full Irish: New Architecture in Ireland thus
highlights these practices as much for their design Adaptation of Imports
abilities as for their engagement in architectural debate Issues of Irish architectural identity can be traced much
and the continued wide dissemination of an architectural farther back than 1939. Architectural historians identify
culture. They are in discussion, at a variety of levels, Roman influences in early Irish churches as early as
about the future of architecture on the island; they teach, A.D. 600. Round towers have been likened to similar
write, debate, and constantly question their responses structures in Italy. Elements of the so-called Irish
to conditions. These firms interrogate not only sites but Romanesque can be traced to Rhenish, English, German,
briefs, well-entrenched typologies, and, as discussed Swiss, and French sources. After 1700, the
later, the more difficult questions of identity within organizational patterns for most Irish towns and cities
globalization. were concretized, heavily seasoned with neoclassical
The book is constructed around two or three buildings and layouts. At this time, the most popular
conversations with every firm, each ranging over a style for importation was the Palladian. The principles
number of hours, discussing its own work, the current of John Ruskin, too, were introduced, particularly by
environment in Ireland for building, influences, goals, architects Sir Thomas Deane and Benjamin Woodward.
styles of working, and defining moments. These The tradition of Ireland as a petri dish for
conversations took place over two years, in model-filled architecture continued into the twentieth century,
offices, on construction sites, in completed buildings, via unsurprisingly, given the effect of early mass media on
email and, to enjoy the cliché as much as possible, in architects. The influence of the International Style can
pubs.1 Most of the travel for the book was on public be seen in the main Dublin Airport terminal, built in 1940
transportation and, particularly in Dublin, on foot; this by Desmond Fitzgerald for the Office of Public Works,
perspective on the climate of development is evident and in Michael Scott’s Busáras bus terminal in Dublin.
throughout the text. Robin Walker, of Scott Tallon Walker, returned to Ireland
In addition to profiles of eleven firms with three to with his lessons learned in Chicago with Mies van der
four projects each, Full Irish includes five sections on Rohe. STW’s Carroll’s tobacco factory in Dundalk
smaller practices. In some cases, these are young firms, represents the pinnacle of this Hiberno-Miesian style, and
in the nascence of their roles as independent designers, John Meagher, of de Blacam and Meagher Architects,
still discovering their priorities and voices. In other proclaims that it was this firm that “taught us [current
cases, the firms are headed by architects for whom practitioners] how to build.” Sean O’Laoire goes so far
written or taught research makes up a significant part as to say that Ireland is “a product of its roles as a
of their practice. For them, making architecture is more proto-colonial laboratory.”2 Architectural styles were

2 Full Irish
never imported unaltered, however, and the label of work through working here,” their approach has “wider
“distinctly Irish” is applied early in architectural history. applications to other settings abroad.” Grafton doesn’t set
This flavor is “characterized by simplicity, and spareness, out to impart an “Irishness” but to concentrate on the
informality, and not a little fantasy.”3 That most Irish cultural climate in which it currently sits. Any Irishness
interpretations of European models seem simpler, more that imbues its work happens by virtue of working in
pared down, has been ascribed variously to a weaker this particular place; it is not something pursued for its
economy and a lack of skilled artisans. Many point to the own sake.
Georgian Dublin terraces as the most potent example of Boyd Cody would argue that “part of being Irish is
this—they entail large proportions and grand spaces as about being open to other influences.” Shih-Fu Peng of
per their European relatives of the time, but with little heneghan.peng.architects goes farther and states that he
extraneous decoration or adornment. Much has been has not seen an emergent Irish style. Peng came to
made of the connection between Irish and Swiss Ireland from the United States in 2000, and for him, the
architecture in recent years. Niall McCullough of specificity of place has much to do with the scale, speed,
McCullough Mulvin Architects notes, however, that there and politics at which one can work. “In Holland, concepts
is a fundamental “difference between deciding to state must be a minimum of 1:50, in Switzerland 1:2. In China,
things simply [as in Swiss examples] and having to” it’s at 1:100 or even larger.” During the economic boom,
because of economic constraints, as in Irish architecture. building in Ireland meant the appropriate level of scale
With a history perceived as important, can this or any changed rapidly. Dublin’s massive expansion, in
other volume about architecture from this island ever refer particular, meant designing at the traditional medium
to an “Irish” architecture? Perhaps the better question is scale had to be questioned.
this: is a single architectural identity important or indeed FKL does not pursue an overtly Irish style, either.
necessary in the early twenty-first century? “We’re architects first. Nationality is not a driving force.
We all speak the same language, have similar
Fully Irish? referents.” For FKL, Irishness in many ways can be
This question fuels a debate between both Irish architects distilled to what the local construction industry can do,
and those who observe them from outside. Before the and can do well. This reflects an attitude of architects
Irish economy began its “miraculous” recovery in the late working in Northern Ireland—for Alan Jones and
1980s, a generation of architects, including O’Donnell + Hackett Hall McKnight, the local construction industry
Tuomey, Grafton, and McCullough Mulvin spent time plays a large part in the nature of building in this region.
inwardly examining the then existing built environment of For these northern firms, this characteristic is specific
the country. It is not insignificant that much of this to the region and must be treated as a key component of
introspection occurred simultaneously with postulations any architecture made there.
of critical regionalism propounded by Alexander Tzonis, In many ways, the most intriguing firm in Ireland
Liane Lefaivre, and Kenneth Frampton. from this perspective is MacGabhann Architects of
Contemporary Irish architects can’t seem to agree on Donegal, in the island’s northwesternmost region. The
a single narrative. O’Donnell + Tuomey feel that though two brothers took over their father’s practice, and both
“we are definitely Irish architects, we discovered our have Irish as their first language. They are fluent in local

Introduction 3
history and culture, literature, and folklore. However, For American-born Merritt Bucholz of Bucholz
their experience working in other parts of Europe imbues McEvoy, whether this architecture can be expressive of
their architecture with a decidedly different formal “an Irishness” is an issue of what he calls an “unfinished
language than that found in the surrounding landscape. symphony.” The buildings and spaces being created now
They employ materials in a manner not seen in this quiet need time to be measured for their impact on the society
part of the island; their buildings insist that users in which they sit. “Because we’ve had fifteen years of
engage with the landscape of Donegal through visual boom, we haven’t yet had a time of maturing, a period
and physical connections. This firm is committed to of calm to absorb what this new society and architecture
“being Irish” in cultural terms while still using in it mean.” Now that the economic condition has
influences from outside the region. decelerated considerably, architects and clients alike may
Some of the architecture in this volume is not have this time for reflection.
without its critics. Aaron Betsky argues that Irish Perhaps the inability to establish a codified, unified
architecture borrows too heavily from traditions that notion of an Irish architectural identity persists in its
may not be entirely relevant in place and time. He difficulty because of this age-old tension—the long history
hopes that this consensus of design, though borrowed, of architectural imports being adapted by local building
“could be taught to a next generation of architects so skills, materials, climate, and now by an ever-more
that they can adopt and adapt it into a more coherent heterogeneous society. As Irish culture becomes
and native idiom.”4 For him, it is of utmost importance increasingly multifaceted, with disparate backgrounds
that the architects working in Ireland develop “an of those who commission, make, and, perhaps most
authentic language of architecture, tied to history and importantly, inhabit architecture, the nature of a fully
material.”5 Irish architecture is one that must be continuously
Jean-Louis Cohen, on the other hand, insists that questioned. This is a globalized island in architectural
Irish architects “have achieved a particular identity terms, and has been for centuries, but this is the first time
through their own means.”6 Writing in 2001 in the midst in which cultural norms have changed so rapidly largely
of economic prosperity, he saw a tension between the because of a phenomenon seemingly unthinkable twenty
booming Irish economy and the aspirations of architects years ago: immigration. The critical regionalism that
who espoused critical regionalism in the late eighties many would have as the predominant force must be
and early nineties. He calls the approach of tempered by a discussion of the reality of the changing
contemporary Irish architects “critical internationalism.” nature of society on the island of Ireland. One can argue
This approach allows for “research for a local specificity” that Ireland, including the North, though perhaps more
while not precluding “a series of cross positions defining slowly, has undergone more social, economic, and cultural
a common intellectual space.”7 The increasingly change in the last fifteen years than at any previous
international character of capital, clients, and uses in period in its history. Architecture should be considered not
Ireland allows—perhaps forces—a direct connection to simply as a “fit” to the formal or material context but also
architectures happening throughout the world and in in the way these spaces will now be used and how they
Europe especially. will symbolize a new Irish society.

4 Full Irish
Introduction 5
6 Full Irish
Shifts in Acceptance Though the area has since become less a cultural
Since the 1970s, there has been a slow but growing heart for the city and instead a den of tourists and bachelor
interest in contemporary architecture on the island of party revelers, it can be argued that this single project
Ireland, particularly in the Republic. For many, the single influenced the loosening of conservative planners and
most important event that changed attitudes toward clients more than any other single factor. The acceptance,
contemporary architecture in the Republic was the even demand, for contemporary architecture since 1991
competition held in 1991 by Dublin City Council to owes much to the competition and its skilled winners.
revitalize the Temple Bar area of the city center. Until
1990 the city had planned to create a gargantuan bus Beauty. . .
station in an area of existing narrow streets and three- A common theme for many of the practices discussed in
and four-story, high-density buildings. Because the area the sections that follow is an absorption in the
had been blighted with the undesirability that festered in landscape, both built and unbuilt. Much has been written
many inner-city areas, rents were low, and an informal about the beauty of Ireland, and an effort to re-create
community of artists, musicians, and writers had the work of centuries of artists, musicians, and poets
established itself there. As the city began a slow will not be attempted here. However, to put it simply, to
regeneration in the late 1980s, an increased desire for understand the Irish landscape is to comprehend
city-center apartments made urban living more attractive; battered coastline, rolling farmland, bleak hillsides, and
locals began to take issue with the proposed demolition the light and water that continuously affect a reading of
of the Temple Bar area’s traditional street layout and them. The coast is inhabited by both small village ports
scale of fabric. and large industrial sites like Cork, Belfast, and Dublin.
The competition was awarded to a consortium of Donegal has numerous small uninhabited beaches, while
eight small young firms called Group 91. Their overall cliffs dominate much of the west and northeast coasts.
plan was not “one single solution, rather a flexible series Much of the interior of Ireland is the typical rolling
of integrated responses.”8 For them, this was a plan for green hills one sees in postcards, but these give over
three thousand “citizens,” individuals living and working quickly to flat farmland, high moors, and peat bog lands.
in a modern democracy. Their designs called for a few In the west is the Burren, an ancient moonscape of an
new streets, for two new public squares within the urban area covered in fissured limestone pavement and not
framework, and for individual buildings, mainly based much else.
around cultural projects and living spaces for those People who come to Ireland for the first time are of
working in the area. course struck by its million shades of green but also by
It was the first time that contemporary architecture the quality of the light. In summer, daylight can be
by young architects had been built on such a large scale celebrated from as early as 4:00 a.m. and used until
and in such a concentrated area. Here were numerous 11:00 p.m., while in winter, one can rely on good light
public and private buildings as well as new spaces carved only from 9:00 a.m. until about 3:00 p.m. The fact that
from the existing fabric that did not speak in a language Ireland is so far north plays a part in this quality, as do
of pastiche. It was a first, too, for using cultural the common low-pressure systems that dilute the light
programs to give the impetus for an inner-city project. into haze, a shadowless gray that pervades the landscape

Introduction 7
for days at a time. Light, except on rare days of either The development of rural communities also concerns
blazing sunshine or absolute soul-numbing gray, is ever many of the architects in this volume, MacGabhann and
changing in Ireland—flighty one minute, pouring in Dominic Stevens in particular. Both practices are located
through every available crack in the next. outside the major cities of Ireland—in Donegal and
The landscape in Ireland is permeated by water, Leitrim, respectively. The huge increase in second homes
whether through its proximity to the coastline or to populating the countryside has caused considerable
lakes, rivers, bogs, and marshlands. And it rains. A lot. debate in rural communities. In Northern Ireland, where
For T. G. Mitchell, it is largely the “way precipitation legislation about rural development is, for the time being,
moves through and over the ground . . . [that] determines far stricter than in the Republic, much is made of the
the visual form of our environment.”9 development patterns just across the border in Donegal.
Some point to the ability of new development to raise
. . . and the Beast land prices and ensure prosperity for hard-hit farmers,
In 2006, the Venice Biennale Irish Pavilion, curated by while others argue that the sprawl decimates the
FKL Architects, posed the problem: how to cope with the landscape and burdens future generations with
ever-expanding sprawl that eats into the former unsustainable communities.
hinterlands of Irish cities? Particularly in light of growing Unlike areas in Scotland that have been cleared yet
populations and decreasing household sizes, the remain deserted, or regions of the American West that
management of the edge conditions concerns many were never previously settled, the Irish rural landscape
architects and critics throughout the island. The notion of has been filled with people. Famine in the 1840s
sustainable, high-density cities has not yet been decimated the overall population by several million;
embraced by the Irish public, for the most part. European houses and villages that had been scattered throughout
models of this type of high-density housing are the usual the landscape fell into ruin and have been eaten by time
referents for solutions to the problem; many of the and geology. To insist that the landscape remain
architects in this volume attempt to find a resolution deserted—to “leave the unspoilt nature alone”—would be
specific to the society and landscape of twenty-first- historically inaccurate and fails to acknowledge the
century Ireland. heavily human-made nature of the landscape in the first
Procurement of large public projects continues to place. However, it is becoming increasingly apparent that
provide serious anxiety for the profession, particularly in a pattern of expansion that results in ribbon
Northern Ireland. Architects are concerned that with the developments of large-scale homes standing empty for
United Kingdom’s governmental commitment to Private much of the year must be rigorously, and quickly,
Finance Initiative, the designer’s role is increasingly reconsidered. As an island heavily dependent on external
excluded from the provision of new buildings. With energy sources, Ireland must aggressively interrogate the
billions being pumped into Northern Ireland for capital sustainability of its development immediately.
projects, mainly schools and hospitals, any lack of
considered design in schemes will have a serious, Life Abroad?
long-reaching impact on major public buildings and thus The earlier discussion of identities must also be read in
the larger built environment. light of a tradition for architectural life abroad. Architects

8 Full Irish
from Ireland were forced, for generations, to look for at home a viable and attractive option. Some of the most
work elsewhere, often in Europe and North America. In exciting architecture in the world was being created by
addition to the economic pressure this implied, the issue firms on the island of Ireland—why go abroad?
had a more significant problem for the development of What will happen to Irish architecture if most young
critical practice at the time: in the 1970s and 1980s, blood does not venture beyond the pale remains to be
Ireland had little overt, focused architectural culture. seen. Many of the more seasoned architects who were
Sheila O’Donnell notes that when “we were at college, forced into the broader architectural world feel this will
there was little recognition of an architectural culture in not only impinge on architectural ideas but also diminish
Ireland. We went away to immerse ourselves in the young architects’ understanding of other cultures,
London scene that at that time was focused on however similar or dissimilar. Though the great equalizer
rediscovering some sort of continuity with the culture of of world travel, the low-cost airline, has made frequent
European architecture.” journeys to see great buildings possible, the diverse
The list of alumni organizations is impressive. Some vocabulary of tectonic form and personal experience will
earned degrees at schools like Princeton, Harvard, and see a shift from previous generations of Irish architects.
Columbia in the United States, while others went to However, at this writing, the clouds of recession bode ill
schools in the United Kingdom, such as Cambridge and for the construction industry in both the Republic and in
the Mackintosh School of Art, for the second part of their Northern Ireland. A new wave of young architects may be
degrees. They include the offices of Emilio Ambasz, bridging out again, though this time instead of German,
Wiel Arets, Alberto Campo Baeza, Michael Graves, Portuguese, or inner-city American, these travelers may
Louis Kahn, Daniel Liebeskind, John Pawson, have to learn to work in Arabic or Mandarin and live in
James Stirling, Venturi Scott Brown, Álvaro Siza Vieira, countries much farther away.
and other firms in cities like Berlin, Frankfurt, London,
and Paris. For those who went abroad, the experience A Woman’s Place
often not only gave them time to absorb architectural One of the most startling aspects about firms in Ireland
methodologies in the office of a “master” but also forced is the unusually high number of women practicing
them to define themselves as people, designers, and architecture. The American Institute of Architects lists
thinkers. 11 percent of its members as female. The Royal
With the boom in the economy of the Republic of Institute of British Architects vacillates between 11 and
Ireland since the 1990s, and with a recent wave of 13 percent, depending on the year; this statistic
enormous government investment for capital projects in includes Northern Ireland. The Royal Institute of the
Northern Ireland, young students and new graduates did Architects of Ireland, though, counts 30 percent.
not need to emigrate in large numbers. The demand for Perhaps more striking is the number of firms headed by
their skills, however nascent, was considerable from women and the fact that finding women in leading
firms of all sizes in both parts of the island. For many positions in Irish architecture takes no effort; many of
students from the North, “down South” was a them are illustrated here.
significantly foreign enough place to train; a growing Why this is the case is difficult to answer and is an
number of highly skilled and busy practices made staying area for future research. When one looks to progenitors

Introduction 9
of Irish architecture generally, one must accord serious Go visit these buildings, where appropriate. Many of
importance to Eileen Gray for her groundbreaking them are public institutions; this effort on the part of
furniture designs, understanding of modernist space at governments to produce extremely high-quality cultural
her house E1027, and her treatment of interiors therein. buildings by architects engaged in an intellectually
Whatever the background reason, gender does not appear rigorous architecture should be appreciated and
to be an issue for these architects—there seems to be celebrated as much and by as many people as possible.
little question of inequality, and the issue was never
raised in conversations about context by any of the 1 All unsourced quotes in this book are taken from personal
practitioners interviewed. interviews between the speaker and the author between March 2006
and December 2008.
2 Sean O’Laoire, “Building on the Edge of Europe,” in Building on the
Conclusions Edge of Europe, ed. John Graby (Dublin: Royal Institute of the
The mood of the architectural community in Ireland is Architects of Ireland, 1996), 123.
reminiscent of typical Irish weather patterns—sunny, 3 Ibid, 20.
optimistic, worth buying sunglasses for one moment, 4 Aaron Betsky, “Dublin from a Bird’s-Eye View,” in New Irish
Architecture 19: AAI Awards 2004, ed. Nicola Dearey and John O’Regan
and dour, dark, and miserable the next. Irish architects
(Dublin: Gandon Editions, 2004), 9.
regularly win international awards and design 5 Ibid.
competitions. On the one hand, a book like this is 6 Jean-Louis Cohen, “Ireland’s Critical Internationalism,” in New Irish
possible because of numerous projects of serious caliber, Architecture 16: AAI Awards 2001, ed. Nicola Dearey and John O’Regan
many of which represent a commitment on the part of (Dublin: Gandon Editions, 2001), 7.
government clients to allocate considerable budgets for 7 Ibid., 8.
8 Group 91, “The Temple Bar Framework Plan: A Community of
significant projects. On the other, the monster of
3,000 Citizens Living in the City,” in Temple Bar Lives! ed. Jobst Grave
uncontrolled sprawl outside Ireland’s major cities and (Dublin: Temple Bar Properties, 1991), 16.
into its rural landscapes has forced people to fall out of 9 T. G. Mitchell, “Building and the Landscape,” in Graby, Building on
love with their country; mind-boggling traffic problems, the Edge of Europe, 20.
poor construction, and lack of sustainable thinking 10 Lázló Moholy-Nagy, quoted in Michael Trencher, The Alvar Aalto
Guide (New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 1996), 23.
decimate a sense of place.
Lázló Moholy-Nagy insisted that “one can never
experience art through descriptions. Explanations and
analysis can serve at best as intellectual preparation.”10
If you have any interest, no matter how small, in this
architecture, your understanding must not be limited to its
visual projection in these pages. You are not an “audience”
of architecture—you inhabit, use, work in, delight in, are
depressed in, and live in it. Surely architecture is about
being within, not examining from without, about being an
active user, not a passive audience member.

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Introduction 11
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Chapter 13
exterior Paul Tierney

Alma Lane

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 Boyd Cody
Architects

The architecture of Dermot Boyd and Peter Cody, which As one would expect of architects who interrogate
manifests itself in this volume in domestic settings, is in every layer of their projects with such precision, they are
many ways difficult to grasp. The buildings, at first also not content to leave any architectural typology
glance, appear to be stripped-down versions of the idea of untested. Boyd Cody would as soon choose an off-the-
“house,” with minimal palettes and strong geometric shelf solution to the design of space as they would a
moves. A passing examination of the formal gestures of window detail from a manufacturer’s stock list. Rather,
their buildings certainly reveals the experience of Boyd at they inquire how the spaces are to be used—yes, it
John Pawson’s office in London. However, given the should answer the fundamental requirements of “living,”
opportunity to explore these spaces in person or to but is there a response embedded in the site as well?
examine in detail the drawings and images used in the Here one catches a glimpse of Cody’s experience working
design process, one realizes that Boyd Cody engage in a with Álvaro Siza Vieira, whose practice concentrates
rigor of questioning and in a depth of detail rarely seen in heavily on discussions with the reality of what will occur
architecture. The most minute moves—handrails, in the spaces he designs. This questioning goes farther to
benches, thresholds—do not exist in any catalog, nor are examine how a whole building works; often, Boyd Cody’s
they recycled from previous projects. Every element in projects destabilize the perceived order of traditional
their buildings, from roof detail to the type of covering for spaces, reorienting them to another focus. They are not
a sink unit, is an extraordinary materialization of months interested in following a well-known identity for use but
of thinking, specific to site, client, and use. in trying to respond to specific sites and landscapes.

15
 Many of the projects on which they’ve cut their living spaces on the upper floor. To help further in the
architectural teeth revolved around how an addition can pursuit of Ireland’s precious natural light, the rooms are
change the old relationship of served/serving spaces in not confined to enclosed individuality but left open to
the traditional Georgian Dublin housing stock. Their one another. To question and then abandon the traditional
early projects inculcated Boyd Cody with an ability to Irish model of cell-like living spaces below and bedrooms
“tidy up.” Boyd describes the design process as a above was not, then, a willful move; it was not Boyd Cody
radicalization of the primary ideas—“we start loose, and making something strange for the sake of it or exerting
the design gets tighter” as they progress, like sharks their power as architects, but rather a necessary
homing in on a single fish out of a swirling bait ball. They response to the client’s needs and the peculiarities of
feel theirs is a language that follows certain self-imposed the site.
rules, an “etiquette that we understand.” These rules Richmond Place, say Boyd Cody, was “interpreted
then run through the project, avoiding the picturesque in into the site” in Dublin. The site for the detached house is
an ordered way. For them it is important to be stating an at the end of a small street surrounded by modest Dublin
argument, to make decisions not based primarily on two-story terraced housing. Though Boyd Cody was
aesthetic considerations but on a persistent logic. Despite asked to supply two bedrooms and a living space—the
this distillation of ideas, their buildings are not simplistic; “normal” client requirements of a domestic building—
indeed, the geometric minimalism illustrated in the they again resisted the impulse to rely on traditional
projects here belies a complexity best understood by forms. Instead, the design was dictated by the site’s
experiencing the buildings spatially. constraints. The house fills but limits itself to the
Increasingly, Dubliners are forced to make use of boundary line and sinks itself to be in keeping with the
every imaginable space. While some areas of the city are height of surrounding houses. Like the Alma Lane house,
being built unprecedentedly upward as part of a strategic spaces at Richmond Place flow together, though they are
vision for the city, there are swaths of semisuburban manipulated to allow for more separation than in the
Dublin that groan at the seams for new houses. Boyd previous project. Again, the Platonic forms of the
Cody’s Alma Lane House was built at the end of a long geometry are matched by a disciplined set of materials:
back garden of a large Victorian semidetached house, a brick, aluminum windows, oak, concrete, and rubber.
space seldom used by the owners, in the city’s southern Though the house possesses full height fenestration
commuter suburbs. This is a building as crisp geometric without the disguising walls at Alma Lane, it does feel
object, a “composition of solid and void,” the architects private, largely because of the sinking of the building.
say, which, divorced from the original house and The living space is enclosed in its site in such a way that
neighborhood pattern, has little to which to answer it is at once part of the urban fabric of the city and
contextually. The Boyd Cody building had to fulfill the recessed into the domestic.
client’s seemingly impossible requirements for both Their project at St. James, Clontarf, a suburb north
privacy and as much natural light as possible. They did of Dublin, is a strange animal. Though it also
indeed surround the house with high stone walls with incorporates huge plate glass, it is, even more than
only the top fifth of the house visible from the street; to Richmond Place, a decidedly internal project. The
solve the light requirement, the architects placed the geometric addition pulls out from one side of a Victorian

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 enclosing wall

Paul Tierney

exterior

Chapter 17
location plan

0 10 20 30 40 50 100

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house, and the new accommodation includes a unified below by rubber that coats cabinets, walls, and benches.
space of living, kitchen, and dining areas. The addition is This is an installation piece: with one move the architects
thus divorced, both spatially and stylistically, from the reinvent the rest of what could have been an immovable
original house, recentralizing the focus of the overall old dame of Dublin Georgian architecture.
home. The anonymity of the buildings that frame the Boyd and Cody are architects who have waived
house contributes to the project’s internalism; so too does Beckett’s right to failure. They question not only seminal
the design of the space. Like other Boyd Cody projects, issues of typology—“what is a house?”—but also the way
this house employs a continuity in structure and each piece of their architecture is made. Spaces
materials: the interior and exterior are rendered in the fundamental, but also quotidian, to the living of life are
same material; the floor of the living area becomes the not allowed to be less than exceptional. Boyd Cody may
kitchen counter; the floor of the entryway becomes the achieve “restraint in detail and expression” in the
sill, and then the desk in the dining room. The materials “background of everyday life,” as they assert, but this is a
are also kept to a minimal, quiet palette: in-situ concrete, simplicity in architecture with considerable depth and
timber framing to plate glass, external render to internal breadth. Their designs are too deliberated, too well
walls. Box-like light scoops create an almost urban crafted, to be understood as anything less than complete
landscape on the roof deck and pour illumination, even on fluency in design practice and critical reflection about
Dublin’s grayest days, into the space below. This living in Ireland in the twenty-first century.
continuity of materials and structure with engineered
modes of lighting reiterates the privacy of the space.
The Palmerston Road project makes more vocal its
role as an addition to the existing house than its Clontarf
relative. The project was meant to provide additional
space to the rear of the house, but Boyd Cody interpreted
the brief as a reworking of the building’s servant areas.
Clad, including the roof, in bronze, the new block is a
symbiotic object that informs both the interior of the
house and gives shape to the spaces in the large garden.
This mutually beneficial relationship is evident in the way
it enlivens the old house and in the way the bronze folds
into the existing house without becoming destructive or
parasitic. Being placed above, the kitchen engages with
the visual connection of the garden, as does a later
development of a studio in the garden. This vantage point
will also display how the building changes with the
exterior spaces; Boyd Cody carefully chose timber that
will gray as the bronze patinates. The hard-finish bronze
is complemented in the kitchen and entertainment room

Boyd Cody Architects 19

ground floor plan first floor plan
GROUND FLOOR PLAN
FIRST FLOOR PLAN

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 view from upper living space

Paul Tierney

upper living space

Chapter 21
exterior

Richmond Place

site Paul Tierney

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ground floor plan first floor plan

0 1 2 3 4 5 10
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section

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location plan

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 living space

living space view to street

Paul Tierney

25
view from desk to exterior

St. James, Clontarf

view from existing house

view toward existing house Paul Tierney

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 sections

0 1 2 3 4 5 10

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plan

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view of extension

Palmerston Road

glazed facade Paul Tierney

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 view from garden

Paul Tierney

view from original house into extension

Chapter 29
detail of upper floor facade Paul Tierney

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 site plan

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Boyd Cody Architects 31

view of addition Alan Jones

Straidhavern School

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 Alan Jones
Architects

Unlike many architects who left Northern Ireland during be found easily in other modes of practice; the experience
the Troubles, Alan Jones thought returning to the region of designing and building defines the way he teaches and
would be a challenge worth taking in architectural terms. vice versa.
After spending ten years with London firms, including Jones is particularly skilled at manipulating readily
Michael Hopkins and Partners, Jones realized that an available materials in ways untried and untested in the
investigation of a Northern Irish architecture postconflict usually conservative building industry of Northern
was not only potentially absorbing but also potentially Ireland. This is nowhere more apparent than at his
valuable. With architectural scholar David Brett, Jones Straidhavern School project. The existing brick buildings
scrutinizes the materials, layout, landscape, and with uPVC windows had to be respected, if not used for
construction traditions of the region in their 2007 text, inspiration. Jones turned to more industrial solutions for
Toward an Architecture: Ulster Building Our Own Authenticity. the exterior treatment of the building and, in so doing,
Without producing a definitive answer to their inquiry, the provided the rooms with increased daylight through high
book does resolutely call for a built response specific to the monopitched roofs. Jones began the project by
region’s cultural and geographic characteristics. questioning the brief: was it not possible to provide the
In addition to exploring the landscape and buildings school with more flexible space? His solution makes use
through photography, Jones’s practice is heavily of a retractable wall between the two adjacent
influenced by his work teaching at university level. The classrooms, furnishing the school with an assembly hall
balance of these methods offers opportunities that cannot it had never had or expected to be able to afford.

33
site plan plan 50ft 40 30 20 10 0
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15m 10 5 0

0 25m 50m

section

0 5 10 15m

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The inventive use of materials continues through the eyes but also insulates the colder side of the building.
most personal of all architectural projects, his own home. The southern aspect is thus the more outward-looking;
Surrounded by buildings redolent with symbolic meaning views from the full-height canted windows in the main
in Northern Ireland, including a church and a Masonic living space not only make use of the best natural
Hall, the house required a muted external treatment. The southern light but also look out onto the less public
barn-like building strangely recedes and then approaches garden and stream rather than the road to the front of
on its site; the roof and walls are covered in a seamless the site.
skin of fibrous chipboard roofing material. Many of These projects represent what architecture in
the interior walls display the unfinished concrete frame Northern Ireland increasingly is—not simply a
whose mold, on the interior, was particleboard; the deployment of appropriate materials and construction
texture of the composite timber material is left exposed. methods but innovative approaches and methodologies
Fortunately for Jones, the issues of privacy and to challenging built and cultural problems.
sustainability correspond to the site’s orientation. The
most publicly accessible faces of the house turn north;
limited fenestration and less frequently inhabited service
areas—utility, cloakrooms, bathrooms—are intelligently
configured on the north side of the house. This
arrangement not only buffers the living areas from prying

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 exterior setting

Old and new at Aras Chill Dara,

by heneghan.peng

Alan Jones classroom interior

Chapter 35
exterior

Jones House

house and surrounding landscape Alan Jones

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 first floor, ground floor, and basement plans

North
Alan Jones Architects 37
North

North
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main living space Alan Jones

Chapter 39
Discovering Diverse Content Through
Random Scribd Documents
Buchanan, however, betrayed him, the Marquis hurling out the
imprecation as he was taken prisoner, “There’ll be Murrays on the
Braes of Athole when there’s ne’er a Buchanan at the Ross,” and the
prophecy has been fulfilled. Beyond this we have the fertile valley
and the mouth of the Endrick, with Buchanan House, the seat of the
Duke of Montrose. The valley of the Endrick is celebrated in the old
song of “The Gallant Graham” as “Sweet Enerdale,” stretching far up
to the hills at Killearn, which, with its monument to George
Buchanan, “the father of modern Liberalism,” we easily recognise.
Though in his time Lord Privy Seal of Scotland, Moderator of the
Kirk, and tutor to James VI. of Scotland and I. of England, Buchanan
openly advocated tyrannicide, maintaining that “tyrants should be
ranked amongst the most ferocious beasts.” Professor Morley, in his
eighth volume of “English Writers,” has devoted a large space to this
great yet simple-minded man. The picture of the great scholar—the
greatest, perhaps, in the Europe of his day—teaching his serving-
man in his death-chamber “a-b, ab—e-b, eb,” &c., and defying the
“British Solomon” and “all his kin” in the same breath, is surely
worthy of the brush of some one of the numerous artists to whom
Scotland has given birth. We charge nothing for the suggestion.
And there is the steamer on her upward trip going into Balmaha,
where there is the famous pass along which the Highland clans were
accustomed when on the “war path” to direct their march into the
Lowlands. Rob Roy often took this route, and, in the words of Scott
—

Kept our stoutest kernes in awe,

Even at the Pass of Beal’maha.

Above this you see Conie Hill, 1175 feet high, with the huge Ben
Lomond in the distance. You can see, standing between Drymen
Station and Kilmaronock Church, Catter House, near which the
Lennox family had a castle, that stood on the Moot Hill, a large
artificial mound, where justice was administered in former times,
and on which stood the earl’s gallows, a necessary appendage to a
feudal court, especially on the borders of the Highlands.
Turning now from the east side of the loch to its west, from what
might be called its Montrose side to its Colquhoun side, we have in
close succession not far off the splendid mansion houses of
Cameron, Auchendennan, Auchenheglish, and Arden. Immediately
above Arden is Glen Fruin (the Glen of Sorrow), coming down from
near Garelochhead. It has the ruins of an ancient castle of the
Colquhouns, and it was here that a fierce conflict took place
between the Macgregors and the Colquhouns in 1602, when the
latter were routed with a loss of 200 men, the Macgregors only
losing two, one of them, however, being John, the brother of the
chief. It is this battle which is popularly called “The Field of Lennox.”
It is said that the Macgregors also put to death in cold blood some
80 youths, popularly called “the Students of Dumbarton,” who had
gone out to see the fight. A short time before this Sir A. Colquhoun
had appeared before James the Sixth at Stirling, and complained of
the cruel murders committed by the Macgregors, and to give
emphasis to his complaint he was attended by a considerable
number of women who carried the bloody shirts of their husbands
and sons. The king gave him a commission to repress the crimes
and apprehend their perpetrators, and the battle of Glen Fruin was
the result. And this in its turn led to the king issuing letters of fire
and sword against the Clan Gregor, to the confiscation of their lands.
Their clan name was proscribed by Act of the Privy Council. But the
Acts passed against them were repealed in 1775. Till then, however,
the members of the clan usually took the name of various landed
proprietors. Thus, the famous Rob Roy, who died in 1736, was
Campbell, after the family name of his patron, the Duke of Argyll.
Not far up the glen from Arden there is the hill of Dunfion, which is
said to have been at one time the residence of Fingal, and traces of
a fortress said to have been built by him are still pointed out. Two
and a-half miles farther up you can see Ross Dhu (the black
promontory), on which is the tower of the ancient castle of the Luss
family, and their mausoleum near it; the mansion-house standing on
a promontory almost surrounded by water.
Taking one more soul-filling look up to the mighty Ben, on the side
of the loch, and to the hills at its head, chief among which, and
closing the distant vista, is Ben Voirlich, it is perhaps time to think of
the train, for yonder is the “Queen” coming down the loch. As you
begin to retrace your steps do not forget that standing on this hill
you can see Renton, where Smollett the historian was born; Killearn,
where George Buchanan first saw the light of day; and Garlios, the
birthplace of Napier, the inventor of logarithms—all of whom added a
new lustre to the literature and science of Scotland. Also take a peep
at Tillichewan in its sylvan beauty, and the gentle slopes of the
hillside forming such a picturesque background to it. And in
recrossing the bridge it will help you to pay your second halfpenny
with more complacency if you remember that possibly before the
creation of man this valley was covered with the dashing waves of
the Atlantic and German Oceans. For at that far back period all
Scotland was under water except its highest peaks, which would
then be like so many islands in one great sea. Down the stream a
little way is Alexandria, suggestive of the lost Cleopatra’s Needle in
the past and British influence in the present. And it may surprise you
to learn that this grand mouth-filling name is one of recent date
comparatively, and that its former title was of a more homely kind—
namely, “The Grocery,” from a store which formerly kept the
indispensable articles shadowed forth in that word of unclassical
derivation. As you pass it directly in the train you see it to be now a
large and prosperous place, which requires more than one
“Grocery”—a place

Where cloth’s printed, dyed, and steamed,

Bleached, tentered, in the water streamed,
Starched, mangled, calender’d, and beamed,
And folded very carefully.
You reach Glasgow five hours after leaving the hill, with many
pleasant recollections of your trip to Mount Misery.
 BEN LEDI.
The most popular excursion in Scotland, both with ourselves and
with strangers from all parts of the world, is that which takes us to,
and through, the Trossachs. But it is somewhat unfortunate that the
idea exists in the public mind that it is an impossible excursion to
any but rich people on account of its expense. We propose to-day to
lead any who are willing to follow us to one of our Scottish
mountains which more than any other may feel proud of its
surroundings, which is, so to speak, at the very gate of the
Trossachs, and to reach and climb which demands no great
expenditure of time or of money although we can scarcely add
strength, for Ben Ledi is not one of the easiest of our western hills to
climb.
And yet it was not till Sir Walter Scott threw the spell of his genius
over this district that it was regarded as anything else than a
desolate, cut-throat country, into which no decent folk could venture.
Our route of course is via Stirling, with its rock and Castle and
history; Dunblane, and its ancient cathedral with memories of good
Bishop Leighton, and its window facing us, which Ruskin has
pronounced the finest of its kind in the country; Doune, with its mills
and old castle, to Callander, lying about 256 feet above the level of
the sea, on the banks of the river Teith. Here we get our first view of
the Ben 4½ miles to the north-west, and prepare to take our walk
for the day.
When it is remembered that with the exception of the episode at
Stirling Castle, the whole scenes of the Lady of the Lake lie within
the parish which gives its name to and has its centre in the town of
Callander, it will be at once seen that it would be superfluous on our
part to describe the scenery en route to the base of Ben Ledi. The
best guide book here is the Lady of the Lake, “every step and every
scene being made classic in the beautiful and vivid word-painting of
that poem.”
The ascent can be best made from Portnanellen about 2¾ miles
from Callander, in the immediate vicinity of Coilantogle Ford. This
was “Clan Alpine’s outmost guard,” the place where Roderick Dhu
stood vantageless before Fitz James; “but it has lost its romance by
the erection of a huge sluice of the Glasgow waterworks.” So thinks
a writer in the latest Ordnance Gazetteer. However, as we make for
it, crossing the Leny, pattering along its stony bed, after it has come
down one of the prettiest passes either in this or any other country,
as we admire the hollies thickly covered with berries, and think what
an added beauty they will have from the first snows of winter, and
as we get a foretaste or two of the mountains and the floods that
we are to see before the day is done, we have neither the time nor
the mind to be disturbed by thoughts of Glasgow and her
waterworks.
The best and usual route of ascent can be best learned on the spot
before starting. When a beginning is made the way opens up
gradually, and as we have so much more that is readable to say, we
will dispense with a detailed account of how each of the 3875 feet of
the “Mountain of God” is to be covered.
The Gaelic name read commonly as beinn-le-dia is more correctly
beinn schleibhte or schleibtean. According to this latter reading the
Ben is not the “Mountain of God,” but the “Mountain of Mountains,”
or “Mountain girt with sloping Hills.” And this corresponds with its
size and surroundings. It rises from a base of about 11 miles in
circuit; in fact it occupies most of the space between Loch Lubnaig
on the east, Loch Vennachar on the south, and Glenfinlas on the
west. The fact that it has sometimes been called the “Mountain of
God” is not due to the shape or size of the hill itself, but to this, that
Druidical worship lingered on its summit after it had disappeared
from the rest of Scotland.
One of the chief dangers, and one of the principal causes of
discomfort, in climbing Ben Ledi is its liability to mists, and the
number of bogs that surround its base. It is not every stout-legged
counter-jumper who buys a return ticket to Callander, or every pretty
lass who thinks to put colour in her cheeks by the toilsome walk,
shall be allowed to treat the “Mountain of Mountains” with the
contempt begotten of familiarity. They may struggle to the top, only
to be knocked about by “air rending tempests,” or to find that the
Ben has put on the fleecy mantle which the clouds seem ever ready
to invest him with on the shortest notice. They may ascend voluble,
expectant, and dry, but descend much more briskly, sad, sodden,
and woefully disappointed. But even before they get well started, if
the weather has been wet, and they are not careful, they may get
occasionally up to the ankle, and if not, have to struggle at least
with some sopping ground.
If, however, a good day is chosen in a dry season, and the mists
should keep away, we can promise you something out of the
common run of things in mountain scenery even in the west of
Scotland. It is said that in many of the towns of Switzerland the best
houses were formerly built with their backs to the Alps as if the view
of them were hateful. The natives, in fact, spoke of the region of ice
and snow as “the evil country.” But those who have made the ascent
of Ben Ledi in the favourable circumstances that I have referred to
will wish not only to set their faces to Ben Ledi, but will be anxious
for another opportunity of enjoying the view from its summit, a view
which commands all the way from the Bass Rock to the Paps of Jura,
and from the Moray Firth to the Lowther Mountains. Loch Vennachar
is seen lying at our feet with its 5 miles of water, and its two islands,
one at its eastern end, and the other, called Illan-a-Vroin, or the
“island of lamentation,” further west, and covered with wood. To the
south, where now stands the ruins of an old mill, the Teith flows
past. A peep, but little more, can be had of Invertrossachs House,
which was occupied by the Queen in 1869.
There has been many a visit paid to the summit of Ben Ledi since
that day, but the largest, probably, and certainly the most
enthusiastic party was that which went up to erect the Jubilee Cairn.
The loyal Highlanders and the inhabitants of the classic district
embracing Loch Lubnaig, Loch Vennachar, and Glenfinlas, in answer
to a summons, which, like the “fiery cross,” was carried down the
valley of the Teith, and up the Pass of Leny by the Kirk of St. Bride,
erected a cairn on the top of an older one, which had existed for
sometime, but had probably been blown down by the high winds
which sweep across the hills with great violence. The new cairn,
which was erected out of an abundant supply of building material to
be found in the summit, has a base of 14 feet, and its height is
equal to its diameter. It is chiefly made up of great slabs of a slaty
sandstone, which had, we understand, to be dug, in not a few cases,
out of the mountain side, in which they were embedded, in some
cases, several feet. At a height of 12 feet the slaty material was no
longer used, and for the next 2 feet, to the summit, the cairn
consists of white quartz, which, when the sun shines upon it, has a
beautiful effect even at some little distance. The fact that the cairn
only took five hours to be “begun, continued, and ended,” speaks
volumes for the number and the diligence of the willing and loyal
workers. And if the cairn is not quite as firm as the “Eddystone
Lighthouse,” it will at least outlive the reign of the next two of our
crowned heads.
But though the jubilee builders were numerous, and although the
quartz on the crown of the cairn can shine and sparkle in the proper
given circumstances, these are as nothing to the concourse of grave
Druid priests who used to worship here, and to the glittering of their
fires far and wide. It is said that at sunset on the night before the
first of May they found their way to this summit ready to welcome
the rising of the God of day with a fire offering, which could be seen
from all parts of the Lowlands of Scotland from the German Ocean
to the Atlantic, and which the superstitious natives took to be
kindled by the hand of God. All private and domestic fires had been
put out, and the country was universally waiting for the first gleam
of the new Bal-tein, or Baal-fire from heaven, for another year.
As we rest behind the Jubilee Cairn to eat our biscuit and cheese,
and get shelter from a stiff north-wester, we again and again look
round in all directions, but the views to be had are at once so grand
and so various that it would only bewilder the reader to go into
details, and we would recommend him to lose no time, but embrace
the first opportunity he has of making the ascent and getting the
view himself. One other reason why we should not go into
particulars is that we have to embrace much of the same prospect
that we had on Ben Venue, although with this difference that we
have now a much better view away to the north.
It is not often that we have a sheet of water on or near the summit
of our Scottish hills; but this is something that Ben Ledi can boast of.
On its shoulder, a little way below us, there is a small and dark tarn,
only a few yards in width, which yet was made the unwilling witness,
nay, worse, participator in a terrible tragedy. The tarn is called Loch-
an-nan-corp—“the small lake of dead bodies,” a name the origin of
which tradition ascribes to the calamity which “once upon a time,”
not to be too particular, overtook a funeral procession there. Two
hundred persons journeying from Glenfinlas to a churchyard on the
pass of Leny, found this lake frozen over and covered with snow, and
attempted to cross it, but the ice gave way and they were all
drowned. An interesting writer in the Illustrated News, a year or two
back, a writer who, we are pleased to hear, belongs to Glasgow,
says, writing on this point, “No tablet on that wind-swept moor
records the half-forgotten disaster; only the eerie lapping of the
lochlet’s waves fill the discoverer with strange forebodings, and at
dusk, it is said, the lonely ptarmigan may be seen, like souls of the
departed, haunting the fatal spot.”
Those who, instead of retracing their steps, and coming down again
by Coilantogle, prefer to make for the Pass of Leny, will find at the
foot of the mountain a little mound, close to where the river leaves
Loch Lubnaig, the burying-ground to which the clansmen were
carrying their dead friend. There is now only a low scone wall
around this diminutive grave-yard, but here once stood the small
chapel of St. Bride, “which,” according to Sir Walter Scott, “stood in
a small and romantic knoll in the middle of the valley,” from the
Gothic arch of whose doorway, we read in the Lady of the Lake, the
happy marriage company were coming out when Roderick Dhu’s
messenger rushed up to the principal one of the party and thrust
into his hands the fiery cross of the Macgregors. After rounding this
knoll we arrive, about a mile farther on, within sight of Loch
Lubnaig, or the “Crooked Lake,” which is some 5 miles in length,
overhung on both sides by rugged hills, and surrounded by groves of
birch, pine, and hazel. We do not know a better position than the
farmhouse of Ardchullary for getting a good view of the loch. Unless
you have provided yourself with a very liberal allowance of the
biscuits and cheese to which we have already referred, you will be
glad to get near to some such kindly and hospitable place. And if
you are a little tired and done up with your day’s travels, additional
interest will attach, in your eyes, to this house, from its having been
the favourite summer quarters of Bruce of Kinnaird, the Abyssinian
traveller, who retired to these solitudes for the purpose of arranging
the materials for the publication of his travels.
The date of our visit to Ben Ledi’s summit was “on or about” the
time when the young grouse begin to lose the number of their
covey, and to learn that every man who treads the moor is not so
harmless as the shepherd, especially when a dog accompanies him.
And ever and again we come across them sitting warily and
watchfully among the heather, and saw them rising far out of
gunshot. The grouse, indeed, were now being deserted for the black
game, which, on account of the general lateness of the grey hen in
sitting compared with that of her red sister of the moor, are allowed
a little rest. Of course some men make it a rule to pull a trigger upon
a blackcock how or whenever they can, and some birds fall to the
guns of those who do not know the difference between heath-fowl
and moor-fowl. Most people, indeed, remember the canny reply of
the Scotch keeper to the English sportsman who was out on the
moors for the first time, and had missed what he thought was a
grouse. “I was too soon, Donald, I am afraid,” said the latter. “’Deed,
and you were, sir, eight days too soon; it was an auld blackcock.” We
saw over and again in the course of the day good proof of what we
had often heard that the blackcock is far from a model husband, and
anything but resembles the grouse-cock in his devotion to his mate.
But we must step out on our homeward and southward journey with
the Leny accompanying us in the valley, the road being quite equal,
during its mile or two, to that between Callander and Coilantogle.
The river is low to-day, and runs under banks that are hung with
ferns and lingering foxgloves, with golden rod and harebells, and all
the flowers of the late summer. But in a wet season, when each
rivulet along the mountain side swells into an angry torrent, and
from an occasional cliff “the wild cataract leaps in glory,” it exults in
the added strength of all its hundred turbulent vassals, and rises in
its might, and seething, and struggling, and overflowing its banks,
rises and roars a furious stream.
As we get into Callander again we are passed by the coaches on
their return from Loch Katrine, and when we look at the prancing
steeds, the happy tourists, and last, but not by any means least, the
red-coated, brass-buttoned, and very superior persons who handle
the whip and reins, we have no difficulty in seeing why it is that
there should be in our days a coaching revival, even on routes where
there is the opportunity of travelling by train. There is no more
delightful way of spending a summer day, given sunshine and
warmth, than to have a drive on a well-appointed coach, behind an
accomplished whip, and four “spanking” horses.
We are not at all sorry, however, that this particular outing did not
take that special shape, and although we cannot claim to be the first
to bring the glories and the attractions of Ben Ledi into view, as Mrs.
Murray did in the case of the beauties of the Trossachs, and who
claimed that Sir Walter Scott should have dedicated the Lady of the
Lake to her (although her claim has not generally been allowed), we
feel that we have done something at least to tempt some Glasgow
excursionists to follow us, and climb the hill for themselves.
 THE MEIKLE BEN.
It was our Autumn Holiday, and we had decided on a run to one of
the choicest spots which abound within a reasonable distance of
Glasgow. Of course we wanted to do as much as possible, which is
not always wise, especially when there are one or two in the party
with different tastes and different muscular capacities. But having
got a general idea of our plan, we started, leaving that “divinity that
shapes our ends” to give the turn to our holiday which we believed
would bring us the best results.
It was a fine balmy morning, becoming overcast, however, as the
train hurried on to Milton of Campsie, and when we left the station
and started on our way for the Meikle Ben, or Bin, as it is more
popularly called, the rain greeted us a little freely. It may be that
some of our readers have not even heard of the Meikle Ben. In that
case we claim from them a little of the respect and gratitude which
all discoverers are entitled to and as a rule get ungrudgingly. In spite
of an unpretentious and unromantic name, the Meikle Ben is not
only a spot of wonderful beauty, but the approach to the place as
well as its immediate surroundings are decidedly much above the
dead level of topographical mediocrity.
On leaving the station we cross the Glazert, as it travels on to meet
the Kelvin, in a wild rocky channel fretted by the flood of ages. We
take the first road to the right, which runs past Antirmony House,
formerly the seat of Bell, the traveller, and in more recent years the
residence of Mr. C. M. King, a younger brother of the amiable and
busy baronet of Levernholm. A few yards along this road bring us to
the village school, up past the side of which we take, and make as
best we can for the top of a bold brown range now immediately in
front of us.
Long before we get halfway to the top of the range we take
repeated opportunities of noticing how sharply and distinctly its
outline is defined against the horizon, and how clearly the scars and
wrinkles on its broad and openly honest face stand out. As we
continue our climb up the braes we notice with pleasure that the
lights and shades on their breast are beautifully intermingled, a sure
sign that there will be little rain to-day. Before we reach the northern
slope we take a look at Antirmony Loch at our feet, a little to the
east, one of the finest sheets of water within 20 miles of Glasgow,
and at Glorat House, about as far to the west, the residence of one
of the oldest families in the county (Sir Charles Stirling).
On reaching the summit we are only some 12 miles or so from the
dusty, drowsy, smoky metropolis, and yet are in what may be called
the Lowland Highlands. We stand upon an eminence of only a few
hundred feet above sea level, and yet the landscape stretched out
below is sufficiently wide and varied to warrant us in thinking that
we stand much higher in the world. Right below us are the little
hamlets of Milton and Birdston, with Kirkintilloch and Lenzie, and
their church spires standing out clear and bright in the glowing
sunshine. To the right is the cosy-looking strath of Campsie,
commanded by Lennox Castle, in the boldest style of Norman
architecture. The proprietor is said to be in the direct succession of
the Earls of Lennox, but this is a subject on which our limited
genealogical knowledge forbids us to enlarge.
Away in the south-west we catch a glimpse of Glasgow, cloud-
capped and grey; beyond it are the flats of Renfrew and the
surrounding country, the monotony of which in a clear day is
somewhat relieved by the blue tops of the Paisley and Kilmalcolm
hills. Looking across the valley at our feet we can see the streams
trickle like silver threads, and the sunbeams tremble and play in
mingled gleams of green and yellow. Wonderful hills those old
Campsie hills, with what might be called the Garden of Scotland at
their base (for is not this the earliest part of Scotland, speaking from
an agricultural point of view?) and the glory of God’s sunshine on
their brows. Those in city pent, and those whose days are for the
most part spent in the rush and crush of business could not enjoy an
afternoon to more profit and pleasure than up here. From the
summit of these hills, down past the eastern base of the Meikle Ben
a little to the north of us, there is no carriage drive to the Fintry and
Denny Road; but, for all that, the walk does not seem to be one of
any great difficulty, whereas, on the other hand, the way would be
beguiled by scenes of rarest beauty. We have made the stiff uphill
walk or climb to this in a little less than an hour; but the bracing air,
the scenery around us, far and near, and some pleasant seats on the
soft turf have made us forget all fatigue.
We have to dip down a little on the other side before we begin the
ascent of the Ben pure and simple. As we do so we lose sight of all
human habitations, and for a mile or more not even a tree or shrub
is to be seen except the heather. We have heard it said that a would-
be suicide who was anxious to “lay hands on himself” by hanging up
here was frustrated in a very simple fashion. He found it would be
impossible to carry out his horrid purpose in this “heaven-kissing”
locality unless he could manage to throw a coil over the horn of the
moon, a blaeberry bush or a clump of heather being the nearest
approach to a tree which could be found. We begin to wonder why
there is such an extent of land lying waste, and our mind naturally
turns to the poor crofter, or once more to the overcrowded dens in
our large cities. We are ready to exclaim, “Why, here is sufficient
land to sustain thousands of our population, and we have been quite
ignorant of it,” but when we examine the soil we find that the crop it
grows is sufficient for black cattle and sheep, but could not be easily
cultivated for the support of man.
The summit of our hill is not at all difficult now to reach, although,
as the “Gazetteer” tells us, it is 1870 feet high. But we may be said
to have been climbing it ever since we left Milton. And now we see,
what can only be seen when we are close to it, that it is really a hill
of itself. To those who live a few miles to the south, our Ben appears
only a large cairn on the highest point of the front part of the range.
To those up here, or still farther to the north of this, it seems a
considerable independent hill, and to those who live away to the
east and south-east, in the Slamannan direction, it looks as if it
could hold its head almost quite as high as Ben Ledi or Ben Venue. It
is even said to be seen from a great distance in the Lanark direction,
and forms a conspicuous landmark from the Firth of Forth.
We are here in the south-east corner of the parish of Fintry, close to
the meeting point with Campsie and Kilsyth. We can see at a glance
that it is a central summit of the Lennox hills, occupying such a
position as to unite the Fintry, Campsie, and Kilsyth sections of those
hills. On the north-east of it, there is what is called the Little Bin,
some 1446 feet high, and on its south-west side the Bin burn runs
away to the north and becomes a head stream of the river Carron.
Standing here, or rather stretching ourselves along the grateful turf,
we are in the very centre of Stirlingshire, and at the source of a river
which nowhere is very large, and yet, than which there is none in
Scotland, and probably few in the whole island, whose banks have
been the stage of so many memorable transactions. When the
Roman empire was in all its glory, and had its eastern frontiers upon
the Euphrates, the banks of the Carron were its boundaries on the
north-west; for the Wall of Antoninus, which was raised to mark the
limits of that mighty empire, stood in the neighbourhood of this river,
and ran parallel to it for many miles. This last fact suggests one of
the probable origins of the word Carron, for there are more than
one. The meaning of the word has been a puzzle to the
etymologists. “Even ministers they ha’e been kenn’d” to arrive at
very different conclusions on this interesting subject. Some derive it
from Caraon, which means “a winding river,” and “The bonny links of
Carron Water” are poetically celebrated. This expresses one feature
of the stream which, in former times, before it had forced a new
channel to itself in some places, and been straightened by human
industry in others, made almost as many serpentine links as the
Forth itself.
In the valley below the river runs through the well-known Carron
bog, and for 3½ miles flows in a slow serpentine course over one of
the finest and most fertile tracks of natural meadow in Scotland. The
Carron Company, whose works are at the other end of the river, and
in summer utilise almost all its water, wished at one time to convert
this bog into a great reservoir for their works, but the hay crop was
found to be too valuable, the tract containing upwards of 1000
Scotch acres in one continued plain, bearing from 130 to 150 stones
per acre, which is all the more valuable from the fact that the
artificial crops are a little precarious from their elevated situation.
From the adjoining heights as many as 20 or 30 different parties of
people may be seen on it in the season making hay, and in the
winter again the river is industriously led over its whole extent to
fertilise it for the following crop.
On the other side of the road from the bog, a little to the west of it,
and close to where the infant Endrick comes down from the Kippen
hills, we have the old castle of Sir John de Grahame of Dundaff, who
fell at the battle of Falkirk. For courage and military skill he was
reckoned next to Wallace, and was commonly called by the great
hero himself his “Right Hand.” The gravestone of Sir John in the
churchyard of Falkirk has the following Latin motto, with a Scotch
translation:—

Mente manuque potens, et vallae fidus Achates,

Conditur hic Grahmos, bello interfectus ab Anglis.

While some of Cromwell’s troops were stationed in Falkirk, an officer

asked the parochial schoolmaster to translate the Latin. This he did
in the following witty manner:—

Of mind and courage stout,

Wallace’s true Achates,
Here lies Sir John the Graham,
Felled by the English Baties.

On our left, looking north, we get a sight of what was in former

years called the “Moor Toll,” near to which the Carron rises, which
we ourselves will soon cross in the valley. This veritable “lodge in the
wilderness” has been a welcome sight to many a weary traveller
from either side of the hill on a stormy night, and many a dreary
winter day “Honest Peter,” the carrier, and his horse, were glad when
they got this length.
Hitherto we have only been looking at things within easy reach of
us, but we are not allowed to forget long that we have scenery here
which equals any to be had, it might almost be said, in any part of
Scotland. Looking to the north-west we have a view of country
before us

Where broad extended, far beneath,

The varied realms of fair Menteith.

The stretch of country lying before us from Port of Menteith round

by Aberfoyle, taking in Fintry, Buchlyvie, Balfron, Gartmore, with the
majestic Ben Lomond and a host of other hills, is a sight not to be
forgotten. Certainly no such beautiful panorama of hill and dale is to
be seen within the same distance from Glasgow.
Probably the most pleasing features in the immediate neighbourhood
are the valley of the Endrick and of the Carron which almost touch
each other at the farm house straight down from us. We see the
Endrick on its way to the famous “Loup of Fintry,” just a little to the
west of Sir John de Graham’s old castle, where it falls over a
precipitous rock of more than 60 feet in height, forming a cataract of
great beauty. In a “loup,” a “spout,” or “fall” of water there is a great
variety of opinion as to what makes it specially remarkable. Some
desire a flood of water, others a silvery veil of falling mist, others
would have grand natural surroundings. The truth is that a cataract,
like a human face, depends a great deal on its surroundings. It is a
mistake to go to a waterfall with a measuring line and judge it by
height, and breadth, and volume alone. There are comparatively
trifling cascades, which, by virtue of their natural position and the
sweet and sylvan scenery of their home, are far more attractive than
a vaster flood of water filling a greater depth amid tame scenic
circumstances. Let our climber make a nearer acquaintance with the
“Loup of Fintry,” either to-day or on some other occasion, and he will
see what good reason the natives have for their praise of
Strathendrick. From its first beginning to its fall into Loch Lomond
the Endrick is a thing of beauty, having in its course many a lovely
and picturesque scene.
But the valley of the Carron away to the east is not less interesting
although its interest is of a more historical character. It is not,
however, without an occasional spot of extra loveliness. For example,
a little below where it crosses the Kilsyth and Stirling (old) Road, 6
miles behind Kilsyth, it rushes over the Spout or Linn of Auchintilly.
In spite of its grand name, which means “field of the overflowing
torrent and pool,” it is little known, as it is in a most unfrequented
valley. We have made the journey right round by road from
Lennoxtown to Kilsyth, a distance of some 19 miles, without meeting
more than two people on the highway, although not so far removed
from the “madding crowd.” This state of matters reminded us at the
time of Dean Ramsay’s story of the English traveller on the out-of-
the-way Scotch road, who asked a stone-breaker whom he passed,
“Does nobody travel on this road at all?” “O yes,” was the answer,
“we’re not that bad. There was a gangrel body yesterday, and
there’s yoursel’ the day.” If we were writing in verse, we would be
obliged to say of this sexasyllabic, significant, mouth-filling, and
loud-sounding name—Auchin-tilly-lin-spout—what Horace says of the
little town in which he lodged a night in his journey from Rome to
Brundusium, Versu dicere non est. And yet those banks have been
sung of both by Ossian and Hector M’Neill, the latter, a native of the
shire. M’Neill speaks of it as the classic stream where Fingal fought
and Ossian hymned his heaven-taught lays; and Dyer sings of it as
still seeming responsive to Ossian’s lyre. The ancient ballad of “Gil
Morice” also—the story of which has been formed into the
celebrated tragedy of “Douglas”—represents the mother of the
unfortunate young hero as having “lived on Carron side.” We have
no time to discuss the ornithology of our day’s outing; but we could
almost hear the throbbing of birds’ hearts, which portends a sudden
and distant flight. Had we been down on the banks, either of the
Endrick or of the Carron a month ago, we could have seen the
common sandpiper in its old haunts. But now that September is
upon us not one is to be seen. Silently but surely they have slipped
off in the night, and the rivers will not know them till next April. But
the rooks are in abundance admiring their glossy plumage and
symmetry, reminding us of the Scottish aphorism, and proving its
truthfulness, “Aye, you’re a bonny pair, as the craw said to its ain
twa feet.” They are now beginning to assemble in flocks, and those
often deserve the appellation of “a craw’s preaching” from the flow
of noisy eloquence of which at such times they are capable.
As we prepare to retrace our steps we cannot help being again
struck by the vast expanse of land unoccupied by people and so little
cultivated. The one moment we are thankful that there is such a
place so near to Glasgow, and no one with heart so hard as to bar
the rambler’s way; but the next again the stillness becomes
oppressive, as when Cockburn wrote to Jeffrey, “This place is as still
as the grave, or even as Peebles.” Our hill to-day is certainly in the
heart of a district about which the average dweller within 40 miles of
Glasgow knows less, we are persuaded, than he does of some of our
colonial possessions. And yet it is not more than 12 or 13 miles from
the city. We can return as we came, or make for the old Toll House
on the road between Fintry and Campsie, and get the train at
Lennoxtown, or we can take a walk along the ridge of hills for 2 or 3
miles to the east, and make for Gavel Station, a mile or so on the
near side of Kilsyth.
 MORISON BROTHERS’
PUBLICATIONS.

The Auld Scotch Sangs

Arranged and Harmonised by
SINCLAIR DUNN.

Containing 96 Scotch Songs

WITH PIANOFORTE ACCOMPANIMENT.
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[Transcriber's Note—the following changes have been made to this

text:
Page 45: repeated word “as” corrected—“regarded as summarising”.
Page 49: to to too—“go too soon”.
Page 115: repeated word “and” corrected—“Inversnaid, and its
memories”.
Page 119: breath to breadth—“greatest breadth”.
Page 140: repeated word “between” corrected—“that between
Callander”.
In Publisher's adverts: Avertiser to Advertiser—“Brechin Advertiser”.]
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