Architecture of Ireland
A look at the homes and structures of Ireland over time.
Location: Ireland
Megaliths of Prehistoric Ireland
The first architects of Ireland built their homes from wood and clay. Of these early people, only their ancient tombs, standing stones, and stone forts survive today. Largest and most impressive of these were burial mounds like Newgrange and the cliff-forts of the Aran Islands. Newgrange in particular is older than both Stonehenge and the Pyramid of Giza. Its builders used it as both a tomb and solstice calendar.[1][2]
Medieval Irish Raths and Houses
For most of Irish history, the average farmer lived in a wattle-and-daub roundhouse. These ranged in size from 19 to 30 feet in diameter, depending on the wealth of their owners. Cooking supplies and lanterns hung from rafters supporting a thatched, conical roof. A circular rath, or barrier of earth, enclosed each farm, topped by walls or hedges.[3] A rath measured around 100 feet across and could contain multiple pens and buildings.[4] In other cases, families placed their homes on artificial islands called crannogs in the middle of shallow lakes. Crannogs offered additional security from animals and raiders, accessible only by ferry.[5]
Monastic Architecture in Ireland
The first monasteries of Ireland were humble communities perched on rocky islands. Early monasteries followed the same style as an Irish farm, with central buildings surrounded by walls and moats. Larger monasteries expanded to include oratories, kitchens, hospitals, cemeteries, and round bell towers.[6] The round towers still stand across the island, each around 100 feet tall. Built between 950 and 1238 CE, they helped monks in bustling communities hear the bells that ordered their day. Monks may have also hidden inside them during Viking raids.[7]
Continental Architecture in Ireland
Before the 10th century, Ireland possessed no large cities. Society revolved around monasteries and royal seats. Trade took place on beaches or at fairs. The island's first major cities, including Dublin, were founded by Norse settlers.[8] The influence of the Hiberno-Norse decreased, however, after the Anglo-Norman invasion of 1169.
The invaders were eager to secure their new land and reform the Irish church. Lords sponsored the Romanesque and Gothic architecture popular in European churches and abbeys. By doing so, they reinforced their ties to the papal system. The many castles of Ireland were also built at this time. They were meant to protect their lords from both angry peasants and the knights of their fellow Anglo-Normans.[9][10]
Modern Irish Architecture
After the Tudor conquest, newly arrived lords constructed Palladian and Georgian estates on Irish land. They evicted many farmers in the process. Their "Big Houses" became a focal point of resentment for Irish nationalists in the 19th and 20th centuries.[11]
Most growth occurred in regions dominated by British colonists. Elsewhere, the Catholic Irish lived in relative poverty. The last census before the famine found that three quarters of Ireland's houses used "mud" walls and thatched roofs.[12] These cottages fell out of use in the 20th century but are commonly maintained in tourist areas. Irish buildings now follow typical Western styles, but ruins and restored buildings still stand from every period in the island's history.[13]
Bibliography
Patrick W. Joyce, A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland (London, NY, and Bombay: Longmans, Green, & Co., 1906), 531-550.
Fred S. Kleiner, Gardner's Art Through the Ages: A Global History, 14th ed. (Boston, MA: Wadsworth), 27.
T. M. Charles-Edwards, Early Christian Ireland (Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 2000), 134.
Seán Duffy, Ailbhe MacShamhráin, and James Moynes, eds., Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia (New York: Routledge, 2005), 12-15.
Patrick W. Joyce, A Social History of Ancient Ireland, Volume 2 (Dublin: Gresham, 1903), 20-68.
Breandán Ó HEithir, A Short History of Ireland (Dublin: The O'Brien Press, 2016).
Roger Stalley, "Sex, Symbol, and Myth: Some Observation on the Irish Round Towers" in From Ireland Coming: Irish Art From the Early Christian to the Late Gothic Period and its European Context, ed. Colum Hourihane (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2001), 28-47.
Edel Bhreathnach and Raghnall Ó Floinn, "Ireland: Culture and Society," in A Companion to Britain in the Later Middle Ages, S. H. Rigby, ed. (Chichester, U.K.: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009), 561-572.
Seán Duffy, Ailbhe MacShamhráin, and James Moynes, eds., _Medieval Ireland: An Encyclopedia _(New York: Routledge, 2005), 35-48.
Thomas Bartlett, Ireland: A History (Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 2011), 39-54.
James Stevens Curl, Georgian Architecture (London: English Heritage, 2011), 41.
James S. Donnelly, The Great Irish Potato Famine (Stroud: The History Press, 2013).
Stephanie Rains, "Home From Home: Diasporic Images of Ireland in FIlm and Tourism" in Irish Tourism: Image, Culture and Identity, ed. Michael Cronin and Barbara O'Connor (Clevedon: Channel View, 2003), 196-214.
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