Tuesday 14 August 2018

Doondahlin …

Amongst the treasure trove of memorabilia belonging to our extended family is the following picture, painted on a thin sheet of masonite.  It is labelled “Doondahlin” and bears the artists initials of ‘A.E.’.  An identical picture hangs on the wall at a cousin’s beach house.  These pictures would have been a reminder of home to my Irish relatives.


Doondahlin, date unknown, by 'A.E.'
 from Pilkington Family Collection


Doondahlin was one of the homes associated with my family back in Ireland, and which in present times is a ruin.  I had no idea who ‘A.E.’ might be, as the initials did not relate to any known family. 

The painting  was brought to mind again a few months ago when I received an email from a man in Ireland, seeking information about Doondahlin for a local history group.  So back to the family archives I went, to see what I could find out.




Doondahlin was the summer home of the Keane family of Beechpark, in Ennis, county Clare, Ireland.  It was built for my 3x great-uncle, the infamous Marcus Keane, probably in 1854.  An entry in his sister Charlotte’s diary in October of that year reads:  “Marcus is building a fine lodge on the cliffs at Kilbaha”.  Kilbaha is a small village by the shore of the Shannon Estuary on the Loop Head Peninsula in Clare.  These West Clare lands were the ancestral home of the Keanes (formerly O’Cahane, or Ó Catháin in Irish), and previous generations of the family had been well-respected in the area.



Doondahlin, sketched by Sarah Haughton in 1859

from Pilkington Family Collection


Marcus inherited his father’s land agency business, raising himself up the social and financial ladder by marrying the daughter of a wealthy absentee landlord, and taking on the management of his father-in-law’s extensive estates.  He became notorious during an Gorta Mór (The Great Famine) for his ruthless evictions of poor tenant farmers and the destruction of their homes. 

Doondahlin took its name from an ancient Irish hill fort, the remains of which were located on the same cliff top.  Dun Dahlin was one of four hill forts along this stretch of Loop Head Peninsula, the origins of which are based in legend.



From:
Ring-Forts in the Barony of Moyarta, Co. Clare, and Their Legends
by Thomas Johnson Westropp

Part I.—From Loop Head to Carrigaholt
(Clare Library)

Marcus Keane considered himself something of a scholar on the subject of Irish antiquities, and wrote a book published in 1867 titled “The Towers and Temples of Ancient Ireland: their origin and history discussed from a new point of view”.  Perhaps it was this interest which led him to choose this site for his ‘fine lodge’.

In his book “The Houses of Clare”, Hugh Weir describes Doondahlin as a plain L-shaped, 2 storey house, with 3-bay front, and 4-bay wing along the east side, and a single-storey 3-bay wing on the west side.  According to this newspaper advertisement, there were 3 sitting rooms, 7 bedrooms and dressingrooms, 3 servants rooms, plus kitchen, pantries, and closets. I’ve also been told that the construction of the building included a layer of turf stacked between the double brick walls to act as insulation – probably necessary protection from the Atlantic gales blowing across that exposed cliff top.

Freemans Journal 2 June 1873
from Irish newspapers at findmypast.com

The house was used as a summer residence for Marcus, his wife Louisa and their children.  After Marcus’s death in 1883, Doondahlin passed to his son Marcus junior, who owned it until it was destroyed by fire in September 1921.  Marcus the younger’s daughter Helen has written some memories of her family’s life in Clare, and she writes of vividly remembering being at Beechpark one morning when a message was brought to say Doondahlin had been burnt the previous night.  This was during the War of Independence, during which the countryside was engulfed in trouble between the Republicans and the British troops including the dreaded Black and Tans. Doondahlin was targeted presumably in retribution for the actions of Marcus Keane during the previous century.
  
Marcus Keane filed a claim for compensation to the Irish Grants Committee in 1929.  I haven’t seen his claim myself, but I am told that it outlines a previous attempt at firing Doondahlin a few months earlier, which was thwarted by the attention of the caretaker.


So, back to the picture.  While searching for information to pass on to my Irish correspondent, I did a google search for “Doondahlin” and was surprised to find the following in an on-line art catalogue – a third copy of the very same picture, together with another of the view from Doondahlin across the Shannon to Mt. Brandon in Kerry.  Both pictures were surrounded by ‘folk art frames of oystershell’.  The pair of pictures had sold for $100 just a few months previously in October 2017.




The Australian Art Sales Digest, published by John Furphy Pty. Ltd., Melbourne, Australia.

According to the catalogue, the mystery ‘A.E.’ was an Irish/Australian artist by name of Annie Eldridge. Written on the rear of this picture was ‘Mrs. Eldridge, Rosehill, Buffalo Creek, South Gippsland’.   Buffalo is in the same district in South Gippsland where my family members from Ireland settled.


After some more investigation, I came up with two possibilities.  The first was Annie Eldridge nee Farrell, an Irish woman from county Galway, who was married to a William Eldridge. The couple ran a hotel in Wodonga for many years.  This one was promising, because a Farrell family were long-standing friends of my extended family in Gippsland, and the Eldridge family of Rosehill had a son named William.  It all seemed to fit perfectly – except that the Rosehill William Eldridge was married to someone else, and this Annie didn’t fit into the Farrell family we knew.  Additionally, I could not find anything linking this couple to South Gippsland.

The second possibility was Annie Eldridge the sister of William of Rosehill.  Although this Eldridge family were of English origins, not Irish, Annie married into a family with Irish connections.  She was born in 1866, making her a contemporary of my grandfather and his brothers, and she was definitely in the right location to be acquainted with my family.  I’m still unable to connect her to Doondahlin though, so not sure what opportunity she would have had to do the painting.  

All three pictures shown here - painting, sketch and photograph - are taken from a similar vantage point on the shore of Kilbaha Bay in front of what was Kiltrellig Lodge, home of my Pilkington family.  The Pilkington sisters who lived there took in paying guests to help make ends meet.  It is not unreasonable to imagine that IF Annie Eldridge had travelled to Ireland she may have sought accommodation with the family of her friends in Australia.


The ruins of Doondahlin, 2007
© K. Vincent 2007





9 comments:

  1. I have included your blog in INTERESTING BLOGS in FRIDAY FOSSICKING at
    https://thatmomentintime-crissouli.blogspot.com/2018/08/friday-fossicking-24th-august-2018.html
    Thank you, Chris

    ReplyDelete
  2. Very interesting blog - good to have solved who the artist was.A lovely position, but guess it would have been blustery and freezing opening the door in winter

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks, Flissie. I have been there during an Atlantic gale in May, and have never been so cold!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi

    I'm an antiques dealer and collector, and I was the successful bidder on the oystershell frame paintings by Annie Eldridge.
    Her work is very scarce. I have a view of an Australian landscape (Walkerville South, near Wilson's Prom) also by Eldridge, and on the reverse it bears the inscription "Annie Eldridge migrated from Ireland c.1880". I do hope this information is of some use to you, as I found your blog fascinating!

    Kind Regards
    James

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks, James. I’m pleased you enjoyed it. Another little clue - Looks like it’s back to the drawing board to identify Annie! I hope you scrolled down to read my post on Walkerville too. If you read this reply, could you please contact me by email using the ‘Contact me’ form at the side of post? Thanks again.

    ReplyDelete
  6. I have stood watching my wife's cousin playing Gaelic Football in the field next to the Pilkington's house in August and I had to get my Parka it was so cold.
    My father-in-law from Kiltrellig just up the road from Kilbaha was born in 1911 and remembered well as a 10 year old the destruction of Doondahlin and the satisfaction it gave to the local population. The Pilkingtons however always seemed to engender a sense affection for him.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much for your comment! So nice to have some local perspective.

      Delete
  7. Hi, Just happened accross this blog as I was doing a little research on the history of Dun Dallin. The football match redferred to earlier took place many years ago as games haven't been played in "Haier's Field" for 30 years or more. My late grandfather bought the land at Dun Dallin in the 1950s. The ruins of the Lodge as we call it have been of interest to many visitors down the years. Times were desperately hard in the era so it wouldn't be surprising that locals weren't dismayed at the fire which destroyed the Lodge. The Reading Room or "turret" built on the cliff edge is still of interest to people. Hundreds would visit once but the reality of potential injury and subsequent liability has meant the lands were closed of to walking visitors. As a working farm with livestock it is too risky to encourage visitors. That being said those who wanted to see the ruins of the buildings always found a way. I remember Marcus Keanes grand daughter visiting West Clare with her family. They used to call to our farm for milk during their summer holidays in Kilbaha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you for your comment. I can appreciate the risk for the landowner in allowing people to traverse those cliffs. However, I did manage to visit the Turret and the swimming pool in 2014 when I was escorted by a local. Very happy to have had the opportunity!

      Delete