Cork’s merchant pride is revived
William Laffan celebrates the return to Cork of two historic collections, a triumph for Ireland’s tax credit scheme.
William Laffan, Monday, 25th August 2008
The destruction of Woodhill now seems an act of appalling cultural vandalism but an equally important Cork house faces the same fate today. Vernon Mount (Figs 6 and 7) was built for Henry Browne Hayes, a successful merchant who, like Cooper Penrose, had interests in the city’s glass industry. Probably designed by Abraham Hargrave, it is one of the most refined and unusual of all Cork mansions. Hayes’s story intersects with that of Penrose. In 1797 he abducted the Quaker heiress Mary Pike while she was staying at Woodhill. At gunpoint, he forced her to marry him, for which he was sentenced to transportation to Botany Bay. In Australia he lived in some splendour, building the mansion of Vaucluse overlooking Sydney harbour, which became the first property of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales. By contrast, his home at Vernon Mount, now owned by an Irish consortium, has been shamefully neglected, its interiors – with remarkable ceiling paintings by Nathaniel Grogan – exposed to the elements. Through the lobbying of the Irish Georgian Society it has recently been added to the World Monuments Fund Watch List of the world’s 100 Most Endangered Sites. This and the growing public outcry at its woeful state will, it is hoped, spare it the sorry fate of Bowen’s Court and Woodhill.
Vernon Mount highlights the importance of the Irish Heritage Trust in protecting and promoting Ireland’s architectural and artistic heritage. It is a great achievement that within a few years of its creation not only will it have conserved Fota, but also hung it with a magnificent and appropriate collection of Irish art. It is rare for a new museum of historic painting to be created from scratch. It is also fitting that the flourishing state of the Cork business community has enabled the collection of one of their great predecessors to return to the city. The civic patriotism that Cork engenders – gently mocked it may be said in Dublin – is as manifest today in its latest generation of merchant princes. This generosity of spirit is further evident in the close collaboration between the Heritage Trust and the Crawford, with talk of loans to Fota from the gallery’s collection. Of course, the happiest outcome of all would be the short-term loan of David’s only Irish portrait to Cooper Penrose’s hometown.
For information on the Crawford Art Gallery, visit www.crawfordartgallery.com
For information on Fota and the Irish Heritage Trust, visit www.irishheritagetrust.ie
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