Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

Stonecutter and architect, of Dublin. Hugh Darley, a younger son of HENRY DARLEY [1]  HENRY DARLEY [1] of Newtownards, Co. Down, was born in 1701.(1) He had presumably moved to Dublin by 1725, when he is reported as having built a house on Bachelor's Walk.(2) He worked with his brother MOSES DARLEY  MOSES DARLEY at Trinity College, Dublin in 1740(3) and was working as a stonecutter on the Four Courts in 1749.(4) In the 1850s and 1860s hes back in Trinity as the builder in charge of the erection of the west front and Parliament Square, the rebuilding of the dining hall and - with a George Darley, presumably GEORGE DARLEY [1] -  GEORGE DARLEY [1] - of the provost's house.(5) He first appears in Wilson's Dublin Directory in 1761, where he is designated 'architect'. He is presumably the 'Mr Darley' whom the committee of the Dublin Society considered asking for plans and estimates for proposed new premises in Anglesea Street in 1764.(6) He is known to have worked in Cos. Antrim, Down, Louth and Westmeath(7) as well as in Dublin.

Hugh Darley's death in 1771 is noted in Faulkner's Dublin Journal for 10-12 December, where he is described as having been 'formerly an eminent stonecutter'. He was twice married, first to Elizabeth Caldbeck and second, in 1744, to Catherine Shepheard.(8) A daughter, Sarah, married ROBERT BALL  ROBERT BALL in April 1755.(9)

Addresses:(10) Lower Abbey Street, 1761-1763; Marlborough Street, 1764-1771.

See WORKS.



References



(1) Information from manuscript 'Pedigree charts of the Darley family in Ireland 1700-1926' in the possession of Mrs R.C Lewis-Crosby (1998).
(2) Registry of Deeds 44/448/30065 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(3) Trinity college muniments, MUN/P/2/74.
(4) NA/PRO (Kew) SO 1.20, f.77 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(5) Trinity college muniments, MUN/P/2/96, 98, 100-5, 111, 113-5, 119, 120, 123-5, 130, 132, 135, 138-40, 142-3.
(6) Royal Dublin Society Minutes, 10 May 1764 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44); M. Craig, 'The Society's Buildings' in Royal Dublin Society: The Royal Dublin society 1731-1981 (1981), 57.
(7) NA/PRO Prim MSS contain reference to William Colles sending building materials to Hugh Darley at Mullingar in 1751 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(8) See note 1, above.
(9) Pue's Impartial Occurrences, 22 Apr 1755 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc. 2008/44).
(10) From Wilson's Dublin Directory.


13 work entries listed in chronological order for DARLEY, HUGH *


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Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, BACHELOR'S WALK, HOUSE
Date: 1725a
Nature: House built by HD.
Refs: Registry of Deeds 44/448/30065 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DOWN, DOWNPATRICK, CHURCH STREET, CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY (CI, DOWN PARISH)
Date: 1734
Nature: 'Mr Darley' paid £27 for work on rebuilding parish church. (Hugh or Arthur?)
Refs: Information from William Roulston, citing Downpatrick Church of Ireland vestry minute book (MIC/1/38);  exterior of church illus. in Fred Rankin, ed., Clergy of Down and Dromore (Ulster Historical Foundation, 1996), 104, and Claude Costegalde & Brian Walker, The Church of Ireland: an illustrated history (2013), 191.


Building: CO. DOWN, DOWNPATRICK, COURT HOUSE
Date: 1737
Nature: Described as 'designed and well executed by Mr Hugh Darling of Dublin' by Harris.
Refs: W. Harris, The Antient and present state of the County of Down (1744), 32 (this information is repeated in Hibernian Magazine, May 1777); C.E.B. Brett, Court Houses and Market Houses of the Province of Ulster (UAHS, 1973), 66; Gordon Wheeler, 'John Lynn - Architect/Contractor/Engineer', Lecale Miscellany (1997), 38

Building: CO. ANTRIM, CARRICKFERGUS, DRAGOON & FOOT BARRACKS
Date: 1737-8
Nature: Repairs, for Arthur Dobbs.
Refs: C.E.B. Brett, Court Houses and Market Houses of the Province of Ulster (UAHS, 1973), 66

Building: CO. ANTRIM, BELFAST, BARRACKS
Date: 1739
Nature: Rebult by HD?
Refs: Letter from Arthur Dobbs to HD, re rebuilding of barracks in PRONI D162/31,32 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DOWN, BALLYNACRAIG (DOWNPATRICK), CHURCH OF ST PATRICK (CI, INCH PARISH)
Date: 1742
Nature: Payment of of £11 10s. 5½d made HD by Robert Maxwell, 14 Apr 1742. As nothing else in accounts suggests that he was involved in work to the house at Finnebrogue, payment was possibly for new C of I church (Inch parish) dated 1742 by Lewis..
Refs: Accounts of Robert Maxwell of Finnebrogue, PRONI D/1556/16/14/10 (information from William Roulston)

Building: CO. LOUTH, DROGHEDA, PETER'S HILL, CHURCH OF ST PETER (CI)
Date: 1748-1752
Nature: New church attr. to HD. Consecrated 1 Sep 1752.
Refs: Christine Casey & Alistair Rowan, The Buildings of Ireland: North Leinster (1993), 48,237,Pls.71,72;  Michael Graham, St Peter's Church of Ireland, Drogheda (2002) says attr. has been questioned  (information from Dr David Lawrence, Gladestry, Powys, Jul 2012).

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, ST MICHAEL'S HILL, FOUR COURTS (OLD)
Date: 1749
Nature: HD works as stonecutter on same.
Refs: NA/PRO SO 1.20, f.77 (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, TRINITY COLLEGE, WEST FRONT
Date: 1752-9
Nature: Work on West Front supervised by HD, who had been sent to London to procure designs for same. (North angle ready for roofing and part of West front being pulled down, 1755 (Universal Advertiser, 6 Mar 1755); finished by beginning of 1759 (|Pue's Occurrences|, 20 Jan 1759)
Refs: M. Craig, Dublin 1660-1860 (1952), 180n, citing JHCI, 14 Nov 1759, Account No. XXXV; 'TCD Vouchers etc.' (IAA, Edward McParland files, Acc.2008/44); E.McParland, 'Trinity College, Dublin - II', Country Life, 13 May 1976, 1243-5; see also F. O'Dwyer, 'Building empires: architecture, politics and the Board of Works 1760-1860', Irish Architectural and Decorative Studies 5 (2002), 122ff.;  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 391.

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, COLLEGE GREEN, TRINITY COLLEGE, DINING HALL
Date: 1760ca
Nature: Rebuilding of Richard Castle's dining hall, which had collapsed.
Refs: E.McParland, 'Trinity College, Dublin - II', Country Life, 13 May 1976, 1244,1245(illus.);  Christine Casey, The Buildings of Ireland: Dublin (2005), 398, Pl.32.

Building: CO. LOUTH, DROGHEDA, MALL, MAYORALTY HOUSE
Date: 1769ca
Nature: 2-storey, 3-bay builting with pedimented breakfront and Venetian window on 1st floor. Designed and building superintended by HD.
Refs: Drogheda Corporation Book (E.McP); M. Craig, The Architecture of Ireland (1982), 196n,201(illus.); P.J. Geraghty, 'Urban improvement and the erection of municipal buildings in County Louth during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries', County Louth Archaeological and Historical Journal 23, no. 3 (1995), 304; Official Guide to Drogheda (Drogheda UDC, 1963), ?

Building: CO. LOUTH, TOWNLEY HALL
Date: ?
Nature: HD had some connection with Townley Hall.
Refs: E.McP files, citing TCD MS 3771 (information given to him by R. Loeber)

Building: CO. DUBLIN, DUBLIN, O'CONNELL STREET UPPER, HOUSE(S) ON WEST SIDE
Date: ?
Nature: One or more of these built by HD.
Refs: Georgian Society Records III, 96