Dictionary of Irish Architects 1720 - 1940

English critic, art historian, poet and amateur architect, for whom see Oxford DNB. According to a memoir written by his daughter Gwenllian, Francis Palgrave had been attracted to the idea of becoming an architect at an early age:  'The choice of what should be his permanent work was now much occupying him and his father. For some time his own inclination leaned strongly towards the study of architecture as a profession, for he inherited his mother's unusually great love and knowledge of the subject; and his own architectural sketches, though without Lady Palgrave's extreme ability and beauty of drawing, were distinguished by accuracy of detail and much delicacy of touch. Although this project was abandoned, he never ceased to enjoy making designs for imaginary buildings, and not many years after, he had the pleasure of designing a school-house for a friend in Ireland; in this little work he is said to have shown much originality and pure architectural feeling.'(1)  A perspective view of the school in the British Museum,(2) drawn and engraved by Palgrave in 1860 and entitled 'School, Monaghan, Ireland' shows the building in question to be the schoolhouse at Cornagilta, Tydavnet, Co. Monaghan.  The school was built - along with a teacher's house - in 1859 by Gertrude Rose (1828-1907), daughter of Thomas Rose, surgeon in the 2nd Life Guards, who had inherited the estate of Mullaghmore, Tydavnet, from her uncle James Rose (d. 1841) in 1842 while she was still a minor.(3)  According to an inscription above the door of the school, she erected it in memory of her mother, Mary Ann (née Mair), who had died in 1857.(4) Gertrude Rose and Palgrave had a mutual friend in the person of Frederick Temple (1821-1902), the future Archbishop of Canterbury, and it was probably through him that the connection was made. The fact that Palgrave worked in the Education Department in Whitehall from 1849 to 1884(5) would have furnished an additional reason for his having been asked for a design.



References

This entry is based on information provided by local historian Patrick Brady of Tydavnet and by Kevin V. Mulligan, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan,  in Jan 2014. 


(1) Gwenllian Florence Palgrave, Francis Turner Palgrave: His Journals And Memories Of His Life (1899), 42-43.
(2) School in Monaghan.Ireland /1860/ F.T. Palgrave dis.et.sc., British Museum, 1902,0514.1026 (see British Museum Catalogue, http://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection , last visited Jan 2014).  The image is reversed. 
(3) Walford's County Families of the United Kingdom (1902), 893. 
(4) The missing dedicatory inscription from above the school door was discovered in the churchyard at Ballinode, Co. Monaghan, by Patrick Brady who restored it to its original position (see FisherBelfast's Blog http://fisherbelfast.wordpress.com/tag/cornagilta-school/ , last visited Jan 2014).
(5) Wikipedia,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Turner_Palgrave (last visited Jan, 2014).


1 work entries listed in chronological order for PALGRAVE, FRANCIS TURNER #


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Building: CO. MONAGHAN, CORNAGILTA (TYDAVNET), SCHOOL
Date: 1859
Nature: Neo-Gothic schoolhouse for Miss Gertrude Rose of Mullaghmore.
Refs: Engraved sketch perspective view School in Monaghan.Ireland /1860/ F.T. Palgrave dis.et.sc. in British Museum, 1902,0514.1026;  4;  Gwenllian Florence Palgrave, Francis Turner Palgrave: His Journals And Memories Of His Life (1899),42-43; information from Patrick Brady, Tydavnet, Co. Monaghan, and Kevin V. Mulligan, Carrickmacross, Co. Monaghan, Jan 2014.