The history of Tinakilly House
The name Tinakilly is derived from the townland of Tinakilly on which the house is built. It comes from the Gaelic; Ti = house: na = of the: Coille = wood. So the whole name in Irish means “House of the Wood”. It is probable that a farmhouse of the same name was on the site or close by. Some of the trees in the garden appear to predate the house, which took ten years to build and was completed in 1883.
Tinakilly was constructed for Captain Robert Halpin, who was born in Wicklow Town and who succeeded in becoming Commander of The Great Eastern when it laid most of the world’s transoceanic telegraph cables. The cable connecting Europe to America was laid in 1866 from Valentia Bay in Ireland to Hearts Content in Canada. A section of this cable and a fine colour print of The Great Eastern can be seen today in Tinakilly House. Most of Captain Halpin’s memorabilia is in the National Maritime Museum in Dun Laoghaire.
Halpin is reputed to have been given an open cheque by the British Government to build his new mansion in gratitude for his contribution to improving world communications and thereby world trade. He recruited the then very fashionable Irish architect, James Franklin Fuller, to design the house. The timber, which is so evident and gives such character, was selected in London by Halpin. The doors on the ground floor are of Burmese mahogany with many panels of different woods, the best of which are in “birds eye” maple. The architrave’s, window shutters and stairs are in American pitch pine. Fireplaces were imported from Italy with the exception of the drawing room where a fine Georgian one, probably from an old house in Dublin, graces the room. The cellar, with space for 2,000 bottles of wine, is built of brick while the rest of the construction is in stone and mortar. The original working drawings can be seen hanging in the AnteRoom to the Brunel Dining Room.
In total, it cost £40,000 to build Tinakilly (about £2 million Sterling in today’s value). The great hall cum living room with its fine gallery is the main feature. All ceilings are heavily corniced and are 14 foot high on the ground floor.
In 1870 the land extended to 400 acres and life in the great house was on a grand scale. Two Head Gardener’s were employed, one for inside the walled garden to grow fruit and vegetables and the other to supervise the seven acres of pleasure gardens. A duty for one of the maids each week was to wash and scrub the granite steps in the garden. In the summer, 20 boys from the village of Rathnew were employed to hoe the extensive rose garden. There are fine stands of beech eucalyptus and evergreen oak while two giant sequoias (American Redwood) are at either end of the old tennis court. The site chosen for the house is on elevated ground two miles north of Wicklow Town, overlooking Broadlough Bird Sanctuary and the Irish Sea. There was however no source of fresh water. A stream about a half mile away and 150ft lower was found and a leather ram pump was built to feed three 1,000 gallon tanks in the roof of Tinakilly. In later years even the local council water was unsatisfactory and a 300ft well was sunk to guarantee a sure supply. This has now been augmented by a full 4” fire fighting water main.
On his retirement from seafaring Halpin stood for parliament. Though he was not successful, one can imagine that Tinakilly was a useful asset in entertaining constituents as he learned political skills. One of the early visitors to the house was Alfred Lord Tennyson who is reputed to have read “In Memoriam” to a party of invited nuns. A fine obelisk stands in Fitzwilliam Square, Wicklow Town, as a tribute from the locals to Captain Halpin and his exploits.
Halpin married the daughter of a wealthy Canadian whaling merchant. They had three daughters, the youngest of whom, Belle, lived in Tinakilly until the early 1950’s. Captain Halpin died at the young age of 58 from blood poisoning after cutting his toe.
In 1949 the house and lands were purchased by Augustus Cullen, a Wicklow solicitor. The Trustee’s sold on condition that Belle Halpin retain the house for her lifetime, which she did until 1952. Rumour has it that her ghost continued to occupy the house as well as Miss Halpin’s housekeeper – hence the Cullen's never took occupation. During the last six years of Mr Cullen’s ownership, the house was only used in the summer when it was rented by a group of Jesuit priests for summer retreats. Any ghosts quickly departed.
In 1959 the new house and lands were sold to Mr Gunther Smith whose nephew, Mr Heinrich Rolfe, inherited the property in 1962. His wife ran the house as a guesthouse while Mr Rolfe concentrated on farming. A colourful Frenchman called Jean Claude Thibaud then rented the house and ran it as a “Restaurant Francais”. A thatched cottage bar was constructed in the hall while stucco plaster on the dining room walls appeared to give an effect of “waves by the sea”. One day Jean Claude discovered his kitchen chimney was blocked by the home of a family of building crows. Not wishing to climb out onto the roof to discover which of the 36 chimney pots needed freeing, he took a sledgehammer to a top floor bedroom and through the flue of a fireplace allowing the smoke into the bedroom. He then opened the window and closed the door. A French solution to an Irish problem.
In 1978 an Irish couple, Dermot & Anne Garland, who had experience in running the Pembroke Restaurant in Dublin, swapped with the Thibauds and completed a purchase agreement for Tinakilly House and the pleasure gardens. Mr Rolfe retained the farmland. The Garland’s spent a lot of money in redecorating Tinakilly and ran a successful restaurant. Dermot tragically contracted kidney disease and died leaving Anne to struggle on with their two young sons. In 1982 she sold out to William & Bee Power.
William Power had a successful system building factory in Wicklow and he and his wife wished to move from Dublin to be close to Wicklow Town. They had vague ideas of one day opening it as a guesthouse but really just wanted a large quiet place in the country for themselves and their four children. All of this quickly changed when it was discovered that Tinakilly had an extensive infection of the terminal illness known as dry rot. This insidious and secretive fungus had spread over all of the external walls. Expensive surgical action was required. Using his own building team, William proceeded to strip all of the plaster from the inside of all external walls. All timber doors, window lintels and the ends of all floor joists had to be taken out and replaced. 18” holes were then drilled in the walls from cellar to attic and a drench sprayed in to saturate the mortar and ensure that this rot would never develop again. The repair work after this surgery involved replastering and replacing all damaged cornices.
To fund this work it was decided to proceed immediately to develop a full hotel putting bathrooms ensuite to all bedrooms and installing a modern fully equipped kitchen. Redecorating and furnishing of the hotel was undertaken by William & Bee to ensure the homely Victorian character so evident to the visitor today. Great care has been taken in all reconstruction work to maintain the nautical theme. Bedrooms were named after ships.
Fortunately the enterprise has been very successful. Bee ran the place for the first few years while William carried on at the building trade. William then sold his building interests and came fulltime to run the hotel. In the summer tourists come while in the winter many business conferences and meetings take place during the week with weekends in strong demand from lovers of peace and quiet augmented by good food.
In 1991 the Power’s constructed 15 suites all overlooking the Irish Sea and Broadlough Bird Sanctuary. Sunrise is a spectacle to behold. The Victorian Halpin room was developed to cater for conferences.
In 1997 the East wing was extended northwards with the addition of 24 suites and a lift, bringing the total compliment of bedrooms to 51. Also in that year, a new dining room, the Brunel, was built to the west of the house. The size of the kitchen, laundry and staff facilities were increased. All of this work has been architect controlled to ensure the true character of Tinakilly is maintained. Furnishings and decoration have again been closely supervised by William & Bee to whom Tinakilly is a labour of love.
In January 2000, Tinakilly was taken over by William & Bee’s son and daughter-in-law, Raymond & Josephine, who has continued to run Tinakilly with the same dedication as William & Bee.
Early in 2007 the House and accompanied lands were sold to Cova Property Management. Cova was established in 1998 by Pat Shine, Bill Mulrooney and Brendan Fitzsimons. The management team are highly experienced in finance, property acquisition and development and they have a strong record of success. In addition, they have assembled a core team of experienced financial and property managers who work in partnership with leading external investment adviser as required.
The company’s primary focus is now to ensure that the high standards of service delivery at Tinakilly House are constantly maintained to enchance the customer experience.
|
