Downhill Demesne

Downhill Demesne
Downhill, County Londonderry County Londonderry
National Trust
Downhill House
Grid reference:	C75853588
Location:	55°9’52"N, 6°48’38"W
Information
Website:	Downhill Demesne and Hezlett House

The Downhill Demesne is a grand estate in County Londonderry, centred on the Downhill House, at village of Downhill. It is now in the ownership of the National Trust.

The jewel of the demesne was Downhill House, a striking 18th-century mansion built for the eccentric Earl Bishop, Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry, but the house now lies in ruins. In the parkland about the house are several delights, including Mussenden Temple, perched on the cliff edge.

The cliffs here overlook the Atlantic Ocean, and provide magnificent cliiftop walks, and rugged headland views across the county's long north coast.

Nearby is Hezlett House, also belonging to the National Trust

Downhill House

Downhill House was a mansion built in the 18th century for Frederick Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol. Much of the building was destroyed by fire in 1851 before being rebuilt in the 1870s. It fell into disrepair after the Second World War.

History

Frederick Hervey commissioned work at Downhill Demesne near the village of Castlerock in the early 1770s, after he was made the Bishop of Derry in 1768. Downhill House, overlooking Downhill Strand and Benone on the north coast of Ireland, was built by the architect Michael Shanahan, although it has been suggested that James Wyatt or Charles Cameron may also have been involved in the early stages of design.

The construction of the House, and the nearby Mussenden Temple, cost an estimated £80,000. The original principal entrance to the estate was the Lion's Gate, which was actually guarded by two heraldic ounces or snow leopards, the supporters of the Hervey coat of arms. In 1784, this entrance was replaced by the Bishop's Gate. The interior of the house was decorated with frescoes and statues and hung with works by several well-known artists.

After Hervey's death in 1803, the estate passed to his cousin, the Rev. Henry Bruce, who had acted as steward of the Estate during the Earl-Bishop's absences. Bruce's sister was Frideswide Mussenden, for whom Mussenden Temple was built, and which became a memorial after her death.

Downhill was recorded to have escaped serious damage during the Night of the Big Wind in 1839, but in 1851 a fire damaged a significant part of the house and destroyed the library. Frederick Hervey had amassed a large collection of art, which was kept at Downhill and another residence he built at Ballyscullion. The fire destroyed works by artists including Correggio, Dürer, Murillo, Rubens and Tintoretto, although it was reported that most of the paintings had been saved.

The restoration of the house began in 1870 and continued until 1874 under John Lanyon, the son of architect Charles Lanyon, who maintained many of the original features, although some of the original layout was altered and additions made to the floorplan and decor.

During the Second World War, the house was used to billet RAF servicemen and -women. The Bruce family continued to own the house until 1946; by 1950, it had been dismantled and the surrounding land sold. The house was acquired by the National Trust in 1980; the temple had become a Trust property in the 1940s.

Reactions to the house

While the location and design of the building has been described as a "spectacular" example of the aesthetic idea of the Sublime, contemporary opinion was not always positive. After a visit in 1801, one visitor wrote of the location:

It is impossible not to regret the misapplication of so much treasure upon a spot where no suitable Desmesne can be created...where the salt spray begins to corrode this sumptuous pile of Grecian Architecture, and the imagination anticipating the distant period weeps over the splendid Ruin, a sad monument of human folly.

Another, Edward Wakefield, said in 1812 that he had, "Never seen so bad a house occupy as much ground."

Mussenden Temple

The Mussenden Temple

Mussenden Temple is a small circular building standing on cliffs at the edge of the Downhill Demesne, high above the Atlantic Ocean.

The temple was built in 1785 by Frederick Augustus Hervey. Built as a library and modelled from the Temple of Vesta in Italy, it is dedicated to the memory of Hervey's cousin Frideswide Mussenden.

Over the years the erosion of the cliff face at Downhill has brought Mussenden Temple ever closer to the edge, and in 1997 the National Trust carried out cliff stabilisation work to prevent the loss of the building.

The inscription around the building reads,

Suave, mari magno turbantibus aequora ventis
e terra magnum alterius spectare laborem.

'Tis pleasant, safely to behold from shore
The troubled sailor, and hear the tempests roar.'

(From Lucretius De Rerum Natura, 2.1-2)

As part of the National Trust's estate, the temple is open on certain days, and admission is free. The Temple offers views westwards over Downhill Strand towards Magilligan Point and County Donegal and to the east Castlerock beach towards Portstewart, Portrush and Fair Head.

The temple obtained a licence to hold civil wedding ceremonies in 2007.

Also on the estate

The Demesne also includes a dovecote, walled gardens, a belvedere, or summer house, built for Hervey's daughter and a mausoleum dedicated to his brother George Hervey, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland. The Public Record Office of Northern Ireland holds over 1000 documents relating to the Hervey-Bruce family dating from the mid-18th century to the early 20th century, including detailed information about Downhill.

Outside links

("Wikimedia Commons" has material about Downhill Demesne)

• Downhill Demesne and Hezlett House – National Trust
• Parks and Gardens UK detailed description of the architectural elements of the Demesne