TERENCE O'ROURKE writes about the development of Saint Patrick's College, Maynooth, County Kildare

Figure 1: An extract from the first edition of the Ordnance Survey (surveyed 1837; published 1839) showing the "Royal College of Saint Patrick" centred on Saint Joseph's Square, composed of the extended eighteenth-century Stoyte House.  Samuel Lewis (1837) described the college as 'buildings [forming] three sides of a quadrangle, comprising various lecture-rooms, a refectory, library, and a chapel, with apartments for the president, masters, and professors.  The library contains about 10,000 volumes, to which a considerable addition has been recently made by the late Dr. Boylan [Reverend Christopher Boylan (d. 1832)], formerly professor of the English and French languages in this college, and afterwards superior of the Irish college in Rome' (Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Ireland Volume II (1837), p.350)

On the 5th of June, 1795, Maynooth became a centre for education with the establishment of the Royal College of Saint Patrick by an act of parliament 'for the better education of persons professing the Popish or Roman Catholic religion' (fig. 1).  It was established to train Catholic priests who were in short supply since the introduction of the Penal Laws in the late seventeenth century, laws that forbid the education of Catholic priests in Ireland, and its foundation can be interpreted as a major step towards Catholic Emancipation in 1829.

Figure 2: A view of Stoyte House, the house erected (1792) for John Stoyte, steward of the Carton estate.  Extended from 1896 to 1800 to a design by Michael Stapleton (c.1747-1801), Stoyte House was again remodelled in the mid twentieth century

Although the bishops responsible for the establishment of the college south after a site in or near Dublin, no such site was available.  William Robert Fitzgerald (1749-1804), second Duke of Leinster, and his wife Emilia Olivia (c.1753-98), offered fifty-eight acres of land near their estate at Carton, Maynooth, together with an existing house built (1792) for John Stoyte, their steward.  The college admitted its first students in October 1795 and the first building is still known as Stoyte House (fig. 2).  Michael Stapleton (c.1747-1801), builder and stuccadore of Dublin, oversaw the extension of the house from 1796 to 1800.

Fifty students were initially enrolled, but in the following years the demand from prospective seminarians increased significantly.  By 1820 the college had 350 students and by 1837 the number had risen to 450.  By 1850 it was the largest Catholic seminary in the world.

In the early years the availability of suitable staff and buildings limited the number of entrants: the staffing issue was resolved by an intake of tutors, while the lack of accommodation necessitated the major building programme undertaken in the following decades.

The first purpose-built building was Stapleton's extension, known as the Long Corridor, running almost north-south to the rear of Stoyte House.  The proposed master plan was for a square, subsequently named Saint Joseph's Square, framing the eastern side of which would be Stoyte House and the Long Corridor.

In 1809 the construction of New House, which framed the northern side of the square, was completed.  Dunboyne House, for postgraduate students, was constructed in 1815 and forms the first building of the southern range.  Humanity House, completing the southern range, was begun in 1822 and completed in 1824.

Although originally intended as a dedicated seminary, the college soon accepted lay students.  Riverstown Lodge, also built by Stoyte in 1780, was leased for use as the Lay College in 1802 but, by 1817, was made redundant by the opening of the nearby Clongowes Wood.  Riverstown Lodge was subsequently assimilated into the buildings of the seminary and from 1831 to 1833 two further buildings, Rhetoric House and Logic House, were added, all three being used to house the Junior College.

Figure 3: A view of Saint Mary's Square, the open-ended quadrangle completed to a simplified design by Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52).  The "square" incorporates a variety of college services, all surrounded by an impressive cloister and surmounted by dormitories.  The library features a "medieval" Hammerbeam roof and stencil work recalling, in prosaic form, Pugin's celebrated decoration of the Palace of Westminster (1844-56), London

In 1845 the British government sanctioned £30,000 for the further expansion of the college and the architect appointed to the project was Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-52), the renowned Gothic Revivalist.  Pugin's master plan called for a second quadrangle, Saint Mary's Square, but the commission proved a turbulent one (fig. 3).  Pugin, writing to his English patron, John Talbot (1791-1852), sixteenth Earl of Shrewsbury, complained: 'There are great difficulties with Maynooth; the grant is quite insufficient for the building'.  Resigning from the project in 1846, Pugin was reappointed in 1847 for a reduced scheme eliminating the financially-unviable chapel.

Figure 4: A view of Saint Patrick's Collegiate Chapel, erected (1875-91) to a design by James Joseph McCaethy (1817-82) of Dublin, who excelled at creating a highly decorated and ornamented place of worship, in contrast to the severity of Pugin's adjoining "square".  The tower, completed (1889-1902) to a design by William Hague (1836-99) of Cavan and Dublin, impresses as a prominent landmark in Maynooth

James Joseph McCarthy (1817-82) was later appointed to design a chapel on the north side of the square (fig. 4).  Begun in 1875, only the shell was completed at the time of McCarthy's death.  William Hague (1836-99) oversaw the completion of the chapel, consecrated in 1891, the interior of which is without doubt the finest in the college (figs. 5-6).

Figures 5-6: A riot of ornamentation, McCarthy's designs for the interior included these richly decorated columns of polished marble and delicately chiselled capitals while each window features a stained glass panel adding a jewel-like quality to the chapel.  Click here to view the Building of the Month November 2010: Saint Patrick's Collegiate Chapel

The almost freestanding tower was added in 1899-1902 under the supervision of Thomas Francis McNamara (1867-1947) following Hague's death.  The Aula Maxima, or Exam Hall, was constructed in 1892-3 to the north-east of the chapel.

Later buildings erected within the grounds of the college include the Junior Hospital (1835-6); the Museum (1932); and the Pope John Paul II Memorial Library (1984).

Terence O'Rourke, NUIM Graduate

Figures 2-3, 5-6 photographed by Patrick Donald for the NIAH publication An Introduction to the Architectural Heritage of County Kildare

FURTHER READING

O'Dwyer, Frederick, "A.W.N Pugin and Saint Patrick's College, Maynooth" in Potterton, Homan (ed.), Irish Arts Review Yearbook Volume 12 (Dublin: Irish Arts Review 1996), pp.102-9