Crumlin Ho. — Unknown Townland

In the early eighteenth-century Crumlin House was built by Joseph Deane, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, possibly onto the rear of an earlier manor house (Ball 1906, Vol. 4, 141-4; Mac Giolla Phádraig 1954, 36-37). This red brick house is incorporated into the present building which is in the hands of the Salesian Fathers. Pre-development assessment on the grounds of the house in 2000 produced pits which contained numerous inclusions of mortar, bone and post-medieval pottery. A drawing of Crumlin House in 1904 by Mr. T. J. Westropp shows the building as an eight bay, two storey over basement with central pedimented breakfront. Doorway in centre of pediment with oculus in apex of pediment. Tall rectangular chimney stacks rising to the rear of the house above the roofline suggest the possibility of an earlier house, possibly the medieval or 17th century manor house of Crumlin. It has been suggested by McLoughlin (2013, 14) that the label on this drawing is incorrect and that the sketch is a depiction of Lisle House (DU018-038006-) located 430m to the NW rather than Crumlin House. A black and white photograph of Crumlin House shows the building as a five bay three storey high house with central pedimented breakfront with side wings and tall chimneystacks which resembles the 1904 sketch by Westropp. Rocque's 1760 map of County Dublin shows Crumlin House as a U-plan or half H-plan house standing within a large walled garden with fish-ponds. According to ball (1906, 140-1); 'At the close of the sixteenth century the Purcell family, which was seated near the village until the last century, 1st first mentioned as resident at Crumlin, and in 1609 Edmund Purcell was leased land then belonging to the church [DU018-038001-]. About the latter time John Brice, who was mayor of Dublin in 1605, was connected with Crumlin, and also a family called Brereton is mentioned as living there. But the most important resident in the first part of the seventeenth century was Sir Patrick Fox, sometime Clerk of the Council, who then acquired much property in Crumlin and occupied what was known as the manor house. His widow and family were in possession of the house at the time of the Rebellion, and according to a deposition made by Captain Thomas Harley, who was a contractor for the supply of transport to the army and who had a house and farm in Crumlin, were party to the spoiling of the possessions of persons like himself. The greater portion of the Crumlin lands came, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, into the possession of Major Joseph Deane, who has been already mentioned as the owner of Terenure at that time. As stated in the history of Terenure, Major Deane, although identified with Commonwealth principles as brother of one of the regicides and an officer in Cromwell's army, rose under monarchal rule to a high position in this country and sat in the Restoration parliament as member for the borough of Inistiogue in the County Kilkenny, where he owned property and a residence. He was prominent in the political movements of his time. In 1682 he was in correspondence with the Duke of Ormonde as to schemes for collecting the Irish revenue, and in 1694, although then not in parliament, he was consulted by some of its most influential members on the great question of that day, the powers of the Irish parliament with respect to money bills. He appears to have lived constantly at Crumlin and probably occupied the manor house in which Sir Patrick Fox had resided. On his death in 1699 Major Deane was succeeded at Crumlin by his son Joseph's only son, who bore the same Christian name, and at Terenure, as already stated, by his son Edward. The Right Hon. Joseph Deane, Chief Baron of the Exchequer, as Major Deane's grandson became, was the builder of the red brick house, which still adorns Crumlin village, and used it as his country residence. To that position he was called in 1703 at the general election on the accession of Queen Anne, and he continued to occupy it until 1714, when on the accession of George I. he was raised to the bench as Chief Baron. His judicial honours were only enjoyed for a brief space, as in less than a year, in May, 1715, his death took place. About ten years after the Chief Baron's death [c. 1725] his house at Crumlin was advertised for sale. It is described as a handsome new-fashioned residence, and was surrounded by walled gardens in which there were fish ponds. Apparently it was not disposed of at that time, and was subsequently occupied under the Chief Baron's representatives by the Hon. Richard Allen, the third son of the first Viscount Allen of Stillorgan and father of the third and fourth peers of that title. The Hon. Richard Allen, who was a captain in the army, inherited his father's Kildare estate and represented that county in the Irish parliament, of which he and his brothers were well-known members. Their capacity for parliamentary business does not seem from contemporary references to them to have been great, but in the announcement of his death, which occurred at Crumlin in 1745. The Chief Baron's house was afterwards occupied for a time by Philip Walsh, an eminent King's Counsel, who represented the claimant in the famous Annesley peerage case, and who died in the same year as Captain Allen'. McLoughlin, R. 2013 Crumlin Village Architectural Conservation Area Report by Lotts Architecture and Urbanism. Dublin City Council. See attached 1904 drawing of Crumlin House, taken from Ball 1906, 142. and photograph of Crumlin House courtesy of Bob Davies at https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10164478158405177&set=p.10164478158405177&type=3&theater Revised by: Caimin O'Brien Date of revised upload: 4 January 2023