Robert Halpin - Tinakilly House

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.

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 Brunei Dining Room.

In total, it cost £40,000 to build Tinakilly (about £4 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.