The Irish Free State (comprising the 26 counties of former Southern Ireland) became a British dominion in 1922. When formally proclaimed the Republic of Ireland in 1949, it left the Commonwealth but retained the main advantages of membership. Britain’s diplomatic relations with Ireland therefore continued to be the responsibility of the Commonwealth Relations Office. Sir Gilbert Laithwaite, a deputy under-secretary in that office, was appointed to succeed Lord Rugby as the United Kingdom representative in Dublin in 1949, a post that changed to ambassador in 1950.

Residence

Since 1939, the representatives had a residence called Farmhill, in Dundrum on the southern outskirts of Dublin, leased from the Somerville-Large family on a succession of two-year terms. By the time of Laithwaite’s arrival in 1949, Farmhill was proving too small and awkward, and too closely surrounded, for a Post of the importance that Dublin was becoming. Laithwaite began searching for a more suitable alternative: he was spoilt for choice because the estates round Dublin were being subdivided and sold off for housing, bringing the main houses, each with a few tens of acres, on the market as well. But few of the fifty or so houses that were brought to Laithwaite’s attention had, he thought, the makings of a satisfactory residence, and none was priced to appeal to the Treasury. Nor were there town houses or suburban possibilities available.

The most promising country house was Glencairn in Leopardstown, about seven miles outside Dublin. It was large and ugly outside and ‘horrible inside, but £5,000 might put that straight’, Laithwaite told London. The Glencairn estate had been bought by Richard Croker on his return to Ireland in 1902 after making his name and fortune in New York City, for the last fifteen years as boss of Tammany Hall, the Democratic Party’s political machine. Croker laid out extensive stables at Glencairn and became a racehorse owner, winning the Derby in 1907. He enlarged and embellished the house in 1904, using as his architect JF Fuller (1835 – 1924).

Attention wandered away from Glencairn during 1950 because the search changed to land on which to build a new residence. The grounds of Leopardstown Park Hospital were favoured, not least because they were owned by the British Ministry of Pensions, but there was no momentum. Sir Walter Hankinson succeeded Laithwaite in 1951 and started another search for a country house, the Farmhill lease having once more been renewed. He was in turn succeeded in 1955 by Alexander Clutterbuck, whose wife was so incensed by the drawbacks of Farmhill that yet another search was instituted. It succeeded in 1955 in re-identifying Glencairn as the front runner, then standing in about 33 acres of ground, about half of which was leased for grazing. The Treasury gave approval for its purchase within £30,000 in mid-1956, with further provision of about £5,000 for necessary ingoing works. The purchase, from Mr and Mrs Michael O’Neill, was completed in 1957.

Glencairn served well as the residence for the rest of the century. Although its comparative remoteness, and the wide security cordon provided by its land, had some advantages from a security point of view, the roads into Dublin contained some vulnerable spots and at one of these the ambassador, Christopher Ewart Biggs, lost his life in 1976 when his car was blown up by a landmine.

Second thoughts

By the end of the century, however, Glencairn had become disproportionately valuable for its purpose on account of its 25 or so acres of surplus land that could be sold for house-building. The FCO, under severe financial pressures, therefore decided to sell Glencairn and all its land, but in its impatience overlooked the fundamental importance of first needing to identify and secure a satisfactory replacement residence.

It sold Glencairn in 1999 for £24m to Park Developments, a house-builder headed by Michael Cotter. Within a year, it became clear to FCO that no realistic alternative property was currently available, but there was a possibility in sight that needed extensive refurbishment that would take time to undertake. It therefore bought time by negotiating with Cotter a rent-free leaseback of Glencairn (and its immediately surrounding few acres) in exchange for a delay in its granting of vacant possession and receipt of the final £3.5m of the whole transaction.

The intended replacement residence, after its refurbishment, was a sizeable house called Marlay Grange, which FCO bought for £6.4m in 2000. This purchase went ahead despite the vendor, being still in occupation, having refused to permit an invasive survey of the property. It transpired that Marlay Grange needed far more restoration than FCO had estimated, which would add £2.8m to its cost and years to the timescale. Cotter was prepared to extend the Glencairn leaseback arrangement for the necessary period, and the FCO embarked on the works for Marlay Grange.

As time went by7, serious doubts about the sense of disposing of the Glencairn house itself re-surfaced, and related considerations like sentiment, security and financial viability were more than once systematically reviewed. With difficulties (including asbestos) piling up at Marlay Grange, remaining at Glencairn gradually pulled ahead as the more-favoured way forward. Around 2004, it became the objective of both FCO and Cotter to unwind the Glencairn house (and immediate curtilage) aspects of their 1999 sale contract. In 2008, FCO sold the expensively restored (and never occupied) Marlay Grange for £6.5m.

Sir John Bourn, head of the National Audit Office, drily summarised the outcome in a later report: “I applaud the Department’s [ie FCO’s] efforts to rationalise its estate when there are good reasons for doing so and to release funds for new projects. In that sense the sale of most of the Glencairn estate was good business. But the Department also made two serious mistakes. It embarked on the sale of Glencairn without real knowledge of the likelihood of being able to find a suitable replacement Residence. And the purchase of Marlay Grange should not have gone ahead unless the owners had first agreed to a full survey of the general condition of the property.”

Thus was the whole embarrassing imbroglio brought to an end, and Glencairn remains the ambassador’s residence.

Marley Grange, proposed HMA residence (not realized). Exterior

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Glencairn, 1952.

Hall and stair, 1959.

Dining room, 1959.

Sitting room, 1959.

Entrance to Glencairn, 1990s.

Viewed from the north, 1980s.

From the south east, 1980s.