 Mussenden Temple
107 Sea Road, Castlerock,
Co. Londonderry BT51 4TW
Tel: 028 7084 8728
About two miles east of Castlerock, Mussenden
Temple (National Trust), perched on eroding cliffs above the
six-mile-long Magilligan Strand, is one of the most photographed
sights in Ireland. Modelled on the temples of Vesta at Rome and
Tivoli, the elegant domed structure was built in 1783 as a
"summer library" by the eccentric Frederick Augustus Hervey,
Anglican Bishop of Derry and 4th Earl of Bristol. An unorthodox
cleric, he once organised a curates' race along the sands at
Downhill, the winners being rewarded with benefices in his diocese.
He was also unconventional for his time in his tolerance of Catholics, permitting a weekly Mass in
the Temple since there was no local Catholic church. A great traveller and art collector, the
Earl-Bishop's progress around the Continent can still be detected by the number of hostelries that
re-named themselves the "Hotel Bristol" following a visit by the free-spending English milord. The Temple
was originally just a landscape adornment for the Bishop's
Downhill Palace, a grandiose mansion last occupied by US troops during World War II and now in ruins.
|
FREE
E-BOOKS
