Context 153 - March 2018

C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 23 looked like.The baroque does not resurface again on the Isle of Man until its brief revival in the Edwardian era. During the Georgian period, immigration, urban expansion, improved roads with bridges (scarce before this period), the availability of pattern books, increased opportunity to travel off-island, the expansion of the middle class and a rise in successful trade all fuelled a building boom which made it possible for the Georgian and, subsequently, the Victorian, styles to spread. The Georgian portmanteau embraced a wide range of stylistic revivals, but it is only the neo-classical and gothic revivals that have had much lasting impact in the Isle of Man, plus a small number of modest detours into Regency and Greek revival. The Castle Mona (1803/4) was commissioned by the Duke of Athol in the mistaken belief that the Crown would pay for his gubernatorial residence. 2 It was a marked departure for the Isle of Man. His architect, George Steuart, 3 used severe formal geometry (the cube and double-cube, and the cylinder), clad the building with stone imported from the Isle of Arran, and employed Scottish masons and workmen. A drawing produced for the syndicate which later purchased it shows the original magnificence of the setting, now destroyed by encroaching urbanisation following disposal of much of the land in the estate. The building itself has been much abused and neglected, and has recently been sold. Steuart was responsible for a number of Manx build- ings (Tutt, 2013).The third and fourth Dukes were both John Murray (1729–1774 and 1755–1830). Some of Steuart’s drawings survive in theManx National Heritage archive. They illustrate his penchant for Coadestone medallions, designed to his specification with Atholl (Murray) insignia, as used on the Castle Mona and the Murray memorial obelisk at Kirk Braddan. Castle Mona’s modest crenellation triggered a frenzy of enthusiasm for mock castles throughout the island. The slender columns, either single or clustered, which can be found in the porch, on the principal elevation and in the central hall of the Castle Mona, recurred in the works of Thomas Brine at Lorne House, St Mary’s (Catholic) church and the lost interior of St Mary’s (Anglican) church in Castletown, and in the doorcase of Kentraugh, one of the Manx gentry houses. Kentraugh appears to have been an older five-bay farmhouse that was enlarged in the period 1815–1820 to become one of the island’s premier estates. The magnificent stone portico in Mostyn freestone from North Wales dates from this period, as does the splendid plasterwork inside the house. Thomas Brine (1776-1840) was surveyor at the Barracks Office, Castle Rushen, and later practiced as an architect,mainly in Castletown.His old House of Keys (c1820) is pure early Georgian neo-classicism, if a little laboured. Lorne House (1827) attributed to Brine on stylistic grounds,with a Regency bow front and verandah, was the tenanted residence of two lieutenant governors (Tutt, 2010).The Nunnery, by John Pinch theYounger, Ballacreggan Farm, Port St Mary, tentatively attributed to George Steuart Kentraugh, Rushen, seen across the ha-ha References ² Atholl Papers, Manx National Heritage, Book 85.The Duke’s personal account of how he was misled regarding the funding of the Castle Mona ³ The architect of two very fine churches in Shropshire: St Chads, Shrewsbury (Grade I listed) andWellington, Telford (Grade II*) – both very progressive early Georgian