Kaye of the Stamford Historical Society, CT, for your helpful information on the Porters of Darien and Woodland Cemetery;
Steve Marburg, for your kind hospitality when we stayed with you in Maine during our East Coast tour;
Carol and Larry Williams, for all your generosity and kindness when you opened your Stamford home to us;
All of the Costigan and Cullen families for your love and support: Sharon, Paul, Damien, Sean, Kathleen, Lisa and Antoinette;
The special friends who are always so supportive of every project: Isabel MacMahon, Clara Martin, Carmel Larkin, Maura O’Connor, Rita and Jimmy Murphy;
And finally, a big hug for my royal companions, Lynsey, Sophie and Kila, and also for Tiger, for sharing all those early morning and midnight vigils.
Glossary
Altarpiece: A picture or relief representing a religious subject suspended in a frame behind the altar of a church.
Apse: A semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome.
Barocco: A picturesque, exalted, architectural style that prevailed in ecclesiastical architecture for two centuries and is most associated with Michelangelo, its creator, and with the architects, Bernini and Borromini.
Capital: Forms the top-most member of a column.
Caryatid: A sculpted female figure serving as an architectural support taking the place of a column or pillar, supporting an entablature on her head.
Cloister: A covered walk in a convent, monastery, college or cathedral on one side and a colonnade open to a quadrangle on the other.
Fresco: Any type of mural painting executed on plastered walls or ceilings.
Gothic: Architectural style that flourished during the twelfth century, and is characterized by pointed arches. The dates associated with the Gothic style are between the twelfth and the sixteenth centuries.
Medieval: A period in history that can broadly refer to the period between the fifth and the fifteenth centuries.
Mosaic: Art of creating images using an assemblage of small pieces of coloured stone, glass or other material.
Moulding: Process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern.
Portal: Opening in the walls of a building, such as a door or gate.
Relief: Sculpture where the sculpted material has been raised above the background plane.
Renaissance: Cultural movement that began in Italy and spread to Western Europe, spanning the fourteenth to the seventeenth centuries.
Romanesque: Architectural style developed in Italy and western medieval Europe, characterized by semi-circular arches and vaults and by profuse ornamentation. There is no definite period for its development, but it usually refers to monuments built between the sixth and eleventh centuries; between the Roman and Gothic architectural styles.
Sacristy: A room in a church where vestments, sacred vessels and church records are stored.
Sarcophagus: Funeral receptacle for a corpse.
Sepulchral: Relating to a tomb or interment.
Tracery: The stonework elements that support the glass in a Gothic window.
Triptych: A set of three pictures or panels usually hinged together so that the two winged panels fold over the central one.
Tympanum (Tympana): The triangular space or pediment above a portico, door or window.
Vault: An arched form, used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof.
The timeless waves, bright, sifting, broken glass,
Came dazzling around, into the rocks,
Came glinting, sifting from the Americas
From ‘Lovers on Aran’, in Death of a Naturalist
(Faber & Faber, 1966)
By kind courtesy of Seamus Heaney.
Introduction
My visit to Glenveagh Castle in October 2005 was even more thrilling than I could ever have imagined. I had been travelling around Co. Donegal for the past five days accompanied by my nephew, Michael, our friend, Thomas, and my beloved King Charles spaniel, Kila. We had traversed the county, revelling in the wild, unspoilt beauty that uniquely belongs to this remote, north-west county. I can still vividly recall driving through Glenveagh National Park, surrounded by the glorious Derryveagh Mountains, entranced by the soft sunlight as it danced across a series of pristine lakes. Then finally our first glimpse of Glenveagh Castle: a granite fortress, sitting perched, overlooking its solitary kingdom. Luckily we were just in time for the castle tour. I urged Thomas to take the first tour, while Michael and I brought Kila for a well-deserved walk, exploring the Victorian walled garden, the exquisite Italian and Tuscan gardens, and the Gothic Orangery.
After a lovely walk, Michael went off to photograph the gardens while I was happy to loll in the fading sunlight and breathe in the pure air. I closed my eyes for a few moments. I could hardly imagine how wonderful it would be to own Glenveagh Castle, to sit in these gardens in midsummer and to order afternoon tea for my guests. I could almost smell the freshly baked scones, the dainty sandwiches and slices of fruitcake, complete with full cream and home-made jam, all served on a silver salver.
I was awakened from my reverie by the reappearance of Thomas who was beside himself with excitement.
1. Glenveagh Castle, Co. Donegal.
Michael Cullen.
‘That was really amazing! I couldn’t believe what happened to one of the owners – Arthur Kingsley Porter. He was an American professor – from Harvard, I think – and a famous archaeologist and author, a multimillionaire who bought Glenveagh in the twenties and came to live here with his wife...’.
He was speaking so fast it was hard to keep up. But there was no doubting his exhilaration.
‘It’s incredible! He went out for a walk during a storm on a nearby island and he vanished, he simply disappeared without trace. But he was very athletic and a strong swimmer, and for years afterwards people swore that they saw him as far away as India. Then there was talk that he used to come back to visit his wife in the castle at night. There was a rumour too that locals had done away with him. But no one seems to have bothered to investigate all this. Isn’t that incredible? A wealthy American professor and the owner of all this!’ He gestured towards the sweeping castle grounds and gardens. ‘He disappeared into thin air and no one has a clue what happened to him or why he might have disappeared. Now that is a fantastic story.’
The fate of Professor Porter was indeed intriguing to contemplate. I had already fallen under the spell of Glenveagh and this mystery just added another layer to the exquisite ambience ofthis enchanted place. In time,
