#downhillcastle

[naquinn-photography]

'The Sisyphean Task'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Mussenden Temple, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • This domed building was dedicated to the Earl Bishop's cousin Frideswide Mussenden - hence the name, Mussenden Temple. Once built, it was used by Hervey (Earl Bishop) as a cliff-top library and was ornately decorated inside. Underneath the building, Hervey built a room for Catholic priests to say Mass, a provocative decision during the time of the anti-Catholic penal laws. Although a bishop in the Church of Ireland, Hervey was a powerful proponent of religious equality and dedicated himself to improving the lot of Catholics and Presbyterians in 18th Century Ireland. He financially supported, not only his own church, but those of his Catholic and Presbyterian neighbours. He saw that Ireland would never be a peaceful place until religious discrimination was effectively ended. The Sisyphean task the Earl Bishop had set for himself eventually ground him down. As he went on he became disenchanted with Ireland. He saw Ireland was never going to be at peace, he saw that people were going to keep fighting here and he was right. So he ended up spending the last ten years of his life in Italy. The Earl Bishop may have finally given up on Ireland, but the people did not forget him. At his ancestral home in England, where he was buried, there is a huge obelisk. It was paid for by public subscription by Catholics, Presbyterians and Protestants of Londonderry. He is one of a select few English aristocrat or Protestant bishop's who has ever had all the faiths in Ireland come together to erect a monument for him. • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Mussenden Temple) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoGksa0HsL0/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1x50t8dpfsr7k

[bobbylovesthebeach]

#lastweek #downhill #haybaled #downhillcastle (at Downhill Castle, Mussenden Temple, Bishop's Gate & Black Glen) https://www.instagram.com/p/B0dw59JBqe9/?igshid=gc098g9stvlw

[naquinn-photography]

'Temple of the Goddess Vesta'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Mussenden Temple, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • Frederick Augustus Hervey was actually made a fellow of the Royal Society because of his work at the Giant's Causeway. He established that the whole of that coastline was volcanic. Spending so much time around the causeway was difficult for a bishop whose diocese was in Londonderry. If you wanted to travel from Londonderry to the North Coast at that time it was a good day's journey. So, the Earl Bishop built his own holiday home at Downhill. The reason he chose Downhill was that was church land and he had worked out a clever technique where he could make church land belong to him. It starts off as a holiday home and it grows and grows. He also starts making all these continental journeys buying art and artefacts and sending them back to Downhill. At its peak in the 1790s, Downhill contained Rembrandts, Rafaels, Titians, Durers, Carravagios, artistic names that today would not be seen outside a major gallery. The Earl Bishop had a particular attraction to the art scene in Italy. It was in Rome that Hervey fell in love with a Roman temple dedicated to the goddess Vesta. Hervey wanted to buy the temple and bring it back to Ireland and re-erect it. But the Pope refused his offer, so he had his architect sketch the temple and he builds his own copy at the edge of the cliff at Downhill. • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Mussenden Temple) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bn0lFaIjrT6/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1uzxarbu2c5pm

[naquinn-photography]

'The Truth'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Mussenden Temple, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • The man behind the Temple, the Bishop, was in fact Frederick Augustus Hervey, fourth Earl of Bristol and Church of Ireland Bishop of Derry. Born into a distinguished Suffolk family in 1730, Frederick Augustus was many things; scientist, agitator, art collector and Royal Chaplain to George III, who referred to him as "that wicked prelate". In 1766 the eldest Hervey brother was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland and he soon made Frederick Augustus the Bishop of Cloyne and then Bishop of Derry. The position brought with it a very generous salary. By his late thirties, Frederick Augustus had also inherited the estates of his two brothers and was sitting on quite a fortune. While the value of money is hard to measure over time, Hervey's wealth is likened to the level of someone like Richard Branson. The Earl-Bishop's annual income was twice what it cost George III to buy Buckingham Palace. Frederick Augustus started to put that fortune to good use. He was a philanthropist, bestowing his charity on the people of Derry. He built roads and became actively engaged in life in Ireland. One of his most lasting achievements was to put the Giant's Causeway on the map, both scientifically and as a tourist destination. Hervey was interested in vulcanology, so when he's made Bishop of Derry he immediately gravitates towards the Giant's Causeway. We now think of the Giant's Causeway as a big tourist attraction, but back then it really was the middle of nowhere. People vaguely knew about it, but nobody really went there. • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Mussenden Temple) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnvQv5wHMid/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=8n478codorzm

[naquinn-photography]

'No Smoke Without Fire'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Mussenden Temple, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • The domed Mussenden Temple was designed as a library and built for the niece of the 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry - Frideswide Bruce, of whom the Bishop appears to have been extremely fond. Some say the Earl Bishop and Frideswide were far too close - when the Bishop disagreed with his long-suffering wife, he often went to stay with his 'cher cousin'. Without actually naming them, the Freeman’s Journal suggested that the relationship between the Earl Bishop and his niece was not altogether proper and (although this was later denied in print) the mud stuck! Frideswide married a wealthy and elderly London banker named Daniel Mussenden and, as a gift to her, the Earl Bishop built the splendid library called the Mussenden Temple. This was to house part of his celebrated Library and was supposed to be a place to which Frideswide, when she visited, could retire. The temple was finished in 1783 but it's said that the mortification of the scandal affected Frideswide health, which had always been delicate. Although there is no proof, it may have contributed to her early death. The Temple, which was to have been her refuge, became her memorial when she died in 1785. • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Downhill Castle, Mussenden Temple, Bishop's Gate & Black Glen) https://www.instagram.com/p/BnsrYGihnRv/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=ynh3kcwxha05

[naquinn-photography]

'Angular'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Titanic Centre, Belfast, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • Rumour is the initial concept of this building was based on the iceberg that the Titanic hit. Then they realised basing a building on something that destroyed a ship and killed so many people might not have been the greatest marketing device ever and amended it retrospectively to say that it was based on a ships hull! I'll let you draw your own conclusion but from a distance it definitely looks like a giant 'iceberg'- just saying, lol... • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • Credits: Photographer- Norman A Quinn of '22/7 Fine Art Photography', Location- Titanic Quarter, Belfast • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Titanic Museum Belfast) https://www.instagram.com/p/BpT3GxknKkf/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=upem98n1c4wf

[naquinn-photography]

'The Sisyphean Task'... • www.facebook.com/22over7.FineArtPhotography • • Mussenden Temple, County Antrim, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. • • • This domed building was dedicated to the Earl Bishop's cousin Frideswide Mussenden - hence the name, Mussenden Temple. Once built, it was used by Hervey (Earl Bishop) as a cliff-top library and was ornately decorated inside. Underneath the building, Hervey built a room for Catholic priests to say Mass, a provocative decision during the time of the anti-Catholic penal laws. Although a bishop in the Church of Ireland, Hervey was a powerful proponent of religious equality and dedicated himself to improving the lot of Catholics and Presbyterians in 18th Century Ireland. He financially supported, not only his own church, but those of his Catholic and Presbyterian neighbours. He saw that Ireland would never be a peaceful place until religious discrimination was effectively ended. The Sisyphean task the Earl Bishop had set for himself eventually ground him down. As he went on he became disenchanted with Ireland. He saw Ireland was never going to be at peace, he saw that people were going to keep fighting here and he was right. So he ended up spending the last ten years of his life in Italy. The Earl Bishop may have finally given up on Ireland, but the people did not forget him. At his ancestral home in England, where he was buried, there is a huge obelisk. It was paid for by public subscription by Catholics, Presbyterians and Protestants of Londonderry. He is one of a select few English aristocrat or Protestant bishop's who has ever had all the faiths in Ireland come together to erect a monument for him. • • www.naquinnphotography.com • • #22over7FineArtPhotography #fineart #mussendentemple #photographer #DownhillCastle #UK #artiseverywhere #landscapes #NorthCoast #artiseverywhere #pictoftheday #insta_ni #instapic #instaphoto #instaphotograph #pictureoftheday #nofilter #nofilterneeded #art #fstoppers #FstoppersTravel #photooftheday #instagood #instagram #instadaily #travelgram #mytravelgram #localhistory #igers #igersoftheday (at Mussenden Temple) https://www.instagram.com/p/BoqwKxcDnfY/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=znp8pb12yvmu