Memories of Earlscliffe 1945 to 1949 at the time of William Martin Murphy
In 1945 Earlscliffe was purchased by William and Norah Martin Murphy.
[1] William and his wife moved into
Earlscliffe with their son, Chris and daughter, Jane, and very soon
had a second daughter, Louise.
The following are taken (with permission) from emails received from
two of William Martin Murphy's children, Louise and Chris. Our thanks
to both of them for such wonderful memories. [2]
Firstly from Louise:
I lived from birth (in 1946) to 3 years old at Earlscliffe, being
the youngest daughter of William and Norah Martin Murphy. Regrettably,
because of such a short time there, I have no recollection of the
house and garden, but know that it was an exquisite place, much
loved by my mother, who was devastated when my father sold it after
only four years and we moved into Dublin! She told me many stories
of the house and garden and the wonderful years there when they
had a very active social life so she enjoyed showing it off to everyone.
My older sister and brother have strong and good memories of this
little paradise in our native and much-loved Ireland; we're all
overseas for many years now - my sister in England, my brother in
Australia and myself in Canada. It is so gratifying to learn that
the Robinsons obviously loved the house and property, borne out
by it's status today as a well-known haven for such a diversity
of plants.
Thank you for this super website. I've sent it on to my sister
and brother. regards Louise Martin-Murphy Ottawa, Canada.
Chris wrote the following, and he used the Earlscliffe garden tour
map as a guide.
Gosh this all brings back some wonderful memories of my years
aged 2-6 (arguably the best years I ever had). I have held back
for a few days, while I could muster together some of my memories.
The following glimpses are not in chronological order, and use
the Earlscliffe Garden Tour Map within the Robinson Garden Website.
The Fruit Orchard may have been where the Eucalyptus plantings
are now, or near to where the Fruit Garden is now.
I remember my Father spraying the Orchard trees with a shaped
copper & brass spray pump back-pack, like a giant brandy
flask strung from his shoulders. When the pressure dropped,
he would pump up the sprayer pressure with his foot, and then
get back to spraying.
He also had a beehive in front of the Orchard, and I once
saw him smoke the hive to get at a honeycomb, which we had later
for several teas.
On the Eastern Hillside we grazed a red and white Cow (British
Shorthorn?), name forgotten, who may have been milked occasionally.
In the Birch Woodland just before it I learned just how
nastily Nettles could sting, and why they should not be used
as a toilet paper substitute.
Round about Fiacre's Fell was a cabbage patch where a gardener
killed a rat with a pitchfork, and where a gardener’s assistant
gave me my first boxing lesson (by my request). I leaned hard
into one of his punches, which removed my two front teeth. (I
unusually grew a third pair, according to my Mother, which I
still have.) The poor lad, John or Jack (my father called every
male ‘servant’ John or Jack) was hauled before my parents for
a dressing down and possible dismissal. I remember standing
between him and my parents in the Drawing Room and strongly
defending his punching 4 year old ‘Master Chris’ by my request.
He was retained.
I think that’s when my Father first suggested that I become
a Barrister, which he was still doing, and was my firm intention,
when I got an Exhibition in History for Law at Cambridge in
1962. (I graduated in History, not Law, but that’s a whole other
story for some other time.)
Oh, and I later won the Light Heavyweight Boxing Cup at
my School (Ampleforth College, Yorks) after having my nose cracked/broken
to the left, then to the right, in the two prior years. I still
have the pewter cup (and the headache!).
In the Stables area (the quadrangle where the word ‘toilet’
appears) I twice found used shotgun cartridges following my
father’s practice with his two silver engraved Purdey 12 bore
shotguns (worth a fortune today). Wisely, I was never allowed
to use them, let alone load them.
On the corner of that quadrangle was a Dovecote with White
Doves (which I think were long gone by the time we left).
On the ‘D’ of Earlscliffe 3 Drive is where my Mother (who never
passed a driving test for the rest of her life) was at the wheel
of the family Riley with all of us in the car for a family outing,
and my father bullying her into keeping the car on the driveway,
when she lost her nerve and stacked the car into the hedge on
the left hand side. We all got out of the car, which was towed
and repaired, which I always thought was a bit overdramatic
and punishing, since we were going really slowly when we hit
the hedge.
The tennis court lawn or the Baron’s Brae lawn or the Sundial
lawn hosted my Father’s multi awarded (twice) Gladioli, and
thick Rhododendron (?) bushes.
Where the Garden House is shown was the approximate site
of a large open pergola and trellises, where once we discovered
the ground littered with thousands of dead honey bees, which
must have been diseased or killed by pesticide. (There was enough
DDT used around the gardens and the vegetables to kill an army,
after all.)
I used to spend many hours on the Lower Lawn observing nature,
playing with grasshoppers and watching ants, sometimes in the
company of our Bloodhound Sampson. One day I couldn’t find him
anywhere, and went back to the house, when a search was commenced.
Apparently he was found unharmed on a cliff ledge 2 days later
and was winched up to safety.
By the number 6 we had a Rabbit hutch, with one White one
and one Black and White one, both of which were there one day
and gone the next, or so it seemed.
I think we had some Chickens in there at one time too. And
I can remember one White Chicken and two Rhode Island Reds,
and watching one being dumped in a steel bucket of water for
brooding on its eggs, and thinking that was pretty cruel.
My father had an Aviary erected on Earlscliffe Lawn for
a while, but I never remember it having any birds in it.
I do remember one of the handymen falling from a ladder
when looking into the front right upper bathroom/toilet (looking
at the house down the lawn) and telling my parents that one
of the female servants had pushed him (true) and not being believed.
He survived OK, but his dignity may not have.
I also remember a flood in from Earlscliffe Lawn into my
nursery at the front (was it down a few steps?) and wading in
the mud in the room.
I also remember kicking a soccer ball at Nuns (from my Mother’s
and Sisters Farnborough Hill Convent School, Hants, UK) in the
slate corridors, where also I first discovered that touching
the two wires in an exposed light switch without wearing shoes
can be quite shocking.
And I remember our ENT Surgeon and good family friend
Dr Rowan Woods (who later bought Earlscliffe) removing a
crayon or coloured pencil lead which had lodged in my right
inner ear after some nursery mishap, late at night in his rooms
in Dublin.
I also remember Dr Woods giving me a sinus/antrim draining
procedure, but we don’t need to go there! And I remember very
briefly waking up on the operating table (or hospital cart,
I am not sure) when he removed my tonsils (I was aged 4, I believe),
and asking why I was on an ironing table!
My Mother told me often that she was devastated when she had
to leave her ‘Beloved, beautiful Earlscliffe’. I think I must have
felt the same way too, and seeing all of this brings some of that
back. Ah well, such is life!
All the best, Chris MM
Louise later wrote:
How lovely to hear back from you and I thank you for your response.
I'd sent it and my comments along to my sister Jane Broxham in
England and brother Christopher Martin-Murphy in Australia and I
see that today he has written back to you with his memories and
some family blurb to fill in some gaps. I had hoped and was glad
that he would respond to you with some background on our family
and our time there at Earlscliffe.
As he mentioned, our father William was the grandson of William
Martin Murphy, founder of Independent Newspapers, who was also the
Chairman of the Dublin Tram and Railway Company and also one-time
owner of Clery's on O'Connell Street. There's ample historical references
to our great-grandfather in various Irish archives.
As to Earlscliffe, I think the general consensus is that our
mother loved it so much, I'm not sure she ever forgave our father
for selling it to move into Palmerston Road, where I spent my formative,
happiest years.
Yes, Dr. Bobby Woods was a very dear family friend and it was
nice that he and his wife had some time at Earlscliffe post-the
MMs! In addition to the menagerie mentioned by my brother Christopher,
I know that not only did we have Ireland's then only bloodhound
Sampson (Sammie), whom the Dublin police 'borrowed' once to track
down and chase an escaped prisoner in the Dublin mountains - he
found his man, yet one can only imagine the terror of the poor feller
being chased by a baying hound! - but we also had a couple of bull
terriers (Daisy-Belle and Rodney) who had a litter of puppies at
the house and a beautiful golden retriever (Bailey). I'm told that
the bloodhound Sampson used to wrap himself around me as I sat on
the floor as a baby to protect me from my bullying brother!!
I am so glad that you and your wife cherish and continue to maintain
the house and grounds; I think our (deceased) mother would be thrilled
to bits to know this and suspect she at one time imagined her own
children getting married on the lawn, as you did to Karen Robinson.
With very best wishes and continued success in your horticultural
endeavours and love of Earlscliffe.
Louise Martin-Murphy Ottawa, Canada.
And finally, a postscript from Chris:
My Father passed away in 1981 aged 66, my Mother in 2001 aged
84.
William Martin Murphy died in 1919. My Father was born in 1915.
So he may have met his Grandfather, but was unlikely to have a clear
memory of him.
WMM succumbed in 1919 to poison Mussels taken from a rock off
Sneem Pier (the shells of those Mussels or their descendants are
still on that rock, from which I caught a small Conger Eel at age
7, on the only Father/Son trip I ever had, which I still remember
every day of).
My Grandfather Christopher died of Throat Cancer at age 48 just
before I was born, I think in 1942, which is when our family moved
to Earlscliffe. My Godmother, Christopher’s Sister Eva Murphy, who
lived in WMM’s Dartry House (sold for Euro 32m a couple of years
ago), was my patron and idol until she died in the early 60s, also
of Throat Cancer.
I think Fiacre’s Fell is a hoot of a name and anagram, and just
goes to prove the continuing inventiveness of the Irish.
Disclaimer. Parts of the data found in these history pages are derived from sources currently available on the internet.
In researching the previous owners of Earlscliffe, certain assumptions
have been made as to the validity of this internet data. If you
believe that some of this data is inaccurate, please contact
.
[1] Title deeds and other legal documents that are currently
in the possession of Karen Foley
[2] As told by
William's daughter, Louise, and son, Chris in a series of emails
to David Foley, June/July 2008. Louise now lives in Ottawa, Canada
and Chris in Australia
