Fictitious Urban Development

INTRODUCTION

As a second year student of architecture I was asked to prepare a report which comprehensively describes the history of a fictitious urban development.

My city is Ahimsa, it lies on the south east coast of Ireland on the river Shuin. My report will briefly cover Viking and Norman settlements. I will focus mainly on the Georgian development, the people involved, their influences, their intentions and what they achieved. And how the demands of modern living have changed the function and fabric of their developments.

Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION 1

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 3

VIKING SETTLEMENT 4

NORMAN SETTLEMENT 5

GEORGIAN ERA: CONTRIBUTING FACTORS 5

GEORGIAN DEVELOPMENT 6

THE DEVELOPER: JOHN EDWARDS (1739-1803) 7

THE ARCHITECT: JOHN ENSOR (1720-1788) 7

AEOLIN SQUARE 7

THE STYLE: PALLADIAN 7

THE VISION FOR THE SQUARE 8

WINDOWS 8

WALLS 8

ENTRANCE DOORS 8

REAR ELEVATIONS 9

PLAN TYPE B 9

THE DEVELOPER: BARON ROBERT CLIVE (1725-1774) 10

THE ARCHITECT: ROBERT TAYLOR (1714-88) 10

THE VISION FOR THE SQUARE 11

ECLAT SQUARE 11

THE STYLE: REGENCY 11

EVOLUTION IN FUNCTION AND CHANGE OF FABRIC 11

APPENDIX 13

BIBLIOGRAPHY 18

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

* The first raids in Ireland by the Vikings were in 795.

* Normans consolidated their military position along the eastern seaboard of Ireland at the end of the 12th century, they began to erect permanent stone edifices at important settlement centers

* By Georgian is meant the period 1714 to 1830 during the reign of George 1, 11, 111 and 1V, so the Georgian age embraces that period of high fashion and elan known as the Regency, much influenced by French Empire taste.

* The story begins with the two prominent landlords of the time. John Edwards (1739-1803) and Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive of Plassey

* The vision and concept of both landlords was quiet different. The two distinctive styles that emerged reflect the personal taste and experiences of each individual. The juxtaposition between both is jarring and is in direct conflict with what is synonymous of Georgian style.

* THE DEVELOPER: JOHN EDWARDS (1739-1803) AEOLIN SQUARE

* THE ARCHITECT: JOHN ENSOR (1720-1788) AEOLIN SQUARE

* AEOLIN SQUARE. THE STYLE: PALLADIAN

* THE DEVELOPER: BARON ROBERT CLIVE (1725-1774) THE ARCHITECT: ROBERT TAYLOR (1714-88)

* ECLAT SQUARE. THE STYLE: REGENCY

REPORT ON A DEVELOPING CITY

AHIMSA, CO. SOAMA, IRELAND

VIKING SETTLEMENT

The first raids in Ireland by the Vikings were in 795. Meanwhile, many of the Viking settlements developed and grew into towns but were defeated by an Irish attack in 902

A second phase of raiding began in 914, The ordinary grád Fhéne (commoners) found that their ringforts had been rendered obsolete by the character of the Viking raids. The earthen walls and ditches around their houses may have been an adequate defence against relatively infrequent Irish attacks, but the Vikings came in such numbers that they easily breached the banks to steal animals, plunder and burn property and capture slaves. Thus both ringforts and crannogs fell out of use over the course of the 900s. They were replaced by a more heavily defended underground chamber called a souterrain. A souterrain is built by digging a deep ditch, lining it with stone walls, putting a roof on it and covering it over. Used mainly as places of refuge, as opposed to storing goods, the tunnels of souterrains could be over 100 metres (330 feet) in length. Although difficult to find due to their hidden nature, according to John Bradley in, Scandinavian rural settlement in Ireland in Archaeology Ireland (1995) over 3500 known souterrains survive in Ireland. Two of these well preserved souterrains are found in Ahimsa, one to the north and outside the medieval walls of the city circa 1050 and one located in the centre of the old city circa 1190 ( fig. 4.1).

At the start of the Viking period the Irish monasteries consisted of earthen enclosures containing a church and the monks' residences. The Vikings found that it was very easy to ransack these largely defenseless settlements. The monks learned how to frustrate the Vikings, by building tall stone towers known as Round Towers. The door was placed one floor up, accessible by a ladder. Inside the tower, each floor was accessed by further ladders. Towers were constructed across Ireland, a large number of which are still intact today. The sketch shows Saint Kevin's round tower at Ahimsa dated 935AD within the old city walls (fig. 4.2).

The Vikings eventually settled down in Ahimsa by 950 and they stopped raiding in Ireland. They developed instead as traders, farmers and fishermen and settled in the lands around the towns.

NORMAN SETTLEMENT

The great majority of Norman castles built in the first few decades after the invasion were of earth and timber. These were favoured materials because of the speed with which castles could be erected; early castles were of two principal types: mottes and ringworks.

According to T B Barry, The Archaeology of Medieval Ireland (1999) soon after the Anglo-Normans consolidated their military position along the eastern seaboard of Ireland at the end of the 12th century, they began to erect permanent stone edifices at important settlement centers. A well preserved Norman stone castle survives at the eastern corner of the old medieval city boundaries of Ahimsa