Sir, - I was concerned to note (Property, October 6th) that a 10-acre plot at Jigginstown outside Naas is described in a sales notice as "Zoned Residential Development Land under the 1999 Naas Urban Development Plan". I should like to draw general attention to the fact that this land largely falls within the curtilage of Jigginstown House, whose ruins are among the most important of their kind in Ireland.
Sir Thomas Wentworth, later Earl of Stafford, built Jigginstown during the 1630s, when he was Lord Deputy of Ireland under Charles I. It was intended as both a royal and vice-regal residence and with a frontage of 380 feet it was by far the largest and most ambitious building project of early 17th-century Ireland. Unfortunately, Wentworth lost his head (literally) in 1641 and his great house was subsequently used only occasionally by his successor, Lord Deputy Ormond. It was deroofed in the 1650s by the Cromwellians, probably because of its symbolic associations with the Royalist cause and its remarkable ruin now stands flanking the road out of Naas to the west.
To the south of the ruins lie the substantial traces of the great gardens, with its massive enclosing banks. Beyond these are further enclosures, no doubt containing orchards, kitchen gardens and other elements associated with the running of this great house. It is these outer areas which are under threat from their current designation as "development land". Even if they were comprehensively archaeologically excavated, the close proximity of a housing estate in this position would destroy the visual setting of this ruin - a site which could easily be developed a great tourist attraction.
This current threat to Jigginstown brings forward yet again the need to establish a register of historic and designed landscapes in Ireland. The existence of such a register would not, of course, guarantee the absolute safety of such sites, but it would at least provide local planners with a great deal more information than they appear to have at present. - Yours, etc.,
Terence Reevessmyth, Glenoe Village, Co Antrim.