CURIOSITIES: IN KILKENNY, there is a charming museum in the 16th century merchant's house that was built by the Rothe family, writes Melosina Lenox-Conyngham
Among the eclectic display, my favourite items are a carved wooden propeller of two blades and a small wheel. This is all that is left of the ariel chariot that was constructed by Godwin Meade Pratt Swifte.
Godwin Swifte, who had given himself the title of Viscount Carlingford, lived at Swifte's Heath near Kilkenny, a house that had been built by his ancestor, the uncle of Jonathan Swift. In 1854, Godwin Swifte patented what he called "an aerial screw" or propeller which, according to a local newspaper, "was the complete solution to the problem of aerial navigation, but such was the apathy or suspicious disposition of scientific folk that none seemed to appreciate the grandeur of the idea and the ingenuity of the mechanism." Undeterred, Swifte designed the aerial chariot, which he built in the dining room of Swifte's Heath, widening the doors so that it could be moved outside. It had a boat-shaped carriage with one wheel in front and two behind; the silk-covered wings were "a network of lengthened square shapes", which the inventor claimed would replicate the aerodynamic properties of birds' feathers and enable the chariot to float on the air for several miles, "perhaps 50 or 60", he added optimistically . The altitude could be altered by raising and lowering the tail by means of a cord. The chariot was to be drawn forward by the aerial screw twisting through the air at 45°, similar to that of a bird's wing. The screw was turned by a winch acting on three multiplying wheels.
He suggested that, as he had proved by experiment that an aerial screw of only five inches long can pull a 10-pound weight or more suspended on a cord and drawn through a pulley, it would only take a small force to maintain the flight. "What we look upon as fabulous may hereafter come to pass and that, like the chariot of Jupiter [ pictured above], we may yet behold two eagles trained to draw the aerial chariot." To launch it, he first proposed to suspend it by ropes between two poles, and then allow it (by drawing a trigger suddenly) to fall upon the air and to be drawn "forward with great velocity by the falling of the weight in front".
However, in the end he opted to have it towed by horses to the nearby towerhouse of Foulksrath - which is now a youth hostel - and hoisted up to the battlements. On the day of the first flight, his brother held a garden party in Rathfarnham, where the highlight was to be the arrival of the aerial chariot from the sky. Godwin Swifte put his butler at the controls and pushed the machine off the wall of the castle. Alas, it plummeted down and crashed to the ground. The butler broke his leg, but one is pleased to know he received a pension for life.
Rothe House and Garden, Parliament Street, Kilkenny. www.rothehouse.com