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COMPANY HISTORY

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Railway Bridge, Cavan Leitrim Railway,
1884

The firm oversaw the construction of the
Cavan and Leitrim Light Railway between
1885 and 1888, laying down the track and
bridges for the railway, which extended for
thirty-two miles from Belturbet to Dromod.
It was a large-scale civil engineering project,
involving excavation of soil, preparation of
the necessary formation, laying the sleepers
and rails and the construction of bridges.
The excavation was a laborious process,
Killarney House, 1872 carried out by large groups of workers
wielding picks and shovels; steam shovels
The building of Killarney House was the most were being pioneered in Britain around this
extensive project undertaken by the firm for a time, but had not yet been introduced in
private client in the late nineteenth century. Ireland.
The Earl and Countess of Kenmare decided in
1872 to replace their existing family home in
south Kerry with a much more impressive
aristocratic residence on a nearby site.

The new house was originally designed by an
English architect, George Devey, while
William Henry Lynn of Belfast provided
architectural expertise on the site. Joseph
Collen (1856-1941), who began to work for
the firm in his early twenties, took charge of
the building project.

Mulranny Hotel, 1895

The firm secured a contract in 1895 with the
Great Southern and Western Railway
Company to build a new hotel at Mulranny,
near Westport. The new hotel, completed in
1897, provided the first experience of
management to one of the younger
members of the family; Joseph Harcourt
Collen (known as Harky), who took a leading
role in overseeing the job.

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