Berkeley Deane Wise

Berkeley Deane Wise (2 October 1855, New Ross – 5 May 1909, Portrush) was an Irish civil engineer who made a significant impact on the development of railways and tourism, particularly in Ulster.

Early years Berkeley Deane Wise was born on 2 October 1855 in Berkeley Forest, New Ross, County Wexford, the son of James Lawrence Wise, solicitor, and Elizabeth Deane. The family moved to 26 Waterloo Road in Dublin, where Wise was brought up. He went to school in England before entering Trinity College, Dublin, in 1871, but he did not proceed to a degree.

Engineering career

Wise started his civil engineering career in 1872 as a pupil to Mr Marmaduke Backhouse and then Mr James Price, MICE, Chief Engineer of the Midland Great Western Railway of Ireland, during which time he was the Resident Engineer on the construction of the Navan and Kingscourt Railway.

From October 1875 until December 1877, Wise was Assistant Engineer to the Dublin, Wicklow and Wexford Railway where he was engaged on a new tunnel 450 yards long at Bray Head.

During this time he re-made most of the line and carried out extensive alterations to the Belfast Terminus at Queen's Quay including new signal gantries. Towards the end of his time on the BCDR, Wise prepared drawings, specifications and estimates for the Quoile Viaduct to carry the railway over the River Quoile in County Down. Among those who proposed him were famous Ulster engineers Luke Livingston Macassey and Bowman Malcolm. He was elected a member of the Institution of Civil Engineers of Ireland in 1880 and was its vice president from 1904 to 1906.

Northern Counties The pinnacle of Wise's civil engineering career was his 18 years as Chief Engineer to the Belfast and Northern Counties Railway (BNCR). He was appointed to this position on 11 April 1888

But perhaps Wise's most famous building is Portrush railway station, which still stands. By 1891, the existing station was completely inadequate to deal with heavy summer traffic. Wise designed a mock Tudor building with black beams painted on white stucco, all on a red brick base. There was an elegant clock tower, some 50 feet high and three platforms 600 feet long, covered for the first 200 feet by a canopy supported by the girders known as the 'Belfast truss'. On the seaward side, Wise designed the Café and Restaurant for over 250 diners, with a balcony overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. Portrush station was built by contractor McLaughlin and Harvey, opening in the spring of 1893. A bandstand was built on the promenade and there were summer fireworks displays. In 1892, Wise also engineered a path that stretched 1¼ miles to the Blackhead promontory. The lower sections bordered the shore but blasting and cantilevering from the cliffs was necessary towards Blackhead. He designed Sunshine House, a refreshment room beside the path at Blackhead. There is a plaque to Wise's achievement in the car park at Whitehead.

The Gobbins

The Tubular Bridge at the Gobbins. Berkeley Deane Wise and his wife, Leah, are in the foreground

One of Wise's most spectacular civil engineering masterpieces was the Gobbins Path, which wound its way dramatically under the cliffs, over 250 feet high, on the Islandmagee coastline. It was designed to bring tourists to the area using, of course, the BNCR. Construction started in May 1901 and the design showed Wise's typical design flair. The 2 mile path was cut precipitously into the cliffs, with tunnels and bridges, including two tubular bridges 70 feet long that connected the 'Man o'War Stack' to the main path. The bridges were built in Belfast and floated to Islandmagee in barges to be lifted into position. The entrance to the path is tunnelled through a basalt outcrop and is known as 'Wise's Eye'. Two of the promontories were named in his honour: Deane's Head and Berkeley's Point. Sightseers would travel by scheduled services or special excursion trains and alight at the stations of Whitehead or Ballycarry, before travelling to the Gobbins by jaunting car or charabanc. The Gobbins Path was of great interest to a number of scientific and professional bodies. Members of the British Association made a visit on 20 August, shortly after it opened. They elected Wise as chairman for the visit, and travelled by special train to Ballycarry, from where they were taken to the path.

The Gobbins Path was an extremely successful tourist attraction, as popular as the Giants Causeway, and Wise planned to continue it over a full-length of miles to a northern exit at Heddle's Port. An extension was opened in 1906, but then Wise fell ill. In August 1906, Bowman Malcolm reported to the Board that the full scheme would be too expensive, so he was authorised to proceed only to the 'Seven Sisters Caves' and to postpone any further work. After Wise left the company this final extension was opened in 1908, with a spectacular suspension bridge spanning the mouths of the Seven Sisters. where in his spare time he kept poultry.

In 1896, Wise took as an apprentice his nephew Freeman Wills Crofts, aged 17, who worked for the BNCR until 1929. In 1919, during an absence from work due to a long illness, Crofts wrote his first detective novel, The Cask (1920), which established him as a new master of detective fiction. Crofts gave up his railway career to write full-time, producing a book almost every year for thirty years.

Later life Following what was described as 'a serious breakdown in health', Wise moved in 1906 to live with his sister, Mrs Harding, at 18 Salisbury Terrace in Portrush. There was little improvement in his condition and he died there on 5 May 1909, in sight of one of his best buildings, Portrush railway station.

He was buried in the City Cemetery, Belfast. Many of his peers from the railway companies of Ulster attended, including his long-time colleague Bowman Malcolm, Locomotive Engineer of the BNCR.

Wise was survived by his son, James Berkeley Wise, who was also a railway engineer, and by his wife Leah, who was buried beside him on 27 April 1922.

Berkeley Deane Wise was an outstanding civil engineer. In his obituary, the Railway Engineer journal said: 'His designs were both original and artistic, and he always strove to make the stations under his charge as attractive as possible. He was a great lover of the beauties of nature, and he will perhaps be best remembered as one who made several of the beauty spots of a beautiful country easily accessible without in the least marring their natural charms. His kindly disposition and gentle manners made him deservedly popular.'

List of Works

Dundrum Harbour, 1884. Larne Harbour railway station, 1890 Glenarriff Paths, Bridges and Tearoom, 1889 & 1891. Whitehead Promenade and Blackhead Path, 1892. Portrush railway station, 1893. Ballymoney railway station, 1893. Greenisland railway station, 1893. Northern Counties Hotel, Portrush (alterations and additions), 1884 & 1892. Carrickfergus railway station, 1895. Whiteabbey railway station (down platform), 1896 Jordanstown railway station (down platform), 1896 Glynn railway station, 1896. Trooperslane railway station, 1896. York Road railway station Belfast (Port Cochere, Clock Tower, Midland Hotel), 1894–1898 Portstewart Tramway Terminus, 1899. Whitehead railway station (extension), 1900. The Gobbins Path, Islandmagee, 1902. Whitehead Beach Promenade, Whitehead, Laharna Hotel, Larne (alterations), 1905. Limavady railway station, 1906. Antrim railway station, 1902. Ballymena railway station, 1904.