Charles Smith 1715-1762 Pioneer of Irish Topography By William Fraher

In seventeenth-century Ireland, the study of antiquarian remains was linked with the study of natural history. The founding of the Dublin Philosophical Society in 1683 was an important catalyst in encouraging serious research. William Molyneux (1656-98) was a leading member and secretary of the Society, while Sir William Petty (1623-1687) was its first president. The society had tried to persuade Edward Lhuyd, keeper of Antiquities in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford, to come to Ireland. Lhuyd did not take up their invitation but did visit Ireland at a later date, his drawing of Newgrange being published in 1726 by Thomas Molyneux. The Society was also interested in the Giant's Causeway and published an engraving of it by Edwin Sandys.1
The Rev. Arthur Stanhope, Archdeacon of Lismore and later Dean of Waterford, compiled a description of County Waterford in the 1680s for William Molyneux's proposed Natural History of Ireland 2, Molyneux having previously sent out question-naires in May, 1682. However, Stanhope's replies were disappointing in their detail.

Sir Richard Cox (1650-1733) had already contributed an account of County Cork to William Molyneux in 1658. In 1687, he compiled another description of County Cork which also covered County Waterford and provides much more detail than Stanhope's. 3 Molyneux, however, abandoned work on his Natural History in 1685.

Another member of the Society was George Berkeley (1685-1753), Bishop of Cloyne, a philosopher and traveller. Charles Smith in his History of Cork (1750) described him as having "successfully transplanted the polite arts ... to this northern climate". 4 Berkeley and Thomas Molyneux 1661-1733) were members of the newly- founded Dublin Society in 1731. The society included most of the leading antiquarians and became an important promoter of agricultural and artistic education in eighteenth-century Ireland. Both the Dublin Society and the Dublin Philosophical Society encouraged and inspired the landed gentry to take an interest in their surroundings and to record items in a more scientific and professional manner.