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 Northern Ireland.
[1] 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.
[2] 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.
[5] Wise was a strong advocate of good quality stone ballast, and he developed a quarry near Ballymoney where he installed the latest stone-breaking plant.
Wise designed a mock Tudor building with black beams painted on white stucco, all on a red brick base.
[5] Wise gave the BNCR a distinctive architectural style of red brick buildings with large overhanging awnings and half-timbered gables.
Two wooden kiosks, designed by Wise, one from Portrush and one from Belfast York Road in a Swiss style, are preserved in the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum in Cultra.
[2] Wise worked under Edward John Cotton, General Manager of the BNCR, and together they developed the most prosperous railway in Ireland, showing a particular flair for the promotion of tourism.
So as well as his normal work on the railway and its stations, Wise designed tea rooms, promenades, bandstands, footpaths and golf courses across the network.
In places Wise cantilevered the path from sheer rock faces and built rustic shelters at strategic points, including one below the Ess-na-Larach waterfall which tourists could view through coloured glass.
Two years later, Wise designed and constructed a tea room at the bottom of the glen, which survives as a restaurant; ever mindful of the needs of tourists, it incorporated a darkroom for photographers.
[citation needed] 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.
[8] 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 3+1⁄4 miles to a northern exit at Heddle's Port.
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.
The new path with its 6 cantilevered walkways and 15 new bridges (4 of them over 30m long) was opened by Mid and East Antrim Borough Council on 19 August 2015 at a cost of £7.5 million.
In the latter part of his career with the BNCR, from 1896 to 1906, Wise lived in Silverstream House, Jordanstown, County Antrim[9] where in his spare time he kept poultry.
Many of his peers from the railway companies of Ulster attended, including his long-time colleague Bowman Malcolm, Locomotive Engineer of the BNCR.
