Originally intended for the church, he was eventually placed as a pupil with James Gandon, the celebrated architect, in Dublin.
He obtained through his godfather, Richard Boyle, 2nd Earl of Shannon, a post in the ordnance department at Dublin, but this he abandoned.
Having resided for some time at Clonmel, where his second son, William Vitruvius was born, he moved about 1800 to Dublin and settled at Bray, County Wicklow.
[3] Richard Morrison also designed Knockdrin Castle, just north of Mullingar in County Westmeath.
A prominent work was his Gothic fantasy 1819 remodelling of Shelton Abbey, Arklow, County Wicklow.