John Cumming Macdona died in 1907 and was remembered as a ‘tornado of energy’. He was born in Dublin in 1839, and after university entered the church and was ordained in 1859. Many years later he decided to read for the bar, before entering politics as a Conservative in 1885. But he was perhaps best known as a ‘famous dog fancier’, and this little tower was built as a tomb for one of his favourites.
Cumming Macdona (as he was always known) lived at Hilbre House in West Kirby on The Wirral, the peninsula bordered by the rivers Mersey and Dee. Hilbre House was a ‘castellated mansion’ which was ‘charmingly situated’ overlooking the Dee and with views across to Wales.
Cumming Macdona was reported to have had 300 dogs in his kennels at one point. He was well-known as both competitor and judge at dog shows and was a good friend of one Mr Cruft. He is credited with introducing the St Bernard breed to England, and his caricature in Vanity Fair magazine shows him as ‘St Bernards’ in a rough fur coat.
His most famous St Bernard was Tell, the winner of many awards before his retirement in 1870. When Tell died in January 1871 newspapers nationwide noted the ‘Death of a Celebrated Prize Dog’. One noted that Tell had been depicted ‘in a recent Alpine picture by George Earl, the short-haired dog Monarque being his companion’. Although named today as Excelsior, this 1870 painting by Earl seems to match the description.
Cumming Macdona decided to build a tomb in his garden to house the dog’s remains. The vault was constructed under a little circular tower with views out over the river Dee.
The door to the canine crypt was guarded with a stone statue of Tell himself, and a plaque records that the little tower was built in memory of the ‘great St Bernard dog’ who had been ‘majestic in appearance, noble in character, and of undaunted courage’.
Some sources state that Tell’s courage was proved when he rescued his master from the sea, after which feat he expired, but there don’t seem to be any contemporary references to such an event.
As old postcards show, the grounds of Hilbre House ran down to the tidal river Dee. Many cards were produced showing the West Kirby promenade at high tide on stormy days, with Tell’s Tower prominent in the background.
The garden was requisitioned during the Second World War and became home to gun emplacements. Hilbre House remained home to Cumming Macdona’s daughter-in-law (his son died in 1947) until her death at the age of 104 in 1969. Mrs Egerton Macdona was a stalwart of the Conservative party and left Hilbre House to the local MP Selwyn Lloyd. Following his death in 1978 the house (remodelled since Cumming Macdona’s day) was sold and much of its extensive garden was lost to housing development.
The tower still stands, but has now been extended and incorporated into a house on Riverside which has taken the name of the monument – Tell’s Tower. It can be glimpsed through the masts in the yard of the West Kirby Sailing Club.
West Kirby is also home to an elegant stone column topped with a ball. It was erected in 1841 as a beacon for ‘Mariners frequenting the River Mersey and its Vicinity’. The shaft has a beautifully carved inscription and is easy to find – just head to Column Road.
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