Kylemore Abbey Gardens

Continuing my travels up the West coast of Ireland last summer, I drove from Salthill’s beautiful Galway Bay hotel, through Connemara and its detours, and then on to Kylemore Abbey. Yesterday, I mentioned about the gardens at Kylemore.

view from the High Gardens, Kylemore Abbey

There are several Gardens at Kylemore Abbey – there’s the lower gardens, which are filled with trees and walking paths around Lough Pollacappul. Then, there are the upper gardens. A short drive (or walk) by bus leads you up the hill to the top of the Mountain. When you first get out of the bus, the view (above) is breathtaking and natural. As you walk on the pathway, you begin to see the Walls of the garden – surrounded with these giant trees that were so big that I couldn’t get my arms around.

The Tea garden cafe is to the right, and as you walk past it, you enter into the first of the walled gardens. Below you can see the interesting layout with the white Victorian greenhouses on the far end, a caretaker’s cottage, and lovely white benches throughout. The second picture is with your back to the caretaker’s cottage, looking toward the entrance.

In addition to the caretaker’s cottage (below) which is heated by peat (peat pile 2nd picture) there’s also a second carpenter’s cottage and some ruins (very first picture at the top) of a heated conservatory that is in the process of being restored.

Other than the main sculpted garden, there’s also a really nice vegetable garden / herbal remedy garden. This one’s more rustic and has a stream off to the edge.

The stream runs off into a grove of white beech trees.

As I left the upper gardens, It started raining – just in time for me to head back to the Galway Bay hotel. Luckily, I was able to get out the map and avoid all of the fun detours that took me so far out of the way, and get on some main streets to get back to Galway for a massage and a good nights rest with the windows open to the fresh sea breeze.

The next day, I headed back, stopping in Athenry and Clonmacnoise. More from those later.

Kylemore Abbey

Continuing my travels up the West coast of Ireland last summer, I drove from Salthill’s beautiful Galway Bay hotel, through Connemara and its detours, and then on to Kylemore Abbey.

Map of the grounds & gardens of Kylemore Abbey

The story of Kylemore Abbey is a story of love and loss, vision and tragedy, and finally hope. Without getting deep into the building’s history, I’ll try to hit the high points of the history, and for more details, you can go to the Kylemore Abbey website here.

Back in the late 1800’s, an English surgeon named Mitchell Henry and his wife, Margaret, were married. They came to Connemara on their honeymoon and were enchanted by the area’s wonderful hunting and fishing. They vowed to one day return and build a home in such a beautiful place. When Henry’s father died, Henry received a large inheritance and decided to give up medicine for business and politics. He and Margaret bought property in Connemara (some 13,000 acres in land) around the old Kylemore hunting lodge. The property included mountains, a lake and boglands. Margaret and Henry started to build a 70 room home – what is the main portion of the Abbey today, in a Victorian Style Castle. They built the castle in the shadow of Druchruach Mountain and hugging the shores of Lough Pollacappul, to maximize the view. By 1871, the castle and the walled garden were completed. In 1874, while on holiday in Egypt, Margaret died, leaving behind her broken hearted husband and 9 children. Mitchell sent her body back to Kylemore and in the coming years, built a mausoleum in the style of an old gothic church along the side of of Lough Pollacappul to commemorate their love. For 40 years, Mitchell and his family encouraged locals to take up tenancy on his property – and during the time of the Irish Potato famine he is known to have provided work, food and schooling for those that he shared the land with.

In 1903, English King Edward VII came to Connemara to visit and toured the property and grounds. Shortly thereafter, Kylemore Abbey was sold to the Duke & Dutchess of Manchester, who bought the home and its grounds in 1909. Sadly, in 1914, The Dutchess of Manchester’s father, Eugene Zimmerman passed away – and because he was financing the home – the property was lost to the bankers.

The property remained mostly empty (caretakers were watching over it) until the 1920’s, when the Benedictine Nuns of Ireland purchased the land and property. They established a convent, guest house, series of gardens, and a Girls School (the school closed in the 1990’s). Today, the Benedictine Nuns still hold the property, making their money off of the location as a tourist attraction and selling their wares locally while doing good works in the local community.

While I didn’t have time (a 2 hour detour does this to ya!) to see inside the house or the Gothic cathedral, I did make it to the gardens, which I’ll post pictures of tomorrow – but for now, a preview of some of the flowers.

A Day trip to Malahide Castle

Malahide Castle is one of the oldest and most historic castles on the East Coast of Ireland, just North of Dublin. From 1185 until 1975, (Nearly 800 years) it was the home of the Talbot family – with only one short exception – the period from 1649-1660, when Oliver Cromwell granted it to Miles Corbet after the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland. (Miles Corbet was later hanged and the home restored to the Talbot family.)

In 1169, at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion, Malahide township was under the control of Hammund Mac Turkill, the last Viking King of Dublin. As the Normans gained land under Henry II starting in 1174, they were granted out to English noblemen. The actual estate began in 1185, when Richard Talbot, a knight who accompanied England’s King, Henry II to Ireland in 1174, was granted the “lands and harbour of Malahide” (something like 600 acres). Strongbow (I seriously love this guy’s name) was granted the remainder of Leinster county.

The oldest parts of the castle date back to the 12th century, including the current cafe area and a circular staircase which led to the original 13th century keep. Starting during Edward the IV, the building was added on to. In the 1640’s, under Cromwell, the building itself, old moats, and walls started falling into disrepair as they were filled in and/or harvested for stone building projects. In 1700, the Talbots worked to restore the building to live-able condition, tearing down the fortifications – and vowing that never again should the castle be held by “userpers”. In the place of the fortifications, they planted evergreens on the grounds and started the botanical gardens. The round towers also added in 1765, and several of the windows (including the ones in the great hall) were enlarged. In the years between 1765 and 1782, there was a fire which damaged the west wing of the castle. During the restoration, drawing rooms were added and alternations to the bedrooms (raising ceilings / floors) were made.

One feature on the inside (no pictures allowed inside during the internal tour) is a beautiful Oak Room with carved 16th century wood paneled walls and fireplace. The carvings are all out of the bible, and it is known as one of the best examples of this type of carving in Ireland. The Oak Room itself was expanded in 1820 when the entrance porch was added.

Today, the castle and gardens encompass some 260 acres of parkland (which consist of wooded areas, cricket greens, soccer fields, a golf course, numerous hiking trails, tennis courts, etc.) and the Talbot Botanic Gardens. The Demense as the parkland is known, is one of the few surviving examples of 18th century landscaped parks, and the Botanic Gardens are known for their many plants from the southern hemisphere and the Victorian conservatory. The castle and grounds can easily be seen in a day trip from Dublin (as is evidenced by me taking my mom while she was visiting) and offers a good day out in good or bad weather. (I recommend trying the food at the cafe inside the castle – delicious!)

For more information, please see the Malahide Castle Website at:

http://www.malahidecastle.com/history.asp

Phoenix Rose's Blog

The Chronicles of a Girl, Her Dog, and a Lifelong Journey…

history

Kylemore Abbey Gardens

Kylemore Abbey

A Day trip to Malahide Castle