NORTHERN IRELAND HERITAGE GARDENS INVENTORY 1992 This inventory was complied in 1992 by Belinda Jupp on behalf of the Northern Ireland Heritage Gardens Committee. After completion of the inventory, the files were all transferred to the Monuments and Buildings Record, held by Built Heritage: Environment and Heritage Service. The inventory is due to be updated by Built Heritage, and when this is completed it will be duely posted onto this site. A GUID E TO THE IN VENTORY • The format is intended to give easy access to the most basic information about the chosen sites. • The numbers at the beginning of each entry have been entered for archival purposes. • The names of the property or site are collated on a county basis in alphabetical order and are in alphabetical order within each county. • These are followed by a reference to the Irish Grid. This indicates the site of a main building. In the case of a property having been demolished some of the references are approximated. Sites with no central building such as public parks have been limited to a four figure reference. • Tabulated star headings were devised for the ICOMOS English preliminary list. Not all the Northern Ireland entries fit comfortably into this framework. Ancient Remains These would be in the nature of a rath, motte, monastery, castle, tower house or church which is on the site but may or may not be included in the landscape as a feature. Early Formal Formal gardens are ancient in origin. There are no known examples of Medieval or Tudor gardens though it is likely that there were productive gardens connected with monasteries. The earliest known gardens in Northern Ireland date from the first half of the seventeenth century. Pictorial evidence shows plots with rectangular beds and written sources tell of orchards. By the early eighteenth century the Franco-Dutch style, also adopted in England, had arrived in the Six Counties on a modest scale. Grounds were organised on axial plans with straight avenues, canals and areas of parterre. There are few extant examples that belong to this category, though there are parts of subsequently altered sites which still have formal elements. The lower photograph on the cover showing the canals and lime hedges at Antrim Castle illustrates an example of an early formal garden. Landscape Parks The ‘landscape’ style emanated from England. Planting and lay-out were sympathetic to the contours of the natural landscape so that they appeared ‘natural’ but in reality involved earth moving, felling of trees, the damming of rivers to create lakes and other contrivances. A great many houses built in Ireland during the period from the late eighteenth century to the mid nineteenth century had grounds laid out in this current mode. There are fine examples of Landscape Parks in the Province. The print of the Primate’s Palace in Armagh illustrates the handsome house of 1770 set in parkland. Many good stands of trees survive from this period and remain a feature in the landscape. It should be mentioned that modest demesnes and glebes fall into the category ‘Landscape Park’ wherein gardening activity may not have amounted to more than some tree planting and the growing of produce and flowers in a walled garden. The latter feature largely dates from this time. Late Formal By the mid nineteenth century it was fashionable to have ornamental planting near to the house. Balustrades and terraces led out on to lawns dotted with specimen trees and flower beds laid out in symmetrical patterns. Elaborate schemes, such as that which used to exisit in from of the house at Baronscourt, Co. Tyrone, would have been very labour intensive to maintain. Bedding like this is not seen today except in municipal parks. What does remain however are shrubberies and arboreta filled with ‘exotic’ species introduced from overseas as a result of the endeavours of successful plant hunters and collectors of this period. There has been a particular interest in the collection and cultivation of rhododendrons in the gardens of Northern Ireland. Landscape Garden At the turn of the century once more an English style was widely followed, though the chief progenitor was of Ulster descent, William Robinson. A less formal arrangement of plants gave the desired effect, an example of which is at Tempo Manor, illustrated at the beginning of Country Fermanagh section. Herbaceous borders with plants intermingling in great swathes of colour were also labour intensive and are rarely kept up today. Notable gardens of the latter half of the twentieth century are necessarily small scale as their enthusiastic owners are usually the sole labourers. Imaginative landscaping, the use of a wide variety of plant material enjoying an equable climate hopefully lays down ‘heritage’ gardens for the future, and many gardens of recent origin are included in this inventory. Plant Collection This section indicates the whereabouts of collections of plants in one garden; National Collections held at one site; or the breeding of plants at one site. Buildings and Artefacts Items noted in this section range from ornamental garden buildings and embellishments such as summer houses to statues, though these are few and far between. Workaday garden buildings connected with the horticultural side of the grounds are more commonly found, for example walled gardens, glasshouses and potting sheds. Existing gate lodges have been included in this column. The Notes These notes give only the briefest outline as to the nature and content of the site. An explanation of some of the terms used in the notes follows: Historic interest. Gardens that no longer exist but for which there is documentary evidence. Demesne. A word used in Ireland, to refer to the land that a landlord retains for his own use, though he may have more land which is let out to tenants. Demesnes are units in themselves with house, woodland, farm, stables, outbuildings and gardens that in their heyday provided for the needs of the landlord’s family and retainers. These sites were planted in both a practical and decorative way. Though they rarely survive with total acreage, sites with the house at the core, with immediate land and garden, exist in substantial numbers today. Mature trees. Good stands of reasonably sized trees enhancing and protecting the garden site. Tree rings. Tree planting from the late seventeenth century on earthworks representing ancient raths. Exotics. Plant material that is not native and often planted as specimens. For example the easily recognisable Monkey-puzzle was introduced in the late eighteenth century. Conservatory. A glasshouse against the house. Traditionally tender plants could be conserved inside during the winter days of harsh weather. They came to be used as decorative places in themselves with plants displayed all the year round. Ornamental garden. Planting for no practical purpose other than aesthetic. Productive garden. An area used for the cultivation of fruit, vegetables and flowers which is not walled in. W/gdn. Abbreviation for walled garden with walls standing and not cultivated unless specifically noted ‘cultivated’ or ‘maintained’. I have deliberately sought sites with walled gardens (there are a great number), as it can be presupposed that gardening activity took place within them. The photograph of the walled garden in Donaghadee, at The Manor House shows a traditional lay-out, now rarely seen. Garden house. A house for the head gardener to live in. Gate Lodges. The notes here do not indicate what condition the gate lodges are in or whether there were at one time additional gate lodges or indeed any gate lodges at a site. They merit a separate study in themselves and one is in preparation. Note on Municipal Parks. The survey here is not complete. I have chosen some public parks that have an historical interest in that they were made on donated land or developed from a former garden site, through one or two merit entry as having interesting landscapes and content. Again this is an area for separate study. Belfast City Council Parks Department have their own archive and a publication is underway. Belinda Jupp. ABBREVIATIONS DANI Department of Agriculture for Northern Ireland (FS) Forest Service DOENI Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland (CW) Countryside and Wildlife (HMB) Historic Monuments and Buildings NT The National Trust OS Ordnance Survey OSM Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland T/D Townland UWT Ulster Wildlife Trust SOURCES A substantial number of different types of sources have been used in the compilation of this inventory. Information about documents relating to individual entries can be found in the relevant files in the archive. Principal published sources are, Jope, E.M. (Ed.) The Archaeological Survey of Northern Ireland, County Down (HMSO, Belfast, 1966). Young, R.M. Belfast and the Province of Ulster in the 20th Century (Pike, Brighton, 1909). Bence-Jones, M. A Guide to Irish Country Houses (Constable, London, 1988). Nelson, E.C. and Irish Gardening and Horticulture. (Boethius Press, Dublin, Brady, A. (Eds.) 1979). M alins, E. and Irish Gardens and Demesnes from 1830. (Barrie and Jenkins, Bowe, P. London, 1980). M alins, E. and Lost Demesnes, Irish Landscape Gardening, 1660-1845. Barrie Glin, The Knight of, and Jenkins, London, 1976). Rowan, A. North West Ulster. (Penguin, London, 1979). Day, A. and Ordnance Survey Memoirs of Ireland (Institute of Irish Studies, M cWilliams, P.S. Belfast, 1990 - ). (Eds.) Ordnance Survey maps from 1833. Lewis, S. Topographical Dictionary of Ireland, 2nd ed. (Lewis, London, 1837). Ulster Architectural Heritage Society. Books, monographs and essays. Lists and surveys compiled and published from 1969. COUNTY ANTRIM COUNTY ANTRIM GR = Grid Reference LP = Landscape Park PC = Plant Collection AR = Ancient Remains LF = Late Formal BA = Buildings, Artefacts EF = Early Formal LG = Landscape Garden Property GR AR EF LP LF LG PC BA Notes An/111 J279664 Aberdelghy * 19th-c house gone.