So now that we’ve established the historical influences on Irish gardens and the country’s landscape, we can now look into some specific gardens that I and the rest of my class will be visiting. Two gardens that I find of particular interest are the Powerscourt gardens and the Japanese Gardens at the National Stud. That being the case, let’s look into both of these for a better understanding of what they are, what they represent, and why they are there today.

            

The Powerscourt gardens are part of the Powerscourt Estates which is located at Enniskerry Bray Co Wicklow Ireland, just twenty miles south of Dublin. The Estate originates back to the thirteenth century, where there was a medieval castle owned by the Le Power family. This is how Powerscourt received its name. Prominent families throughout Ireland fought for this castle but it was ultimately awarded to Sir Richard Wingfield for his military achievements by Queen Elizabeth. His family and descendents inherited the castle and property for over three hundred years. In 1730, an architect by the name of Richard Castle designed the Powerscourt house which was a 68 room mansion, built around the castle. It had a Palladian style of architecture, and was simply extravagant.

                

Unfortunately, a fire broke out in 1974  and basically destroyed the entire interior of the mansion. It has been restored, and today it houses a museum, multiple high-end stores such as the Global Village, and the Terrace Café.

              

In terms of the gardens, there were two main periods where establishment took place. The first was just after the Powerscourt house was constructed, and it consisted of two major areas. To the north were formal tree plantations, and to the south side were a variety of features ranging from grottos to wall gardens and terraces. An architect by the name of Daniel Robertson came in at a later point in history to establish Renaissance style gardens, and did so while consuming a more than adequate amount of sherry throughout his career. As history progresses, more and more features and areas of gardens were established to become what is there today. The Powerscourt gardens consist of an Italian garden, walled garden, Dolphin pond, Pet’s cemetery, Japanese Garden, and Tower Valley. The Powerscourt gardens also is home to Ireland’s tallest waterfall.

Back view of the Powerscourt house and gardens.

In terms of the Japanese Gardens at the National Stud, I first wanted to know what the National Stud was all about. After going to their website, I quickly became educated in the fact that the National Stud was actually a thoroughbred horse breeding farm. The history goes all the way back to 1900, and was more or less founded by Colonel William Hall Walker. In 1917 the farm and all of the horses produced were gifted to the Irish government, and then became known as the National Stud. It has had great success, especially in the sense that the farm has produced winners of all five Classics, which are various types of horse races.

                 

There are actually two gardens at the National Stud. The first is the Japanese gardens which were established from 1906 to 1910. William Hall Walker brought in a master Japanese horticulturist, by the name of Tassa Eida, and his son. Their plan was to design a garden to symbolize the “Life of Man”. It incorporates a large number of streams, lots of greenery, and a great deal of color. It has been very successful in its 100 years of existence, and has attracted over 150,000 visitors every year. 

One of the scenes that can be found in the Japanese gardens.

The second garden that can be found is the garden of St. Fiachra. St. Fiachra is the patron saint of gardeners, and is commemorated through the work of landscape architect, Martin Hallinan, by his creation of this garden in 1999. It was meant to complement the Japanese Gardens, and has definitely served its purpose in replicating the natural Irish landscape. Rock and water are predominant features in this garden and are incorporated well with the plant material such as ferns and orchids. The Stud and both gardens are found in County Kildare which is 45 minutes southwest of Dublin. 

Scene that can be found in the garden of St. Fiachra, where you can see his statue near the left of the photo.

Sources

"Powerscourt House and Gardens." Welcome. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://www.powerscourt.ie/gardens>.

"Welcome - Irish National Stud." Welcome - Irish National Stud. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Feb. 2012. <http://irishnationalstud.ie/>.