Formal Cordyline Garden

RESTORATION PROPOSALS FOR THE PLEASURE GARDENS

The research and historical assessment carried out in the 1990s led to the preparation of Restoration Proposals for the Pleasure Gardens. The proposed restoration plan for the Pleasure Gardens is based on the late19th and early 20th century Ordnance Survey maps which indicated the main path layouts and compartments of the garden, and on early 20th century articles and photographs and recollections of retired gardeners for details of the gardens.

From our research it emerged that the early 20th century Pleasure Gardens of one and a half acres consisted of four distinct areas:

1. The Sunken Italian Garden 2. The Formal Rose Garden 3. The Formal Cordyline Garden 4. The Former Tennis Court Area

Despite the loss of significant features, including the large yew hedges, perimeter paths, and detail layouts, the basic elements of the gardens remained, including the pond, the

temple, the sunken areas of the former Rose and cordyline gardens with their stone steps and a number of mature cordylines. However, there was still little concrete information on the sunken Italian garden until discussions with two retired gardeners ( Billy Power and Jim Forrest), whose descriptions led to the uncovering of the remains of the original sunken Italian garden.

1. Sunken Italian Garden

The remains of the low rectangular brick walls and steps just under the grass sods were in poor condition and had subsided due to a lack of proper foundations. A section of squared limestone paving was uncovered in the excavations and this was probably part of the original paving, of which no other trace remained. The old Italian well-head had been relocated in a different part of the garden but a number of statuary figures, including four putti figures representing the four Seasons were retained by Mrs Bell. The remains of an old stone bench seat was also uncovered under the perimeter yew hedge. It is proposed to restoring this garden by carefully dismantling and re-constructing the brick walls and steps with new foundations and new paving and by restoring as many detail features as possible.

2. Formal Rose Garden

A key photograph from 1914 Irish Garden Magazine indicates a detailed geometric parterre-style rose garden with small, mainly rectangular, beds, filled with roses and featuring a terracotta-style rope edging. Two sets of stone steps lead down into the sunken area from the perimeter paths. Evidence on the ground in dry weather indicated a central large oval and four satellite circles around it. We have interpreted the existing and former evidence and indicated a restoration layout for the rose garden which appears very close to the original layout.

3. Formal Cordyline Garden

This garden also features in the 1914 photograph with a formal layout of cordylines, many of which survive today. The path layout is not discernible. However, from the location of the existing four sets of stone steps and remaining cordylines, we have indicated a possible layout with the sundial in the centre. In the Irish Garden Magazine there was also a description of bedding plants used, including verbenas Venosa, V. Miss Willmott, Begonias, Worthianas and Cannas among the well-established Cordylines australis.

4. Former Tennis Court

It is proposed that this area becomes an ornamental nut or fruit tree garden, using dwarf varieties to recreate the oval-shaped area indicated on the Ordnance Survey map of 1841, to reflect the historical character and to commission a new sculpture as a modern focal point.