The gardens are an example of Victorian and Georgian heritage with the original walls being built in 1780. The Plunket family, a very prominent family in Irish political and religious life for 130 years owned the gardens between. Hon. William Conyngham Plunket (Lord Chancellor for Ireland 1830-1841) was a neighbour and political ally of Henry Grattan and fought the Act of Union in the Irish Parliament.
Re: Garden at Old Connaught Avenue
A historic garden survives reasonably intact close to Old Connaught Avenue, with its perimeter walls, granite steps, fountain/ponds and other features remaining in good condition.
Superficially, this garden appears to date from the third quarter of the 19th century, but its origins and some of its fabric are earlier, possibly considerably so.
Background History
The medieval castle at Old Connaught was inhabited by the Walsh family, from at least as early as 1460. While the precise location of this castle is uncertain, it lay somewhere in the land which is bordered by the long curve of Ferndale Road between the junction with Ballyman Road/Thornhill Road and the junction with Alleys River Road.
It is more than likely that this castle was the building shown opposite the end of Thornhill Road on John Rocque’s map of county Dublin which was published in 1760.
Extract from Rocque’s map showing the probable site of the Walsh castle at Old Connaught
Rocque claimed to show every building on his maps, but other features such as field boundaries are conjectural, as, to some extent are the gardens and planting.
In the late 18th century the Walsh property was sold and a mansion house was built, now, in a heavily-extended form, represented by Old Connaught House. This house was not built on the same site as the castle which remained in existence for about twenty years after the house was built.
The gardens were shown clearly on the first edition Ordnance Survey six-inch sheet, which for Dublin county was published in 1843. An extract from that map is shown below and it can be seen that the location and orientation of the garden address the site of the Walsh castle more closely than they relate to Old Connaught House.
Extract from first edition OS map, sheet 26, 1843
This relationship between the castle site and the gardens is suggestive of an early date for the gardens in their original form.
The gardens as they are today
Whether or not the gardens date from the time of the castle, they were certainly used in conjunction with Old Connaught House and the condition of the gardens as shown on the 1843 OS map shows that they were well laid out and maintained.
From the early 19th century Old Connaught House was the seat of the successive Lords Plunket, beginning with William Conyngham, first Baron Plunket and it was in his time that this first Ordnance Survey map was published.
His grandson, the Rev. William Conyngham, fourth Baron Plunket, ultimately became the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin and his statue may be seen in Kildare Street. He married Anne Lee Guinness, only daughter of Benjamin Lee Guinness, and sister of Lord Iveagh and Lord Ardilaun.
This marriage brought a considerable sum of money with it and on inheriting the title and estate the fourth baron used a great deal of it to enlarge and improve the grounds of Old Connaught House, including extensive works to the gardens.
The Plunket family sold the property following the death of the sixth Lord Plunket and his wife in an air crash in the 1930s. The new owners were the Christian Brothers who subsequently sold the property on.
In recent years a great deal of restoration work has been done to the planting in the gardens, remaining generally in keeping with the scheme of planting that had been there at the end of the 19th century.
Three flights of steps at the western end of the gardens
Structures in the gardens today
A great deal of the superficial appearance of the gardens today owe much to this intervention by the fourth Lord Plunket and this is most evident in the prominent use of late-19th century brick, particularly the buff-coloured brick used as quoins in walls, piers and buttresses.
The flights of steps, as seen in the photographs below, are flanked with yellow brick and probably date from this same period.
Granite steps with brick margins
Various other features survive from the latter half of the 19th century, including door surrounds in brick and a grotto structure at the south-west corner of the gardens. The perimeter walls are also capped in late-19th century brick. In various places there are pedestals in yellow brick that would have held urns or statuary and these are similar to pedestals which were found in other parts of the grounds of Old Connaught House.
Late 19th century brick door surround leading to grotto
Various other features survive from the latter half of the 19th century, including door surrounds in brick and a grotto structure at the south-west corner of the gardens. The perimeter walls are also capped in late-19th century brick. In various places there are pedestals in yellow brick that would have held urns or statuary and these are similar to pedestals which were found in other parts of the grounds of Old Connaught House.
Elsewhere in the gardens may be found a different style of door surround constructed in the same brick as the walls themselves and, in all probability, dating from an earlier period as the brick is of a different colour, texture and size.
Brick detailing on door surround
Features such as this add great character to the gardens and demonstrate that this was more than a routine walled garden attached to a big house, but exhibits detailing which is not common.
On first edition OS map a long building may be seen lying mid-way along the perimeter wall of the western of the two compartments. This corresponds with the base of the glass house which may be seen today and above which may be seen a flue within the thickness of the perimeter wall, evidently from some heating apparatus. The remains of this structure may be seen in the next photograph.
Remains of former glass house against northern perimeter wall
On the central axis of the gardens, in the western part of the garden, there is a circular fountain.
On the secondary axis, between a double row of yews which separate the two compartments of the garden, there are two rectangular ponds with brick pedestals, as shown in the next photograph.
Fountain on central axis
Ponds on secondary axis
The perimeter walls themselves are constructed in a good quality brick as a lining on the inner face, while the outer face is built in the local stone, which is mainly quartzite. The walls are generally in good condition.
Detail of brickwork in main perimeter walls
