Survey Data
Reg No
14819275
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Archaeological, Architectural, Artistic
Original Use
Walled garden
In Use As
Walled garden
Date
1630 - 1670
Coordinates
205673, 205475
Date Recorded
31/08/2004
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Walled garden, dating to the c.1620s, sited within Birr Castle demesne. High random coursed stone walls surround garden with a glasshouse complex, potting sheds with random coursed stone walls and pitched slate roofs, corrugated-iron storage sheds abutting western wall. Two urns located in centre of the garden's cloistered upper terrace, with various stone statues aligned against garden wall. Oak benches at either end of the top terrace, with a water feature between the box hedges which are over 300 years old and form part of the early garden layout. The water feature was designed by the present Earl in the shape of the Celtic cross to mark the advent of the new millennium, after which the walled gardens have now been renamed.
Appraisal
These walled gardens were established in Birr demesne in the early seventeenth century, but the formal layout was designed in 1935 by the present Earl's mother and father, to commemorate their marriage. The gardens could also date to sometime between 1661 and 1688 when the Parson family recovered Birr following the Cromwellian period. The urns, set within the cloistered upper terrace, are based on Bavarian design, and are examples of some of the finest Baroque art. The garden contains two great oak seats at either end, the first of which was designed by Anne, Countess of Rosse. Her initials are carved on her seat, while those of her husband, Michael, the sixth Earl of Rosse are on his seat at the opposite end, so that each is facing the other. The oak came from the estate itself and the seats were made by the estate's master carpenter in the estate's workshops. The box hedges are over three hundred years old and according to the Guinness Book of Records they are the tallest in the world.