Survey Data
Reg No
40901753
Rating
Regional
Categories of Special Interest
Architectural
Original Use
Walled garden
Date
1870 - 1880
Coordinates
215455, 437395
Date Recorded
04/10/2010
Date Updated
--/--/--
Description
Walled garden complex originally on sub rectangular-plan with canted corner to the north-west associated with Mulroy House (see 40901712), dated erected c. 1876. Now out of use and inaccessible in places. Squared and snecked rubble stone boundary walls with chamfered tooled stone coping over. Integral pointed-arch pedestrian entrance to the south-east having ashlar granite block-and-start surround with chamfered reveal, decorative wrought-iron gate, and with stepped parapet over having chamfered ashlar coping and with cut stone date plaque incised ‘1876’; cut stone steps and rubble stone boundary wall to interior of gateway giving access to raised garden. Single-storey outbuildings (see 40901762) to the north-west corner of interior boundary wall. Garden is surrounded by mature woodland. Mature tress to site. Located adjacent to the north-west of Mulroy House in extensive mature landscaped grounds to the east of Carrickart.
Appraisal
This large walled garden was originally built\laid-out to serve the estate of Mulroy House (see 40901712), which lies adjacent to the south-east. Although the site is now out of use, the robust and imposing boundary walls survive in good condition. The quality of the masonry and the cut stone coping over is indicative of the attention to detail afforded even utilitarian features on large country estates at the time of construction. Of particular note is the elaborate pedestrian entrance to the south-east corner facing the house, which is constructed of high quality masonry with a decorative crow-steeped parapet over, and with attractive wrought-iron gate that is of additional artistic interest. The date plaque over the entrance indicates that the gateway was built in 1876 when the infamous Third Earl of Leitrim owned Mulroy House. The garden has an unusual setting, where it is set on a raised level and can be reached only via stone steps. Although the garden is now disused and there is no remaining plants or visible sign of the original layout, apparently the gardens were noteworthy for its rhododendrons and azaleas. There are a number of surviving fruit trees including espalier apple trees. The garden is surrounded by mature woodland, which was planted by the Third, Fourth and Fifth Earls of Leitrim. The scale of these walled gardens provides an interesting historical insight into the extensive resources needed to run and maintain a large country estate in Ireland during the nineteenth centuries, when it would have provided a wide variety of produce for use in the main house and, probably, as a pleasure garden for enjoyment by the Earls and family. The single-storey buildings to the north-west of the garden were probably formerly potting sheds and other outbuildings. This former walled garden forms part of a group of structures associated with Mulroy House that together form the most extensive collection of their type surviving in Donegal, and is an integral element of the built heritage of the local area.