Parks and Gardens

Phoenix Park

The Phoenix Park consists of 1760 acres of land and is one of the largest parks within city boundaries in Europe. Part of the Phoenix Park was used by the hospitaller knights who occupied Kilmainham until they surrendered this land to the English crown in 1541. The residence was used by the governor general but after numerous attacks from Fenian clans, the land was leased out to Sir Edward Fisher who built a residence on the land and named it Phoenix. There are two beliefs as to where the name came from. Some people believe that the house name derived from the irish words Fionn-Uisage, which describes a spring of clear water which is supposed to have been found in the park, while others take the view that the builder of the house called it phoenix to assert a classical quality to it. A number of years later the land was taken back by the crown and used for residence of the crown’s representatives in Ireland, who included the Earls of Essex and Strafford, and Henry Cromwell, brother of Oliver. Upon the arrival of James Duke of Ormond as Lord Deputy of Ireland, a sum of money was provided for to make a deer park by adjoining some of the local farms together and buying deer, partridges and hawks. Following this the park was enclosed in walls so that the deer would not escape from their confines. The park was used for many a hunting party for the royal aristocrats who came to Ireland. About 1738, the Fionn-Uisage house was destroyed by fire and a new building for military guard was erected called the Power Magazine. There is a further nine acres which was organised to play polo on, however this is now used by citizens as a place of relaxation.

Phoenix Park

Phoenix Park

The Phoenix Park consists of 1760 acres of land and is one of the largest parks within city boundaries in Europe. Part of the Phoenix Park was used by the hospitaller knights who occupied Kilmainham until they surrendered this land to the English crown in 1541. The residence was used by the governor general but after numerous attacks from Fenian clans, the land was leased out to Sir Edward Fisher who built a residence on the land and named it Phoenix. There are two beliefs as to where the name came from. Some people believe that the house name derived from the irish words Fionn-Uisage, which describes a spring of clear water which is supposed to have been found in the park, while others take the view that the builder of the house called it phoenix to assert a classical quality to it. A number of years later the land was taken back by the crown and used for residence of the crown’s representatives in Ireland, who included the Earls of Essex and Strafford, and Henry Cromwell, brother of Oliver. Upon the arrival of James Duke of Ormond as Lord Deputy of Ireland, a sum of money was provided for to make a deer park by adjoining some of the local farms together and buying deer, partridges and hawks. Following this the park was enclosed in walls so that the deer would not escape from their confines. The park was used for many a hunting party for the royal aristocrats who came to Ireland. About 1738, the Fionn-Uisage house was destroyed by fire and a new building for military guard was erected called the Power Magazine. There is a further nine acres which was organised to play polo on, however this is now used by citizens as a place of relaxation.

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Bessborough House

Photograph of Bessborough House, Piltown, County Kilkenny

Bessborough House

Bessborough House

Photograph of Bessborough House, Piltown, County Kilkenny

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Hunting, whether for wild beasts or game that has been bred for sport, has always given pleasure to powerful people. Oriental potentates and Roman emperors exhibited their importance by the spectacular slaughter of animals, and the Gaelic lords and landed families of Ireland (and Britain), down the centuries, have tended to do the same. The great extent of the Phoenix park in Dublin is explained by the fact that this land was the hunting ground reserved for his own use by Henry II, and the deer that feed on its fields today are genetically amongst the oldest strains of Europe. The park has been a royal place since the end of the twelfth century. It is for this reason that the British Viceroys had their residence there and that the President of Ireland lives there now.

Land was granted to anyone who ever settled in Ireland. Land was power and land, not used for development or cultivation but set aside for gardens or a park, was a clear a status symbol. The aristocratic houses of Ireland have usually had parks and gardens attached to them. In the Tudor and Stuart periods the gardens were formally laid out with geometric patterns of flowerbeds, clipped yew hedges and formal pieces of water arranged as canals or in geometrical ponds. In the mid Georgian period a more natural type of Landscape Gardening became popular where a country house was shown in an informal setting with clumps of trees around it and grass that came up almost to the front door.

Landscape Gardening

Woodstock House, Rear Elevation

Photograph of the Rear Elevation of Woodstock House

Woodstock House, Rear Elevation

Woodstock House, Rear Elevation

Photograph of the Rear Elevation of Woodstock House

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Woostock Gates Pier

Digital photograph of a pier on the main gates, Woodstock Estate, Inistioge

Woostock Gates Pier

Woostock Gates Pier

Digital photograph of a pier on the main gates, Woodstock Estate, Inistioge

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Laying out grounds to make them appear natural is a taste which began in Britain in about 1720. Instead of imposing a pre-conceived formal pattern on to the terrain about a country house, designers now tried to work with what they found naturally - the poet Alexander Pope called it 'the Genius of the place' - and to shape the landscape to emphasise its best features. A hill could be made to appear more emphatic by planting a clump of trees on its summit and a shallow dip in the ground might be excavated to introduce the shining surface of a lake. Elements which designers tried to include were an irregular piece of water, or a river - often created by damming a small stream - a belt of trees to surround the fields of the park, clumps of trees planted in groups on a lawn and individual garden buildings, a temple, a cottage, a tower or a sham ruin, to provide variety and interest in the grounds.

In the Regency and Victorian periods the taste for natural gardening was imported to the much smaller gardens of suburban houses, which often added a conservatory to the attractions of the place. From the mid-nineteenth century Victorian town councils and planners often sought to extend the advantages of open space and landscaped parks for the benefit of townsfolk. At a time when public transport was limited and comparatively expensive, such municipal gardens brought the benefits of fresh air and vegetation within reach of all classes. Memorial parks and cemetery gardens further extended these opportunities to the whole population.