Ilnacullin
Encyclopedia
Irish language
Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
meaning 'island of holly') known locally as Garnish Island (properly Garinish Island or Garinis in Irish), is a very tranquil yet popular tourist attraction in Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
, located in the small harbour of Glengarriff
Glengarriff
Glengarriff is a village of approximately 800 people on the N71 national secondary road in the south-west region of County Cork, Ireland. Known internationally as a tourism venue, it boasts many natural attractions...
, County Cork
County Cork
County Cork is a county in Ireland. It is located in the South-West Region and is also part of the province of Munster. It is named after the city of Cork . Cork County Council is the local authority for the county...
which forms part of Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay
Bantry Bay is a bay located in County Cork, southwest Ireland. The bay runs approximately from northeast to southwest into the Atlantic Ocean. It is approximately 3-to-4 km wide at the head and wide at the entrance....
. Ilnacullin is the name used by the National Parks and Monuments Service to differentiate it from Garinish Island in Co Kerry.
The gardens are visited by thousands of people each year from all over the world and have been the subject of gardening programmes on television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
.
History
The garden was designed by Harold PetoHarold Peto
Harold Ainsworth Peto was a British landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France.-Biography:...
, (1854–1933), for its owner Annan Bryce, (1874–1924), a native of Belfast
Belfast
Belfast is the capital of and largest city in Northern Ireland. By population, it is the 14th biggest city in the United Kingdom and second biggest on the island of Ireland . It is the seat of the devolved government and legislative Northern Ireland Assembly...
, who, with his wife Violet, purchased the island from the War Office
War Office
The War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
in 1910. Violet died in 1939 and their son Roland bequeathed the island to the Irish nation in 1953. It was taken over and is still maintained by the Office of Public Works. Renowned for its beautiful gardens and architecture (a mansion was designed by Peto but was never built), the island has played host to well-known writers such as GB Shaw
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
and Æ
George William Russell
George William Russell who wrote under the pseudonym Æ , was an Irish nationalist, writer, editor, critic, poet, and painter. He was also a mystical writer, and centre of a group of followers of theosophy in Dublin, for many years.-Organisor:Russell was born in Lurgan, County Armagh...
.
There is a Martello tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
on the island dating from the time of the Napoleonic Wars
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
. The Ilnacullin tower, like others in Cork, but unlike other Irish Martello towers, has a straight cylindrical shape that does not splay out at its base. The tower has been restored and is well worth a trip up to the battlements to see the views.
The Gardens
Pine
Pines are trees in the genus Pinus ,in the family Pinaceae. They make up the monotypic subfamily Pinoideae. There are about 115 species of pine, although different authorities accept between 105 and 125 species.-Etymology:...
shelter belt. Structures include a clock tower, Grecian Temple, Martello Tower
Martello tower
Martello towers are small defensive forts built in several countries of the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the Napoleonic Wars onwards....
, and an Italian Temple. Although noted for the "Italian" gardens, there is a strong Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese influence running throughout the design. This is particularly evident at the Grecian Temple which frames the Sugarloaf mountain (in the Caha Mountains
Caha Mountains
The Caha Mountains are a range of low sandstone mountains situated on the Beara peninsula in south-west County Cork, in the Ireland. The highest peak is Hungry Hill, 685m tall.-See also:*List of mountains in Ireland...
) in a manner which is highly suggestive of Mount Fuji
Mount Fuji
is the highest mountain in Japan at . An active stratovolcano that last erupted in 1707–08, Mount Fuji lies about south-west of Tokyo, and can be seen from there on a clear day. Mount Fuji's exceptionally symmetrical cone is a well-known symbol of Japan and it is frequently depicted in art and...
in Japan. The Italian Tea House or "Casita" seems close in style to a Japanese tea house
Tea house
A tea house or tearoom is a venue centered on drinking tea. Its function varies widely depending on the culture, and some cultures have a variety of distinct tea-centered houses or parlors that all qualify under the English language term "tea house" or "tea room."-Asia:In Central Asia this term...
while potted dwarf trees resemble bonsai
Bonsai
is a Japanese art form using miniature trees grown in containers. Similar practices exist in other cultures, including the Chinese tradition of penjing from which the art originated, and the miniature living landscapes of Vietnamese hòn non bộ...
. The planting of South American and Oriental trees and shrubs is a delight - such as the fine example of Chilean myrtle which can be seen in the glade known as "Happy Valley".
Getting there
Glengarriff
Glengarriff is a village of approximately 800 people on the N71 national secondary road in the south-west region of County Cork, Ireland. Known internationally as a tourism venue, it boasts many natural attractions...
, the Beara Peninsula
Beara Peninsula
The Beara Peninsula is a peninsula on the south-west coast of Ireland, bounded between the Kenmare "river" to the north side and Bantry Bay to the south. It has two mountain ranges running down its centre: the Caha Mountains and the Slieve Miskish Mountains...
and Sheep's Head
Sheep's Head
Sheep's Head, also known as Muntervary , is the headland at the end of the peninsula between Bantry Bay and Dunmanus Bay in County Cork, Ireland....
while enjoying the amazingingly calm seas in the sheltered harbour.