Heywood Gardens
Heywood Gardens are set in the rolling landscape of County Laois, just north of the village of Ballinakill. Though it feels hidden away, Heywood is a place of real significance for anyone interested in historic landscapes and gardens, as it is the site of two historic garden types. The first is the great park created by Frederick Trench in the late 1700s, and the second, the small interlocked formal gardens created by Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll in the early 1900s.
The house and surrounding landscape were originally developed by Frederick Michael Trench during the late 1700s. Inspired by his Grand Tour of Europe, Trench transformed the gardens surrounding the Big House into what remains one of the most elegant ‘romantic landscapes’ in Ireland. The gardens have a spectacular setting on a hillside overlooking a sweep of undulating countryside taking in seven counties. Trench constructed rolling hills, made lakes, developed a Lime tree avenue, built a family mausoleum and placed Gothic follies and faux-ruins throughout the woodlands and landscape. The name of the gardens was taken from Frederick’s mother-in-law, Mary Heywood. James Gandon, architect of the Four Courts and Customs House in Dublin, is believed to have assisted Trench with the design of the house. As well as the house and gardens, the village of Ballinakill was also planned by Trench during this period.
Trench and his family would have enjoyed the wealth and privilege bestowed upon the land-owning ascendancy throughout much of the 19th century. Heywood welcomed many notable visitors, including the Empress Elizabeth of Austria in 1870. However, in 1885, the Land Commission was set up to ensure fairer rates for tenant farmers. Later the Commission was tasked with breaking up big estates to facilitate the purchase of holdings by tenants. As part of this process, the demesne of Heywood was bought by Sir William Hutchinson Poe and much of the surrounding lands were distributed among tenants. The link to the Trench family was not lost however as Poe married a Trench family descendent, Mary Adelaide Domvile.
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Aerial view of the Lutyens designed garden • Heywood Gardens
The History of Heywood Gardens
A gothic folly • Heywood Gardens
It was Poe who commissioned the leading architect of the day, Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, and his gardening partner Gertrude Jekyll, to further develop the gardens at Heywood. The pair had become famous and popular around the turn of the 19th century with wealthy land-owners in England and beyond for their beautifully integrated designs that elegantly harmonised houses and gardens. The result at Heywood is a beautifully structured garden, with a sunken pool garden as its central feature.
Today a romantic stone loggia overlooks a serene lily pond and fountain, complemented by circular terraces of beautiful planting originally planned by Jekyll. Ox-eye windows in the circular wall enclosing the sunken garden provide tantalising glimpses of the surrounding landscape. The formal gardens contrast with breathtaking views of the landscape. A walk lined with pollarded lime trees leads to a formal terrace overlooking the surrounding countryside. Another terrace overlooks one of the lakes dug by Trench in the eighteenth century, where it is possible to spot moorhens, kingfishers and other waterbirds.
Heywood Gardens were finally completed in 1912 at a cost of £250,000, an astonishingly large sum of money to spend on a garden at that time. However, against the backdrop of rebellion and revolution taking place in Ireland in the 1920s, the ruling elite and their property became targets for attack. In 1920, Poe’s car was set alight by Republicans when he was returning from a dinner party in Ballyroan. Poe left Heywood a month later, never to return.
In 1941, the house and gardens at Heywood were broken up, following their purchase by the Salesian Brothers. The Salesians were a religious institute founded in the late-19th century by Italian priest, Saint Don Bosco, in order to help children suffering from poverty during the industrial revolution. The Salesians set up a noviciate at Heywood, a training school for aspirants to the priesthood. They utilised the famous glasshouses created by Poe to grow fruit and vegetables, with bountiful tomatoes, nectarines, peach trees and grape vines.
A gothic folly • Heywood Gardens
Disaster struck on the 31st January 1950, when an accidental fire tore through Heywood House, completely destroying the once elegant structure. The charred ruins were demolished, though the Salesians were undeterred and rebuilt, continuing to educate and train brothers at Heywood.
In 1990, the Office of Public Works took over Heywood Gardens and they continue the work to conserve and maintain the beautiful gardens to this day. A few years later, the Department of Education opened Heywood Community School near the site of the old house, so that education continues to be part of the landscape here at the beautiful setting of Heywood.
Upper left: the Lutyens garden • Lower left: a swan glides across the lake • Right: the Heywood Obelisk, a memorial to Andrew Caldwell, a friend of Frederick Trench
Top: the Lutyens garden • Middle: the Heywood Obelisk, a memorial to Andrew Caldwell, a friend of Frederick Trench • Bottom:a swan glides across the lake
Heywood Gardens Visitor Information
A must see location for any keen gardeners, Heywood is a lovely place for a summer stroll.
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