Altamont Gardens widely respected as the Jewel in Ireland’s Gardening Crown

I was delighted when the tour operator I work for offered me a short tour of County Carlow, mainly visiting the wonderful gardens and historic sites in the county. I was glad to accept as I have great association with the Carlow people in Birmingham. I well recall the first time I attended a St Patrick’s Day Parade meeting, present was Patsy O’Brien and Anne Dunne, they told me all about their lovely county and they were bringing over a band for the parade, indeed they succeeded in doing that and almost every year they have hosted a band, the Rathanna Youth Band, The Presentation College Band and of course the fantastic Killeshin Pipe Band. The Carlow Association gave great support to the formation of The Birmingham Irish Pipes and Drums, as a former member of the band I am most grateful for their support, I am dedicating this story to the members of the Carlow Association in Birmingham and in particular to Patsy O’Brien.
County Carlow lies between the Blackstairs Mountain and the valley of the River Barrow which is the second longest river in Ireland, from its source in the Slieve Bloom Mountains to the sea it is 192km, the Barrow was a very important waterway and was used right up to 1960, the river was mainly used to transport consignments of barley to the Guinness Brewery in Dublin, barges also used the river to transport beet to the Sugar Beet Factory in the town. In recent times the river has had a new lease of life, it is now a very popular destination for river cruising. Mount Leinster is the highest point in the county, Carlow the county town is situated at the junction of the rivers Barrow and Burrin, the mill at Milltown was used to ground wheat and also a sawmill, the company installed an electrical generating station at the mill and as a result Carlow Town was the first town in Ireland to have electric street lighting.

Historic Tombs and Dolmens
On arrival in the county our first place of interest to visit was the Brownshill Dolmen which is situated close to Carlow Town, the dolmen dates back to pre-historical times, the magnificent granite capstone weighs over 100 ton and is the largest of its kind in Europe, we were told by our guide the dolmen was used for religious rites, even maybe human sacrifice was performed there Four and a Half Thousand years ago (2500BC). Looking at the granite capstone it is just amazing how they managed to transport and place the 100-ton piece of granite on the dolmen. We continued on to Tullow to visit Haroldstown Dolmen, this is a well preserved portal dolmen, consisting of two slightly tilted capstones supported by ten vertical stones, two of which acts as a door to the tomb, we then moved on to visit Rathgall Stone Fort, this is an extensive hillside site with 8th century outer walls and later medieval inner walls, we were told that this hill fort was constructed from the late Bronze Age into the Iron Age and was continued to be used into post medieval times, our final visit in the Tullow area was the “Cloch –a-Foil”, this is a large holed stone of great antiquity which was part of a megalithic tomb, for over 200 years it is believed that sick infants if passed through the small hole in the tomb they would be restored to good health.

Beautiful Gardens
After a late lunch we visited Altamont Gardens which is situated off the main N80 Carlow – Wexford road, the gardens are widely respected as the jewel of Ireland’s Gardening crown, the site is well laid out covering over Forty Acres, with lovely riverside walks, there are walks through the Arboretum and Bog Garden. The Gardens are now owned by The Office of Public Works, (O P W), the gardens were handed over to the state in 1999 following the death of the owner Ms Corona North, she had lovingly developed and cared for the gardens for over Fifty Years and her gardening skills is there to be seen. There is still ongoing restoration and maintenance by the staff and it is well worth a visit, admission is free, however if you wish to have a guided tour it is 2 Euro Group rate. We continued on to Hardymount Gardens which is off the Tullow - Bunclody road, this is a wonderful walled garden with many unusual and exotic plants and flowers, the garden also boasts one of the largest Spanish Chestnuts trees in the country, there are also fine Oak and Beech trees, this is a privately owned garden and we privileged to be afforded the opportunity to make a visit. Our last garden visit of the day was Rathwood home and Garden World which is 5 km from Tullow on the Shillelagh Road, here we found a real treasure chest for the gardener, they have a massive array of plants and shrubs of every description, their staff were most helpful and have a great knowledge of the many rare plants on display, I took a break in the excellent restaurant to have a quick cup of tea. After an exhausting day it was back on the coach on of to Carlow Town for our overnight stay.

A Walk around Carlow Town
After a pleasant overnight stay and a leisurely breakfast we started our walking tour at The Courthouse which is situated at the end of Dublin St, it is considered to be one of the finest courthouses in the country, it was designed by William Virtuvius Morrison in 1830, it is based on the design of Temple of Lissus in Athens, there is a canon from the Crimean War on the entrance steps. Our next stop was the Cathedral, which was completed in 1833; it took five years to build at a cost of 9,000 Pound. The design of the cathedral is attributed to Thomas Cobden; he got his inspiration from various European buildings, in particular the Beftroi Tower in Bruges in Belgium. After short walk and we were at The Liberty Tree, which commemorates those who lost their lives in the 1798 insurrection, John Behan designed it. Carlow Castle stands on the banks of the River Barrow, it was built by William de Marshal Earl of Pembroke and Lord of Leinster between 1207 and 1213, all that remains of the castle today is two towers and an intervening wall, there was major structural damage to the castle in 1814 when a local doctor tried to remodel the castle as an asylum, however they used explosives to demolish part of the building and when the explosive was detonated it demolished the most of the building except the two towers and intervening wall.
It was soon time for us to depart but before doing so we visited Graiguecullen Bridge which is one of the lowest and oldest bridges over the River Barrow, it is a fine five arch bridge built in 1569 and widened in 1815, on the way back to the coach we paid a visit and indeed said a prayer in St Clare’s Catholic Church which was built in 1852.
Well sadly it was time to set off on our travels, it was pity we did not have more time to explore this beautiful county which has so much to offer the visitor, hopefully I will get back soon again.
Finally may I wish all the readers a Happy St Patrick’s Day and Please God see you all at the Birmingham Parade.
Until the next time its Goodbye and God Bless from the Hills of Sligo.