Kylemore Abbey & Victorian Walled Garden

Fax.: +353 95 41440

Info Telefon: +353 95 41146
Besucher-Email: info@kylemoreabbey.ie
http://www.kylemoreabbey.com...

Abbey, Shop and Tea Rooms:
March to mid November daily 9.30 - 17.30
November to March 10.30 - 16.00
(Closed Christmas Week and Good Friday)
Garden:
Easter to October daily 10:30 - 16:30

Kylemore Abbey is the home of the Benedictine Nuns in Ireland.

The Victorian Walled Garden was laid out in 1867, and marked the final stage of Mitchell Henry’s transformation of a wilderness of rock and bog to a country estate in the 'Irish Highlands'. It took three years to complete.

The garden is surrounded by a wall which is half a mile long (800 meters). The fashion of enclosing a garden from the wilderness outside was on the wane by the late 1800’s and the garden at Kylemore was probably the last garden in Ireland to be built on such a grand scale. Kylemore Walled Garden was one of the most impressive in Ireland of the era.

The layout of the garden was planned and executed by Mitchell Henry and the Head Gardener James Garnier. Within the wall, the garden was divided into two sections, a formal flower garden and a kitchen garden. Exotic plants and fruit grew in a dramatic range of glasshouses, which dominated the formal flower garden. The kitchen garden produced fruit, vegetables and cut flowers. Henry housholds both here and in London enjoyed the produce of the garden. To shelter the garden, Mitchell Henry and James Garnier planted 30,000 trees annually giving us what we have today – a mature dense woodland.


RESTORATION
The Benedictine Nuns at Kylemore have always used the garden, and held a very deep desire to restore it to its former glory – this could be only achieved with grant aid and large bank loans!

Restoration began in September 1996 when 18 men on a FAS employment scheme started working in the garden. They were supervised by an expert restoration committee.

The formal flower garden is now restored, two glasshouses have been reinstated and the kitchen garden is once again productive if not entirely weed free. Every year the standard of gardening gets closer to Victorian perfection.

A fundraising compaign to fund the restoration of the glasshouse complex will start shortly.

This project was developed with financial assistance from the European Regional Development Fund administered by Bord Fáilte and Ireland West Tourism under the Great Gardens of Ireland Restoration Programme and assisted by FAS.

 

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