Garden within Glenarm Demesne

The Department's description

Exterior description and setting

Rectangular walled garden, laid out prior to 1832 walled and measuring roughly 170 x 85m, with smaller vegetable garden to north.

The garden is enclosed by a tall (roughly 3m) random rubble wall and is laid out with some shrubs, many flowerbeds, geometrically arranged and with pathways between. Some pear trees have been trained across part of the S facing walling and to the N wall is a long single storey lean-to greenhouse. To the N (and enclosed with its own walls) is a smaller vegetable garden, with two storey gardener’s house to W and single storey row of sheds built on gently sloping ground to the S . The garden walls have various pedestrian and vehicle openings, with the latter mainly to the N side.

Historical information

A large garden is indicated on this site on John O’Hara’s map of 1779, with a further garden just to the north of the castle. The map suggests that the latter garden may have been purely ornamental, but an illustration dating possibly from the 1780s suggests it had a more practical, vegetable-growing role. The present garden is shown on the OS map of 1832, with its large greenhouse and small vegetable garden to the north. The row of sheds (to the rear of the greenhouse) appears to have been added some time between 1832 and 1858, with the gardener’s house possibly in c.1875. The greenhouse as we see it today may be early 20th century, though a greenhouse is existed on this site as far back as 1833.

References- Primary sources
1 PRONI D.2977 Antrim Papers
2 PRONI OS/6/1/29/1 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1832-33
3 PRONI VAL/1B/149 First valuation, Tickmacrevan parish, 1833
4 PRONI OS/6/1/29/2 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1857
5 PRONI VAL/2B/1/41B Second valuation [notebook], village of Glenarm etc, 1859
6 PRONI OS/6/1/29/3 OS map, Co Antrim sh 29, 1903

Criteria for listing: architectural interest

Not listed

Criteria for listing: historic interest

Not listed

Evaluation

Rectangular walled garden, laid out prior to 1832 and measuring roughly 170 x 85m, with smaller vegetable garden to north. The garden is complete with a two storey gardener’s house of c.1875, a long row of mid 19th century single storey lean-to stores, and a long lean-to greenhouse, which in its present form probably dates from the early 1900s. The gardener's house, greenhouse and lean to cottages are listed seperately under HB06/02/001C

General comments

Previously recorded as HB06/02/002.