![Clocktower2 St Annes Park Dublin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/31/Clocktower2_St_Annes_Park_Dublin.JPG)
Saint Anne's Park ( ga, Páirc Naomh Áine) is a public park situated between
Raheny
Raheny () is a northern suburb of Dublin, Ireland, halfway from the city centre to Howth. It is centred on a historic settlement, first documented in 570 CE ( Mervyn Archdall). The district shares Dublin's two largest municipal parks, Saint Anne ...
and
Clontarf, suburbs on the
northside
Northside or North Side may refer to:
Music
* Northside (band), a musical group from Manchester, England
* NorthSide, an American record label
* NorthSide Festival (Denmark), a music festival in Aarhus, Denmark
* "Norf Norf", a 2015 song by Vinc ...
of
Dublin
Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...
, Ireland. It is owned and managed by
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council wa ...
.
The park, the second largest municipal park in Dublin, is part of a former estate assembled by members of the Guinness family, descendants of Sir Arthur Guinness, founder of the famous brewery, beginning with
Benjamin Lee Guinness
Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1 November 1798 – 19 May 1868) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist.
Brewer
Born in Dublin, he was the third son of the second Arthur Guinness (1768–1855), and his wife Anne Lee, and a grandson of ...
in 1835 (the largest municipal park is nearby
(North) Bull Island, also shared between Clontarf and Raheny). In 1837, they built St Anne's House, a large
Italianate-style
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
residence.
The house and park were purchased by
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...
(now
Dublin City Council
Dublin City Council ( ga, Comhairle Cathrach Bhaile Átha Cliath) is the authority responsible for local government in the city of Dublin in Ireland. As a city council, it is governed by the Local Government Act 2001. Until 2001, the council wa ...
) in 1939.
Part of the land was developed for housing.
The park is bisected by the small
Naniken River
The Naniken River ( ga, An Nainicín) is a minor river on the north side of Dublin city, Ireland, one of more than forty watercourses monitored by Dublin City Council. It is culverted for its upper course, visible in St Anne's Park for its ent ...
and features an artificial pond and a number of
follies
''Follies'' is a Musical theater, musical with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim and a book by James Goldman.
The plot takes place in a crumbling Broadway theater, now scheduled for demolition, previously home to a musical revue (based on t ...
, a rose garden, a Chinese garden, a fine collection of trees with walks, including an arboretum, a playground, cafe, and recreational facilities including extensive GAA and soccer playing fields, tennis courts and a par-3 golf course.
History
![St Annes Well St Annes Park Dublin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/St_Annes_Well_St_Annes_Park_Dublin.JPG)
The estate was named after the
Holy Well
A holy well or sacred spring is a well, spring or small pool of water revered either in a Christian or pagan context, sometimes both. The water of holy wells is often thought to have healing qualities, through the numinous presence of its gua ...
of the same name. Lands were purchased over time by the Guinness family to build up an extensive property. In 1837, Elizabeth and
Benjamin Lee Guinness
Sir Benjamin Lee Guinness, 1st Baronet (1 November 1798 – 19 May 1868) was an Irish brewer and philanthropist.
Brewer
Born in Dublin, he was the third son of the second Arthur Guinness (1768–1855), and his wife Anne Lee, and a grandson of ...
commissioned St Anne's House, a large
Italianate-style
The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...
residence known locally as “The Mansion”, and it was modified over several generations.
The Italianate influence included references in the garden follies to ancient Roman sites and the import of actual antiquities.
In 1868 Elizabeth and Benjamin's son,
Sir Arthur Edward Guinness (Lord Ardilaun), inherited the estate and also purchased
Manresa House next door.
He was the person most responsible for expanding and developing the estate and gardens and planted wind-breaking evergreen oak trees (''
Quercus ilex
''Quercus ilex'', the evergreen oak, holly oak or holm oak is a large evergreen oak native to the Mediterranean region. It is a member of the ''Ilex'' section of the genus, with acorns that mature in a single summer.
Description
An evergreen tr ...
'') and pines along the main avenue and estate boundaries, where they remain.
Lady Ardilaun, originally of
Bantry House, County Cork, developed the gardens based on her interest in French chateau gardens, but also with eclectic influences of the Victorian era and the horticultural expertise of her Scottish gardener. Lord Ardilaun was also prominent in the
Royal Horticultural Society
The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity.
The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...
.
Lord and Lady Ardilaun had no children and the estate passed to their nephew
Bishop Benjamin in the 1920s. In 1937, he decided he could no longer maintain such a large estate and negotiations with
Dublin Corporation
Dublin Corporation (), known by generations of Dubliners simply as ''The Corpo'', is the former name of the city government and its administrative organisation in Dublin since the 1100s. Significantly re-structured in 1660-1661, even more sign ...
resulted in the house and of the estate being sold to the Corporation for approximately
£55,000 in 1939.
Bishop Plunkett retained Sybil Hill as a private residence with 30 acres (120,000 m²) of parkland, and it was later sold to the later became the site of
St Paul's College, Raheny. In 1952 St. Paul's College acquired an additional 14 acres of Corporation lands, behind their school, to use as school playing fields. During the Second World War, Dublin Corporation encouraged local residents to grow vegetables in allotment gardens in the estate.
In December 1943, the main residence of St Anne's was gutted by a fire while being used as a store by the
Local Defence Force; the ruins were demolished in 1968.
In the meantime, just over of the estate were developed for public housing with the central and most attractive portion comprising about retained as parkland and playing fields.
Features
The park has a number of features. It is crossed by the small
Naniken River
The Naniken River ( ga, An Nainicín) is a minor river on the north side of Dublin city, Ireland, one of more than forty watercourses monitored by Dublin City Council. It is culverted for its upper course, visible in St Anne's Park for its ent ...
, and this, in turn, feeds the artificial Duck Pond. The Guinness family added a number of follies, a walled garden, and the grand avenue. Over the last fifty years, extensive walks, a famous Rose Garden and newer miniature rose garden, and Dublin's city arboretum, the Millennium Arboretum, with 1,000 varied trees, have been added.
Within the last decade, Dublin City Council has been restoring parts of the Naniken River to its natural state, creating wildlife habitats and wildflower meadows, and improving the path system. They removed some 1970s interventions, including a secondary pond and some rockery walks, partly due to problems with maintenance and partly to open up a vista from the James Larkin Road. The park management also increased car parking to alleviate traffic congestion in the surrounding neighbourhoods of the popular park.
Follies
St. Annes is known for its follies, of which there are approximately ten, mainly around the Naniken River. The follies include a
Herculanean Temple on a mock-ruined bridge
abutment
An abutment is the substructure at the ends of a bridge span or dam supporting its superstructure. Single-span bridges have abutments at each end which provide vertical and lateral support for the span, as well as acting as retaining walls ...
along the little river, which served as a
tearoom
A teahouse (mainly Asia) or tearoom (also tea room) is an establishment which primarily serves tea and other light refreshments. A tea room may be a room set aside in a hotel especially for serving afternoon tea, or may be an establishment whic ...
for the family, a
Pompeian Water Temple of
Isis
Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...
on the banks of the duck pond, and the Annie Lee Tower and Bridge near the chestnut walk. Other follies include the stone covering of Saint Anne's Well beside the duck pond, the Hermitage Bridge, the Yew Circle and Fountain Pool (behind the formal walled garden beside the house), a "rustic cave" and bridge, three rustic archways and a rockwork feature. A "Druidic Circle" of Giant's Causeway basalt was lost at an earlier stage. An unusual folly is the Roman style viewing tower which stands on the hill overlooking the duck pond. This started out as an observation tower on the roof of the original house. Later, the tower was removed during the extensive refurbishment of St. Annes' house in about 1873 and placed in its current location. It is modelled on the Tomb of the Julii at
Glanum
Glanum (Hellenistic ''Γλανόν'', as well as Glano, Calum, Clano, Clanum, Glanu, Glano) was an ancient and wealthy city which still enjoys a magnificent setting below a gorge on the flanks of the Alpilles mountains. It is located about one kil ...
near St. Rémy in France.
Many of the follies had reached a neglected condition. For example, the Roman style viewing tower was graffiti-covered, had been closed for many years and became completely hidden by mature trees (it could only be revealed, and the view restored, by felling trees, which would be detrimental to the environment of the park, so an alternative proposal was that the tower be moved instead to the site of the old rockery, near the junction of James Larkin Road and Mount Prospect Avenue). In 2010, Dublin City Council, with the support of the Heritage Council, commissioned a strategy by conservation architects (Shaffrey and Associates) for the long-term conservation of these follies, and it was planned to implement this on a phased basis. Restoration works began in 2017. Graffiti remains an ongoing issue.
File:Clontarf Park Gates.tif, Annie Lee Tower and Bridge Folly near chestnut walk
File:Temple of Isis St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Temple of Isis by the duck pond
File:St Anne's Park is the second largest municipal park in Dublin - panoramio (22).jpg, Herculanean temple overlooking the Naniken River
File:Roman Tower St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Roman style tower on the hill above the duck pond
File:St Anne's Park is the second largest municipal park in Dublin - panoramio (6).jpg, Rustic archway
Buildings
![Saint Anne's Park red stables](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e6/Saint_Anne%27s_Park_red_stables.jpg)
The elaborate
Tudor red brick Ardilaun stables were designed by George Coppinger Ashlin, also the architect of All Saints Church at Raheny. The ''Red Stables'' as they are called, were renovated in the 1990s by Dublin City Council as the Red Stables Art Centre, with public facilities such as artists' residences upstairs, an exhibition space and a café, Olive's Room. Previous artists-in-residence include
Niall de Buitléar
Niall de Buitléar (born 1983) is an Irish artist working in sculpture, painting, printmaking and drawing.
Education and career
De Buitléar is a graduate of the Dublin Institute of Technology. He was awarded a studio membership at Temple Bar ...
, Tadhg McSweeney, and Paul McKinley. A Farmers' Market is held in the courtyard at weekends. This scheme has won international architecture awards.
Gardens
The Rose Garden
In 1975, St Anne's Rose Garden was opened to the public. In 1980 it was given a Civic Award by
Bord Failte and the Irish Town Planning Institute, and since 1981 it has been a centre for International Rose Trials. Its development led to the annual Rose Festival, now a popular event on the summer calendar for Dublin gardeners and families every July.
Walled garden complex
The walled garden, including a fruit garden added to the estate by Bishop Plunkett, holds a plant nursery for the Parks Department. Thousands of bedding plants, shrubs, trees, and floral tubs are produced annually in the nursery.
There is a herbaceous garden area open during limited hours, and a fine clock tower, restored to working order in 2007. There is also a Physic or Herb Garden, and a miniature rose garden.
A Chinese garden, in the
Suzhou
Suzhou (; ; Suzhounese: ''sou¹ tseu¹'' , Mandarin: ), alternately romanized as Soochow, is a major city in southern Jiangsu province, East China. Suzhou is the largest city in Jiangsu, and a major economic center and focal point of trade ...
style, was built in one corner of the walled garden.
Former walled garden
The walled garden next to the house also contained many features, of which few traces remain. The garden was entered through a ''claire-voie'' screen of bronze, painted yew green and elaborately gilded. The centre walk of the garden consisted of a castellated yew hedge with marble statuary along its length. The walk terminated in a nymphaeum, flanked by obelisks of yew and featuring a sculpted group of Jupiter and Thetis. Also in the walled house garden was an aviary with golden pheasants; a floral temple of arches and chains in cast iron; and a circular yew hedge with allegorical marble Italian statues representing the five continents, which were reflected in a great circular marble basin in the centre. The Georgian door-case of the original house ''Thornhill'' was also erected as an entrance of a French lavender garden.
Allotments
Since 2009, Dublin City Council has provided public
allotment garden
An allotment (British English), or in North America, a community garden, is a plot of land made available for individual, non-commercial gardening or growing food plants, so forming a kitchen garden away from the residence of the user. Such plot ...
s (allocated on a lottery basis) to meet demand by city residents for space to grow their own produce.
File:Clocktower1 St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Close up of clocktower at walled garden
File:Georgian Doorway Saint Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Georgian Doorway at house walled garden
File:Rose Garden2 St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Outer ring of rose garden viewed through pergola
File:Rose Garden3 St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Central area of rose garden
File:Rose Garden4 St Annes Park Dublin.JPG, Outer ring of rose garden
File:St. Annes park - Autumn 001.jpg, Fields of the park during autumn
File:Fairy tree at St Anne's Park, Raheny.jpg, The Fairy Tree featuring numerous fairy doors
Leisure facilities
![St Anne's Park is the second largest municipal park in Dublin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5c/St_Anne%27s_Park_is_the_second_largest_municipal_park_in_Dublin.jpg)
The park is intensively used by the public through its 35 playing pitches, 18 hard-surfaced tennis courts (some managed by Raheny Tennis Club), and a par-3 golf course (Andrew McMorrow is the current course record holder with 16 under par set 1 July 2019). Woodland paths provide for walkers and joggers.
There is a weekly free 5 km parkrun on Saturday mornings at 9:30 in the park.
There is an all-weather cricket crease in the middle of the main playing fields, and one pitch is floodlit for Gaelic Games. North Dublin Softball Club also use the park for training. There are 4
Boules
''Boules'' () is a collective name for a wide range of games similar to bowls and bocce (In French: jeu or jeux, in Croatian: boćanje and in Italian: gioco or giochi) in which the objective is to throw or roll heavy balls (called in France, ...
(pétanque) courts and a model car racing track.
Fauna
Mammals present in the park include badgers, hedgehogs, rabbits, fox, grey squirrels, house mice, field mice, pipistrelle bats and brown rats. Birds include sparrow hawk, woodcock and jay. The park has a greater than average diversity of bee species and is also notable for many species of butterflies.
Squirrels
![Squirrel in park](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/c5/Squirrel_in_park.jpg)
Red squirrels were formerly numerous in the park, which was one of the last strongholds of the species in Dublin. Grey squirrels were first noticed at the Sybil Hill end of the park in 1998. The grey squirrels have since spread throughout the park and numbers of reds have been drastically reduced. A programme to reduce grey squirrels was carried out by Dublin City Council and University College Dublin, but the remaining red squirrel population was not reproducing and has crashed, for reasons uncertain. It is hoped that a re-introduction programme will be possible in future.
Flora
The park has a range of vegetation habitats and many historic trees. The plant collections are of national importance. There are also protected native plants and species of botanical interest. These are surveyed and managed by Dublin City Council Parks and Landscape Services Division.
References
{{Coord, 53.372324, N, 6.180929, W, type:landmark_region:IE, display=title
Raheny
Clontarf, Dublin
Folly buildings in the Republic of Ireland
Parks in Dublin (city)
Rose gardens