Mount Congreve is an 18th-century

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

estate and mansion situated near the village of

Kilmeaden Kilmeadan or Kilmeaden () is a village in County Waterford, Ireland. It is on the R680 regional road. The town is from Dungarvan and from Waterford. Kilmeadan Castle was a stronghold of the le Poer family in the fourteenth century. In th ...

in County Waterford,

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. The architect was

John Roberts John Glover Roberts Jr. (born January 27, 1955) is an American lawyer and jurist who has served as the 17th chief justice of the United States since 2005. Roberts has authored the majority opinion in several landmark cases, including '' Nat ...

, a Waterford-based architect who subsequently designed and built most of the 18th-century public buildings in Waterford, including both cathedrals. The House is situated close to the Southern bank of the

River Suir The River Suir ( ; ga, an tSiúr or ''Abhainn na Siúire'' ) is a river in Ireland that flows into the Atlantic Ocean through Waterford after a distance of . The catchment area of the Suir is 3,610 km2.

approximately 7 kilometres from

Waterford City "Waterford remains the untaken city" , mapsize = 220px , pushpin_map = Ireland#Europe , pushpin_map_caption = Location within Ireland##Location within Europe , pushpin_relief = 1 , coordinates ...

. It overlooks County Kilkenny to the North.

Background and history

The Congreve family originated in Staffordshire which was their principal seat from the 14th century. The first of the family to settle in the Waterford area was the Rev John Congreve (1654-1710). His grandson and heir, John Congreve had Mount Congreve built in 1760 a number of years after holding the position of the High Sheriff of County Waterford. Mount Congreve then remained the residence of 6 successive generations of the Congreve family until the death of

Ambrose Congreve Ambrose Christian Congreve CBE (14 April 1907 – 28 May 2011) was an Irish industrialist, best known for his world-famous garden at Mount Congreve. Early life He was the son of Major John Congreve and Lady Helena Ponsonby, the daughter of the ...

at the age of 104 in 2011. The successive holders of the estate from 1760 were as follows: * John Congreve married Mary Ussher in 1758 and had Mount Congreve built in 1760. * His son, Ambrose Ussher Congreve ( - d1809) married Anne Jenkins. * His son, John Congreve (b1801 d1863) married Louisa Harriet Dillon, daughter of Luke Dillon, 2nd Baron Clonbrock. * His son, Ambrose Congreve III (b1832 -d1901) married Alice Elizabeth Dillon, daughter of

Robert Dillon, 3rd Baron Clonbrock Robert Dillon, 3rd Baron Clonbrock (29 March 1807 – 4 December 1893), was an Irish peer. Dillon was the son of Luke Dillon, 2nd Baron Clonbrock, by the Honourable Anastasia, daughter of Joseph Blake, 1st Baron Wallscourt. He was educated at ...

. * His son, Major John Congreve (b1872 – d1957) married Lady Helena Blanche Irene Ponsonby, daughter of

Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough Memorial in the chapel at Stansted Park Edward Ponsonby, 8th Earl of Bessborough, (1 March 1851 – 1 December 1920), known as Viscount Duncannon from 1895 until 1906, was a British peer. Background Ponsonby was the eldest son of Reverend ...

. * His son, Ambrose Christian Congreve (b1907-d2011) married Margaret Gholson Glasgow. Ambrose Christian Congreve died in 2011 and left the estate in trust to the Irish State. The contents of the house including the Mount Congreve Library collection were sold by public auction in May (London by Christie's) and July (Waterford by Mealy's) 2012. John Congreve assembled the Mount Congreve Library, an interesting and valuable collection of books, many of which bore a unique bookplate comprising the arms of Congreve impaling those of Ussher. The library was catalogued by John Congreve's grandson and namesake and a catalogue of the library was published in 1827. Mount Congreve was reportedly the last house in Ireland to employ liveried servants. At the time of Griffith's Valuation, in 1850, Mount Congreve was valued at £68 10s.

Gardens

The gardens of the estate comprise seventy acres of intensively planted

woodland garden A woodland garden is a garden or section of a garden that includes large trees and is laid out so as to appear as more or less natural woodland, though it is often actually an artificial creation. Typically it includes plantings of flowering shru ...

and a four-acre walled garden. The entire collection consists of over three thousand different trees and shrubs, more than two thousand Rhododendrons, six hundred Camellias, three hundred Acer cultivars, six hundred conifers, two hundred and fifty climbers and fifteen hundred herbaceous plants. It is internationally recognised for its rare species of plants and also its plant nurseries. Ambrose Congreve's gardening achievements were acknowledged by Queen Elizabeth, who awarded him a CBE for services to horticulture, and by Trinity College Dublin, which granted him an honorary doctorate. Ambrose Congreve also won 13 Gold Medal awards at the Chelsea Garden Show in London for this garden. The gardens are open to the public each Thursday to Sunday.

References

External links

* {{coord, 52, 14, 21, N, 7, 12, 51, W, region:IE_type:landmark, display=title Gardens in County Waterford Historic Houses in County Waterford Woodland gardens