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beside LOUGH ESKE, DONEGAL

Louise Price


On the western shore of Lough Eske in the shadow of Banagher Hill lies a remnant of an ancient Oak
woodland that is now rare in our island. Here in a demesne which once had a frontage on the Lough of over
two miles, the wood has predominantly been left in its natural state. The writer Violet French was captivated
by it: "I first saw Ardnamona from the lake on a fine August evening, romantic and picturesque with an
appealing beauty which clings around the heart as if it belonged to a dream world". The beauty, mystery and
the whole atmosphere of this place can still be felt today. But this woodland and its ancient structure is
important in other respects: it is of scientific interest for its size, natural heritage, and flora. The wood
displays habitats of dry areas dominated by Oak, and wet woodland with Alder. Ash, Rowan and Downy
Birch also occur in the high canopy with Holly, Hazel, and Willow in the understorey.
(Ardnamorna is listed on Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive).
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It is interesting that several notable Irish Gardens have found shelter in such ancient woodland: Ardnamona,
which in its time has boasted fine gardens, is no exception. The story of what several of the owner/gardeners
of Ardnamona have contributed to both the woodland and the gardens is told below.


George and Charlotte Wray c.1831-1878 (the first Gardeners)

It was George Cecil Gore Wray JP (born in 1811) from a wealthy family with property in County Donegal
and Londonderry, who occupied Ardnamona House from the early 1830s after it had been built as a Dower
House to nearby Lough Eske Castle. The castle was built and owned by George Wrays cousin, Thomas
Brooke. Georges energies were mainly devoted to farming the land and he is remembered for ploughing
Ardnamonas lower fields with bullocks land near the lake was too soft for horses hoofs. George also
found time to fish the lake for salmon and white trout, occasionally catching the rare char in the autumn
months. In winter he and Thomas Brooke shot woodcock and pheasant on the mountain and wild duck in
Wood Bay. George was married in Armagh Cathedral in 1844 to Charlotte Waller, daughter of a colonel in
the artillery, and it was Charlotte who was mainly responsible for the planting of trees in the Pinetum. This
is a long ride of conifers leading down from the south side of the house to the lake shore 300 yards away
where a jetty gave access to boating and fishing. The Pinetum remains a major feature as it included notable
specimens of Nikko Fir (abies homolepis), Oriental Spruce (picea orientalis), the large Wellingtonia
(sequoiadendron giganteum), the huge Coastal Redwood (sequoia sempervirens), Cedar of Lebanon (cedrus
libani), Monkey Puzzle (araucaria araucana) and Hiba (Cypress family) Pinetum photo is on page 4.


National Inventory of Architechtural Heritage

Ardnamona House in its setting on the western shore of Lough Eske and in the northern half of its woodland demesne.
George Wray bought the property in the early 1830s. The large clump of trees on the lake shore to the left of the house is
the end of the Pinetum which hides the rest of the ride of conifers behind it leading away towards the house. The steep
slope of the ground rising up to the Banagher Hill skyline is disguised in this aerial photo - see page 6.


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Heike Thiele

Ardnamona trees viewed from the Lough, a century after first plantings by the Wrays

Donegal, with its difficult access to isolated farms, suffered severely in the Great Famine, which also caused
the Wray family at large substantial losses. It was on Boxing Day 1849 towards the end of the famine that
two kegs of explosive were set off at night just outside Ardnamona house where George, his wife, Charlotte,
their son, Georgie Atkinson (aged 4), daughter, Margaret Lucy (aged 1), their mothers brother, Lieut
Charles Waller, and four servants were sleeping. It was a sort of late Christmas present from some
disaffected tenants at Tawnawilly where George was acting as land agent. His style as agent with an
uncompromising attitude to eviction is described as ruthless, and this was taken to be what sparked the
attack. No one was hurt but there was much damage and wide concern among other agents. Thereafter the
Wrays spent the winters in Milford and only the summers at Ardnamona, a reflection of the wide division in
society that then existed.

It was Charlotte Wrays description of this near disaster to her family that alerted people to her talents as a
writer and also as a landscape artist. William Allingham, the Donegal poet, is said to have been inspired by
the beauty of the scenery around Ardnamona with Edergole and the Bluestacks beyond, to which he refers in
the opening lines of his famous poem The Fairies, beloved by Queen Victorias family, no less.
Charlottes best known painting, at the heart of this beauty, is of the lovely stretch of lakeside which looks
north along the Ardnamona shore and is called The Fairy Glen.

Charlotte Margaret Wray ne Waller,
on her marriage to George Wray 1844
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George Wray wisely resigned as Tawnawilly agent in 1851 but was still farming Ardnamona in 1859. The
property was sold when he died aged 67 in 1878, and Charlotte and their two unmarried daughters moved to
Kingstown. The size of their woodland home where they had been for over thirty years was then 632 acres
(256 hectares). Ref: The Wrays of Donegal, Londonderry & Antrim by CV Trench

National Inventory of Architechtural Heritage

Planting in the Wrays Pinetum, photographed in 2008

Arthur and Georgiana Wallace of Dublin c.1880-1912

In the 1880s the property was sold to a political lawyer, a relative of the Wrays, Sir Arthur Robert Wallace,
CB DL, and his wife Georgiana ne Quentin. He was in the Irish Secretariat of the Diplomatic Service at
Dublin Castle. Except for summer visits to Ardnamona, the Wallaces continued to live in Dublin until his
retirement when they moved to Donegal where the family devoted themselves almost entirely to the
development of Ardnamona. In 1907, five years before his death, Arthur was made High Sheriff of Donegal.

The records at the Glasnevin Botanic Garden at Dublin and at Kew Gardens in London in this period show
many "Rhododendrons, hardy trees and shrubs" were supplied to the Wallaces. Indeed Arthur was able to
obtain seeds and cuttings from around the world for his planting to enhance both their gardens and the
woodland. He is credited with obtaining exotic plants from such places as the Imperial Garden at Peking and
the Palace Gardens in Kathmandu. His enthusiasm for primeval varieties of Rhododendron and Azalia is
evident to this day. Some magnificent specimens of his have been identified flowering in the woods; among
them is the brilliant red rhododendron arboreum which grows to a height of 20 metres (picture on the next
page), the smaller rhododendron barbatum, and the white rhododendron falconeri. Unfortunately he also
introduced our common rhododendron ponticum in large quantities and some other invasive plants.

Our common Rhododendron is actually an invasive evergreen shrub that comes from southern Europe and
completely overpowers the native flora. It was introduced into Ireland in the early 1800s by estates to
provide cover for their game. Since then it has spread or been introduced to many parts of Ireland. We were
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blind to the grave damage it would cause. This invasive plant replaces the shrub layer in Oak woods,
blocking out most of the sunlight access to the woodland floor, making the wood unsuitable for birds or
other animals to live in. It also prevents oak seedlings from regenerating. Fortunately, after years of cutting
and spraying, it has now been almost completely removed from Ardnamona wood and its gardens.

Rhododendron arboreum flowering in late April, planted by Arthur Wallace in the southern half of Ardnamona Wood in
about 1890. The woodland pathway was recently laid by the National Parks & Wildlife Service to encourage public access.


Arthur and Georgiana certainly made their mark at Ardnamona which, when it was later designated as a
National Heritage Garden, was described as having glorious gardens planted by the Wallace family,
"wild gardening at its most exuberant and refined; a Himalayan mountain slope cloaked with a primeval
Rhododendron forest, sixty feet tall, with a carpet of leaves underfoot". Arthur improved the accommodation
by building a sun room onto the house with a view of the lake, and enlarging the stables/outbuildings behind
the house. But in the 2008 survey new problems were found concerning invasive shrubs and herbaceous
perennials which he had introduced. The bamboo sasa palmata had covered acres of the property - in one
place forming a pleasing association with the native Birch. Himalayan knotweed persicaria wallichii was
rampant - having completely swamped the kitchen gardens. Pretty South African Montbretia crocosmia
formed a solid carpet in several places. Crocosmia pottsii - one of the parents of the more common and very
invasive C. x crocosmiiflora was also found at Ardnamona.
Ardnamona gardeners c.1880-1912
Sir Arthur Robert Wallace, CB DL Lady Georgiana Wallace ne Quentin
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After Arthurs death in 1912 his son, Major Arthur William Baillie Wallace of the Durham Light Infantry,
and daughter, Sophia, took over, but the Great War intervened and ended the Wallace tenure of Ardnamona.
Arthurs wife, Lady Georgiana, died in 1933. Her daughter Miss Sophia M. Wallace (1873-c.1960), who
was a professional photographer, continued to take an interest in her old home. A 1957 letter of Sophias
still survives, in which she gives advice to John L. Shaw (who had succeeded Hazel West, below) and was
then advertising Ardnamona House as a hotel. It gives a fascinating insight into the problems and
particularly the sporting hazards of running that estate with visitor access.
Heike Thiele

Ardnamona house viewed from Lough Eske showing its mountain hinterland.
Beyond Banagher Hill (392 metres) on the skyline, lie the Blue Stack Mountains (rising to 674 metres).
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Hazel V. West and Captain Augustus William West of Ulster c.1932-55


Hazel West (1881-1954) was living with her husband Augustus William on a houseboat on Lough Erne
when they bought Ardnamona in 1932. Augustus, known only as Mr West, had been badly wounded in the
Great War and was an invalid who spent his time painting in watercolours some of his pictures may still be
in Ardnamona House along with the estate photo album which Arthur Wallaces daughter, Sophia, prepared.
Hazel introduced many improvements especially in developing the gardens which were later to be so much
admired. She planted the Dawn Redwoods metasequoia, which grow to 200 feet in height, after they had
been rediscovered in China in 1944. Fortunately she was a strong and forthright lady often wearing tweeds
(described by Gabriella Alioth as eine mannhafte Dame). She came originally from Wicklow, had been
active in Protestant politics in Ulster, and married Augustus late in life. At Ardnamona she kept trespassers
at bay with her dreadful language and a gun under her arm. She died, it is said, overcome by the burdens of
her great garden. She was the last gardener to own Ardnamona for the next 35 years. John L. Shaw, who
succeeded her, sold the property in 1975 to a Mr JH Etzin, an American staying at nearby Lough Eske
Castle. After him it is said that it was in the hands of the forestry department by whom it was neglected.


An advertisement to attract visitors to stay at Ardnamona
with Kieran and Amabel Clarke, circa 2000 (B & B for 70 pp.). See below.
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Kieran and Amabel Clarke c.1990-2004

After Hazels death in 1954 little attention was paid to the beautiful gardens she left, which became wild
and naturalised. Nevertheless in 1981 the property as a whole was put onto the National Inventory as a site
of ecological and botanical importance. But by then cattle and sheep had begun to roam freely through the
gardens, which were in a deplorable state when in 1990 new owners arrived. They were Kieron Francis
Clarke, a Letterkenny boy who had moved to England, and his wife Amabel ne Marten, a Londoner
working as a Russian interpreter for the Bolshoi Ballet. Amabel found a crumbling house in a wilderness of
rain and mist! But the sun came out and they set about the restoration and conservation of the gardens.

Kieron had a wonderful ear for music and for speech which, after an apprenticeship with Bosendorfer
Pianos, he eventually developed to a stage when he was preparing instruments for the concert platform and
recording the work of leading pianists. Claudio Arrau, Alfred Brendel and Martha Argerich were among his
clients. He claimed to have also worked for Elton John and Paul McCartney. Thus he and Amabel, who
together had run a restaurant at Ramelton on Lough Swilly where they also hosted musical evenings, were
ready to open as a guest house. But the house was a shell, and first priority had to be fencing to keep the
sheep out and clearing the ditches of the rubbish of decades. It was all hard work and took a long time.

They received encouragement and advice from the National Heritage Council who acknowledged the
importance of their ongoing work by listing Ardnamona as a Heritage Garden. This enabled essential
conservation work to be carried out there by students from the National Botanical Gardens. After some
restoration, the house was opened with 12 guest rooms. It is clear from Gabriella Alioths account of their
visit that Amabels smiling face, the recipes she provided (some listed in Gabriellas book) and Keirons
music and stories were the main reasons for their popularity. Indeed Amabel found demand in the summer
became so high that they made arrangements with the nearby Harveys Point Hotel to take their overflow.

National Inventory of Architechtural Heritage

Aerial photograph of Ardnamona House, its surrounding woods, and access to the western shore of Lough Eske (c.2008)
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After a few successful years working on the gardens, especially rescuing the ornamental walled garden and
the large kitchen garden, Keiron and Amabel decided on their future objectives. These were for the
conservation of the collection of hardy trees, shrubs and Rhododendrons in the wooded garden, and for the
provision of access to the gardens for a wider public. But fate intervened, and Keirons sudden death in May
2004 brought all their plans to a halt. Amabel returned to London with their two children, Theodore and
Mary-Anna, and Ardnamonas future came to depend on others.


Edel Ramberg Designs

The current view from Ardnamona House in the north half of the wood with Lough Eske beyond

Today (2014) we find that the southern part of Ardnamona wood, south-west of Weedy Bay amounting to
some 115 acres (46 Hectares), is open to the public for whom the National Parks & Wildlife Service have
provided a pathway (picture at page 5 and on pages below). The path offers a circular walk of little more
than a mile. It goes through mainly broadleaf trees, large oak, hazel and holly, and where the path runs
beside the lake there is a magnificent view of the Bluestack Mountains beyond. The walker is also told to
look out for Wood Sage, Bluebell, Foxglove, Bugle, Wild Garlic, Wood Sorrel, Lesser Celandine, Wood
Anenome and Mosses galore, and that the wood is home to red squirrel, badger, fox and mink a feast of
flora and fauna for the observant. Among the rare plants identified in the wood are Killarney Fern, Whorled
Caraway and Six-stamened Waterworth.

The other (northern) half of Ardnamona wood, the part north of Weedy Bay, is privately owned. Coillte
(the Irish State-sponsored Forestry Company) has taken over some of the woodland while the rest, including
Ardnamona House and its Heritage Gardens, is now the home of Liane and Meredith Black from Monaghan.
These new Gardeners of Ardnamona are already busy rescuing this diamond of the Donegal landscape
from the depredations that time and isolation have wrought. We wish them a long and happy tenure of this
special place.
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A safe path through Ardnamona wood, laid by the National Parks & Wildlife Service


The single entry gate to Ardnamona wood and its circular walk and Nature Reserve
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A location diagram below shows how to find and approach that part of Ardnamona wood which is open to
the public. The single entry gate (previous page) is off the Bluestack Way where a bridge crosses the Clady
River 550 yards before the stream enters Lough Eske (the entry gate is at Grid Ref: G 963844. Map:
Ordinance Survey of Ireland. 1/50,000 scale. Discovery Series No: 11). Carl Byrne is the National Parks
Conservation Ranger who can provide advice (Tel: 087-6378398).





REFERENCES:

The Wrays of Donegal, Londonderry & Antrim by Charlotte Violet Trench, 1936

A look back at Lough Eske by Dermot Devit, 2004 [In memory of Kieran Clarke (1952-2004) page 8]

Irland: Eine Reise durchs Land der Regenbogen Oasen fr die Sinne by Gabriella Alioth, 2007.
[Translation: IRELAND: A journey through the land of the rainbow Oases for the senses]



The National Parks fencing crew at work in Ardnamona wood 2014
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A drive in the northern part of Ardnamona wood which is owned by Coillte


The old Ardnamona quay on Lough Eske, 2008

Ard na Mona