Glenarm Castle, entrance front (2020-04) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The McDonnell Family at Glenarm
The McDonnells of Antrim came originally from the Western Isles of Scotland but have been at Glenarm for nearly 600 years. Like the gardens, Glenarm Castle has evolved over the centuries and today’s castle of 1636 is a flamboyant mix of architectural periods.
Lettuces ready for the table in the Kitchen Garden at Glenarm Castle (2020-06) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Earliest Gardens
There was a kitchen garden recorded at Glenarm as early as 1260. Glenarm Castle has been rebuilt several times since and today the Walled Garden is on a different site, but it is part of the history of what is one of Northern Ireland’s oldest walled gardens.
Georgian Glenarm
Glenarm Castle and the McDonnell family were caught up in the turmoil of Irish history until the 5th Earl of Antrim remodelled the castle in 1750. His new castle had walled gardens near the house, now lost, and was surrounded by a fashionable landscape garden and deer park.
A contemporary visitor was certainly taken with the view, “…extremely romantic and beautiful;… adorned with various evergreens, myrtles and the arbutus, or strawberry tree, almost continuously in blossom...”.
Anne Catherine, Countess of Antrim (1775-1834)
The Glenarm Castle garden we see today exists thanks to eight generations of the McDonnell family. First was Anne Catherine, Countess of Antrim, who inherited the estate and title in her own right and, having outlived one husband and her twin sister, married for love at 39.
A new house
Moving back to Glenarm Castle with her new husband in 1817, Anne Catherine added gothic turrets, creating a more romantic appearance, and then turned her attention to the creation of a walled garden a short walk away to supply fruit and vegetables for the house.
The Walled Garden
Anne Catherine’s walled garden at Glenarm Castle was first built in the 1820s. She needed a large walled garden both to protect the plants from the salty coastal wind and to make sure of a regular supply of fruit and vegetables.
The Herb Garden at the heart of Glenarm Castle Gardens (2020-05) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Herb Garden
The herb garden at Glenarm Castle sits within a circular yew hedge which dates from Anne Catherine’s garden of the 1820s. The sundial is dated 1822. The garden was divided into quadrants, each devoted to a different type of cultivation, vegetables, soft fruits, orchards etc.
Looking west across the Walled Garden (2020-05) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Glasshouse
A long 5-bay glasshouse still stretches along the North wall where peaches, apricots, grapes and tender plants are grown. In Anne Catherine’s day as many as 20 gardeners were employed here and she also built a Mushroom House and a glasshouse dedicated to figs.
Reds, oranges and a hint of blue in the Hot Border at Glenarm Castle (2020-09-29) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Victorian Garden
In the late 19th century, there was less need for a large garden and part of the walled garden was made over to ornamental planting. The beauty of the flower borders were captured in watercolour by Louisa, Countess of Antrim, wife of the 11th Earl, around 1900.
Looking along the central axis of the garden at Glenarm Castle (2020-09-29) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Beech Circle
In the 1960s, Sir Randal McDonnell, 13th Earl planted a circle of beeches at the heart of Glenarm Castle Gardens to echo Anne Catherine’s yew circle. The beech circle was reached by a serpentine beech hedge which created a central axis across the middle of the garden.
Madonna and Child
At the bottom of the central path, in the East border of Glenarm Castle Walled Garden, the 13th Earl of Antrim’s wife, the professional sculptress, Angela Sykes, added a charming limestone sculpture of a Madonna and Child, executed when she was only 16.
The 21st Century
Full restoration began after the 13th Earl’s grandson, Randal, Viscount Dunluce became the custodian of Glenarm. He and his wife, Aurora, moved into the castle with their children and, in 2001, set about bringing the garden into the 21st century, opening to the public in 2005.
The Flower Borders
A series of expansive herbaceous borders were the brainchild of the late Nigel Marshalll, previously head gardener at the National Trust’s Mount Stewart. "Nigel was a turning point. He was inspirational." says Lady Dunluce.
The Flower Borders
The brilliant hues of the Hot Border on the North Wall give way to softer blues, pinks and creams in the impressive Double Border while a new Hydrangea Border keeps colour in the garden well into the autumn.
New Accents
Lord Dunluce has brought several new accents to the garden. A double rill running over beach pebbles leads to a rectangular pool, a new focus at the end of the serpentine walk. The pebbles celebrate the Earls of Antrim’s ancient right to collect stones from the beach.
The Obelisk
The Obelisk in the centre of the Apple Orchard at Glenarm Castle was sculpted from local oak wood by Corin Giles. Lord Dunluce recognised that an eyecatcher was needed in the North West quadrant of the gardens.
Plans for a revived garden by Catherine FitzGerald (2004) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
A Plan for the Upper Garden
In 2004, Irish landscape designer Catherine FitzGerald re-invigorated the upper garden, with a series of six newly designed gardens which combined flowers and fruit trees, echoing the original purpose of the walled garden.
Hedges break up the view at Glenarm Castle Walled Garden (2020-06) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
The Upper Garden
The two centre panels host a Medlar Garden to the South, with beds edged in formal box but filled with airy clouds of Stipa gigantea and Verbena bonariensis, and a Crab Apple Garden to the north where Spring tulips give way to cottage garden flowers.
The new gardens expand into the Apple Orchard, the Pear Garden, the Cherry Garden and culminate, in the South West section, in a spiralling grassy knoll, called The Mount, from which visitors can survey the whole garden and the ancient deer park beyond.
Visitors to the Tulip Festival at Glenarm Castle (2020-05) by Glenarm CastleHistoric Houses
Opening to Visitors
Today the Walled Garden at Glenarm is less than an hour from central Belfast, the paths throng with enthusiasts from the May Tulip Festival until the apples ripen in October. It has adapted to new circumstances over the centuries and is now ready for the future
Glenarm Castle www.glenarmcastle.com
Glenarm Castle around 1787 by John James Barralet from
Views of Seats in Ireland, Thomas Milton, 1793
Ian Campbell Photography
