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- Altamount House
- c2006
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- Altamount House
- c1870
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- Altamount House
- c2006
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Originally, Altamont is thought to have been the site of a convent,
although there seem to be no existing records to corroborate this.
However, the house as it exists today was evidently built upon the
remains of an earlier dwelling dating from at least the 16th century;
immensely thick walls, paved granite floors and arrow slit windows in
the centre basement of the house testify to this. There is also evidence
of a monastic site on adjoining land - the convent at Altamont is
believed to have been its 'Sister House'. At this time the estate is
thought to have been known as Rose Hill, the name being subsequently
changed to Soho and marked thus on a map of 1777 (produced by Taylor &
Skinner). The estate eventually came to be called Altamont sometime in
the late 18th century, through some connection with the Marquis of
Sligo. (Lord) Altamont was a title conferred then on the eldest son.
THE REMAINS of a chapel are still to be seen on the Dark Walk, in the
form of a windowed end wall. However, the stained glass herein is
believed to date from Victorian times. Other fragments of the chapel
have been incorporated into sections of the house - beneath the library
and above the front bedroom window of the south wing.
THE MAIN bulk of the house was considerably altered sometime between
1740 and 1750 by either the St. George's or the Doyne's. This latter
family was certainly in residence in 1777 when the aforementioned Taylor
& Skinner map was produced. At that time, the front of the house faced
towards the Slaney river and Wicklow mountains. The road to the estate
initially ran from Carrigslaney, behind the lake, and up to Kilbride.
Upon construction of a new road from Carrigslaney to Kilbride circa
1740, the St. George family turned the house back-to-front by breaching
the hall wall in the (then) back of the house and building on the porch
with its decorative fanlight and the bow-ended wing consisting of dining
room, smoking room, two bedrooms and a lift room. They also added
elegant plaster work, rebuilt the staircase, enlarged the windows and
altered the house in other ways. A new front and back avenue was made in
a semi-circle enclosing the park and very handsome entrance gates
erected. It was about this time that lines of magnificent beech trees
were planted along the front avenue, roadside and Nun's Walk, and
specimen limes, beeches and chestnuts planted in the park.
FURTHER alterations were made by new owners, the Borrors, in the
1850's. They added on an extending wing to the north of the house for a
library and other rooms and, later in 1871, a butler's pantry with
cook's room above to the south end of the house. They were also
responsible for having the lake dug out by hand after the Irish Famine
to give employment to the local population. Over 100 men with horses and
carts spent two years completing this enormous task. The Broad Walk and
terraces leading down to the lake were also laid out at this time and
many beds, pools and summerhouses were added, with urns and statuary in
appropriate places. Walks were laid through the ancient oak woods and
the ice age glen down to the river Slaney. A hundred hand-cut granite
steps were laid to negotiate the steep gradient leading up from the
river bank, to a walk back through the top of the bluebell wood. The
woodland walks and 100 steps are believed to have been designed, or more
probably influenced, by William Robinson, the renowned garden designer,
who created a taste for the Natural or Wild Garden and is credited with
the layout of a number of gardens in the locality.
The Taylor & Skinner Map of 1777 (see below)
IN 1923, Feilding Lecky Watson and his family moved temporarily to
Altamont while the drains were being repaired at their home, Lumclone.
The Watsons came to Carlow in the 1640's, became Quakers and built
Kilconnor, Ballydartin and Lumclone near Fenagh. (See J. O'Toole's book
- The Carlow Gentry). They fell in love with the house and garden at
Altamont, especially as the soil was better suited to ericaceous plants,
and subsequently purchased it.
THEREAFTER, Feilding Lecky Watson began extending his collection of
rhododendrons which he had started on his return from Ceylon, from where
he was invalided by malaria during World War l. Due to his incapacity,
he devoted himself to growing rhododendrons from seed sent back by
various expeditions and exchanged seedlings with many well-known
gardeners including Sir Frederick Moore, then curator of the National
Botanic Garden in Glasnevin. Feilding and his wife continuously extended
and planted up the garden which had become completely overgrown. He is
also responsible for erecting the Myshall Gate behind the promontory at
the far side of the lake. The gates were a salvaged gift from Myshall
House, one time home of the Cornwall Brady's, which was burnt down
during The Troubles. (Feilding was a cousin of this family through one
of the Brady's marrying a Watson.) The pillars were erected by Feilding
and the two granite balls atop them moved from either side of the
Archery Lawn (now the lawn by the Azalea Walk.)
FEILDING died in 1943 and, after the war, his youngest daughter
Corona returned home and spent many years trying to retrieve his
rhododendrons from the jungle that had enveloped them. In about 1950 she
planted the Davida and Tulip trees, and the Taxodiums and Cornus Kusa
which now make such features. In 1952, with only the assistance of one
"strong" man, a flat-bottomed punt and a grappling hood, Corona cleared
the lake of lily roots and reeds and continued clearing and planting up
until her marriage to Gary North. Upon her marriage in 1966, she and her
husband built on to the Keeper's Cottage overlooking the river (Altamont
Lodge) and made a new garden there. During this period, Corona planted a
new arboretum and created the Bog Garden, and a walk was completed from
the Lodge to the house. In 1983, Corona and Gary North pooled resources
with Corona's mother, Mrs. Lecky Watson, in a final bid to return the
lake to its former glory. The draining and subsequent mechanical
clearing of the lake, necessitating the removal of 4½ feet of mud, roots
and reeds over 2½ acres and over 60 fallen trees, was eventually
completed in 1985.
UPON the death of her mother in that same year, Corona and Gary North
moved back into the big house and resumed the renovation and reclamation
of the garden which, once again, had fallen into virtual dereliction.
This included the restoration and refurbishment of what are now 'The
Stewards House', 'The Granary' and 'The Mews'. The latter, which had
been turned into stables in the 1850's, had become so derelict that
everyone then thought it should be bulldozed. A new public entrance with
a tea garden was created, and a tea room and kitchen were made in part
of the Lower Courtyard. Both of the Coachhouses had to be re-roofed as
they had fallen in completely. Corona North also rebuilt the 18th
century vinery greenhouse and started the Garden Centre in part of the
Walled Garden which first had to be cleared of the jungle it had become.
Other works included levelling the lawns and making the Goldfish Pond
beside the house, and designing and planting the conifer and shrub beds
to either side of this.
LATER, with the help of a FAS Community Employment Scheme, an Art
Gallery/Lecture Room was incorporated in another of the old Coachhouses
and a Craft Shop established in part of the old kennels. Further
alterations were made to provide offices, toilets, a canteen etc. and a
new stone bridge was built as a focal point at the upper end of the
lake. 1998 saw the completion of a Temple/Folly in the Sunset Field and
a Pergola/Wisteria Walk joining the two bridges on the lake.
SADLY, Corona North passed away on the 7th February 1999 after a
brave battle against cancer. She is greatly missed by all.
Corona North
page
More images of Altamount
http://www.teachnet.ie/jfarrell/2006D/altamont1.htm
