Taking up a historic property with 17 acres of gardens and panorama on the age of 28 isn’t any imply feat, however Adam Clayton did simply that when he purchased on Danesmoate — and he additionally had the foresight and imaginative and prescient to plant hundreds of timber and shrubs, restoring vistas and bringing again life and color to this stunning river valley. Jane Powers tells the story, with footage by Jonathan Hession.
‘We used to sneak within the again to smoke and attraction ladies,’ says Adam Clayton, bass guitarist of U2. That was within the Nineteen Seventies, when he was a boarder at St Columba’s Faculty in Dublin. Little did he guess that, within the following decade, he would change into the proprietor of that very same property on the foot of the Dublin Mountains.
In 1986, the band rented the home — which was standing empty — to report their fifth studio album, The Joshua Tree, within the acoustically beautiful, lofty drawing room. The then proprietor, remembers Mr Clayton, had mentioned: ‘If anybody desires to purchase the home on the finish of the recording, I’ll subtract the rental from the worth.’ So, in 1988, aged 28, he discovered himself in possession of Danesmoate: a big Georgian home, quite a few ancillary buildings (together with a dovecote and a two-seater privy) and 17 acres of gardens, pasture and river valley — all in want of significant consideration. Though solely seven miles from Dublin metropolis, the situation was distant and quiet.
The backyard at Danesmoate, close to Dublin — the house of Mr Adam Clayton. The 18th-century home might have been a country retreat or searching lodge. ©Jonathan Hession
That may change within the coming years with the arrival of Dublin’s ring highway, the M50, which now passes near the property’s boundary. When he purchased Danesmoate, Mr Clayton knew the highway was coming and that mitigating motion was important. ‘The one factor I knew early on was that I’d want timber.’ He employed Neil Murray, a designer and nursery proprietor primarily based close by. They took out all of the ‘over-mature timber and all of the laurel that had overrun the place’ and set to work planting timber — about 4,000 of them — and creating vistas. Wooded areas had been replanted with oak (‘loads of oak!’), beech, sycamore, ash, birch and numerous conifers. Dr Murray, a eager and well-connected plantsman, laced the woodlands with alternative timber, together with trial specimens from the Royal Botanic Backyard, Edinburgh, and Windsor Nice Park.
Dr Murray organized a go to to the fabulously extravagant gardens at Mount Congreve in Waterford, well-known for the good shows of acid-loving vegetation, comparable to camellias, rhododendrons and magnolias. There, on the banks of the River Suir, the industrialist and backyard lover, Ambrose Congreve, planted not in twos or threes, however in 10s and 20s.
Mr Clayton was stirred by the sight. ‘After that, we began to extend the camellias right here’ — they now shine out from the drive and woodland in early spring. And he admits unashamedly: ‘We went a bit bonkers on the magnolias.’ There are 50 varieties at Danesmoate, many planted in multiples.
Magnolia ‘Caerhays Belle’ raises its pink porcelain blossoms over the riverside woodland. The backyard at Danesmoate, close to Dublin — the house of Mr Adam Clayton. ©Jonathan Hession
They punctuate the extra formal gardens close to the home and are threaded via the woodland and alongside the banks of the Little Dargle River, which meanders for half a mile alongside a small valley. They’re an exhilarating sight when their hundreds of furry buds crack open to disclose the sumptuous flowers. Amongst them are the decadent, luxuriously petalled, deep-rose Magnolia campbellii ‘Darjeeling’, the dainty, pristine-white M. kobus, and the cheerfully luminous ‘Yellow Fowl’, bred at Brooklyn Botanic Backyard in New York, US.
Mr Clayton is ‘an enormous fan of rhododendrons’. Seeing them rising wild within the Himalayas made him admire their the Aristocracy. They had been in a distinct league from the feral Rhododendron ponticum rising ‘in bockety ditches in Eire’. There are near 100 varieties right here, together with near-tender species, such because the scented R. griffithianum.
Danesmoate has a particular microclimate: the tree planting has created welcome shelter and the river helps see off chilly air. Tree ferns (Dicksonia antarctica) thrive within the moisture-laden atmosphere, as does the European chain fern (Woodwardia radicans). The expansion charge is super-charged: a Caucasian wingnut (Pterocarya fraxinifolia) and a Chilean southern beech (Nothofagus dombeyi) are 50ft tall; a towering coast redwood (Sequoia sempervirens) is so stout that it takes two individuals to hug it.
Tulips shaded by the foliage of the near-tender Echium pininana — proof of the gentle local weather. The backyard at Danesmoate, close to Dublin — the house of Mr Adam Clayton. {Photograph} ©Jonathan Hession
Though a lot of the planting dates from the previous three many years, there are positive timber from the backyard’s earlier days: venerable beeches with elephantine trunks; nice sycamores with strong, kindly presences; historic yews of unknown classic; sinuous, smooth-barked rhododendrons. There are remnants of a celebrated Picturesque backyard (see field) together with rustic stonework follies and — on the river — bridges and cascades. Jim Barcoe, a gifted stonemason, added extra bridges and stone options and helped to stabilise and restore the stonework alongside the banks. Extra weirs and falls have livened up the water’s journey, rising the amount of its nice splashing. Small trout dart about within the water, as dippers and herons forage within the shallows. Wildlife is ample at Danesmoate: otters have been noticed, sparrowhawks nest in one of many pines and buzzards are omnipresent.
The home is fronted by a meadow, which is maintained as a semi-natural grassland habitat and is mobbed by butterflies and different invertebrates. In spring, pheasant’s-eye and Wordsworth’s daffodils (Narcissus pseudonarcissus) brighten the sward, however, for the remainder of the 12 months, it’s the protect of buttercups, clovers, vetches, knapweed, woundwort and different natives.
Adam Clayton is an avid artwork collector: the large, mosaic ceramic Dublin Bay prawn is the work of Belfast artist John Kindness. The backyard at Danesmoate, close to Dublin — the house of Mr Adam Clayton. ©Jonathan Hession
Round the home, a framework of extremely structured backyard rooms was created by British designer Elizabeth Staveley. In recent times, these have been populated by an intensively managed menu of perennials and bulbs. June Blake, whose stunning Blessington backyard is half an hour away, has designed a lot of the planting: late spring kicks off with hundreds of richly toned tulips and proceeds right into a feast of alliums. Because the 12 months progresses, an exuberant parade of perennials fills the beds. Head gardener Darragh Stone, who has been right here since 2020, has devised a number of the newer planting. The crew of 4 gardeners (together with two half time) is bolstered by Joe Mulligan, denizen of Danesmoate for greater than 30 years and who is aware of each inch of the terrain.
The plant stock at Danesmoate continues to develop with fascinating woody vegetation and different gems. A set of Irish cultivars can be rising, and contains the gorgeous little blue-striped Omphalodes ‘Starry Eyes’, which arose at Woodtown Park, a few miles down the highway; and the variegated holly ‘Girl Valerie’ which was found at Dargle Cottage in Enniskerry by Dr Murray.
Plans for the speedy future are centred on the Nineteenth-century walled backyard, which can quickly have a chic glasshouse and orangery as its point of interest. A newly acquired five-acre discipline is being developed as a woodland with meadowy clearings. Mr Clayton approves heartily of rewilding and including extra timber to his property. He appears to be like ahead to ‘tree planting for the subsequent 40-odd years’.
The gardens at Danesmoate, Dublin, are open by appointment for teams. E mail head gardener Darragh Stone ([email protected])
The temper alongside the waterway modifications continuously: stands of the clumping bamboo, Fargesia robusta, from Sichuan Province in China, line the winding paths. The backyard at Danesmoate, close to Dublin — the house of Mr Adam Clayton. {Photograph} ©Jonathan Hession
The historical past of Danesmoate
The oldest elements of the backyard had been created between 1766 and 1802 by Capt William Southwell and his spouse, Julia Ponsonby, when the location was recognized variously as The Glen, Glen Southwell, New Dargle, Little Dargle and later, Glynsouthwell.
The title Danesmoate was first used within the Nineteen Fifties. Capt Southwell’s was an aristocratic, army household and his spouse’s kin included formidable backyard makers, comparable to the first Viscount Duncannon of Bessborough in Co Kilkenny and the fifth Earl of Meath, whose Anglo-French gardens at Killruddery in Co Wicklow survive. Julia’s first cousin married Sir William Fownes of Woodstock, Kilkenny — one other demesne recognized for its formal gardens.
The Southwells’ backyard was within the modern Picturesque fashion, the untamed energy of the ‘wilderness’ celebrated in rigorously tweaked vistas. Gothic buildings and different rustic options added to its drama. At Glen Southwell, the steep valley with its tumbling river and mossy boulders lent themselves admirably to the arousing of awe.
The place was broadly admired, not least by the Revd John Wesley (founding father of Methodism), who noticed in a letter: ‘Though many locations might exceed this in grandeur, I imagine none can exceed it in magnificence.’
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