May 30, 2026 · 57 min · 13 segments
Mary Brophy explores the influences, characters and obsessions that brought Ireland's historic gardens into being. Part 1
Mary BrophyHost
Jack BrabazonGuest
Ireland possesses some of the most wonderful historic gardens in the world, but they are much more than aged beauty.
They tell the story of a time when members of a powerful Irish elite spent vast fortunes making gardens to demonstrate their status and ambition.
Of an age of reason and discovery, when gardens came to signify man's dominion over nature.
Of a time of intrepid plant hunters venturing to claim the wonders of a new world for private Edens.
Yet set against a terrible backdrop of war and poverty in Ireland, this beauty was created in a contested landscape.
I'm Mary Brophy, and in this tale of politics, pleasure and empire, we explore the influences and magnificent obsessions that brought Ireland's formal gardens and landscapes into being.
Visiting great Irish gardens that have survived, and beautiful ghosts long forgotten, we reveal some incredible garden makers and explore their legacy.
Well, gardens go back to prehistory, of course, but gardens, really, we know, what we start knowing about gardens is in the medieval period, and especially with the monasteries.
So they had kitchen gardens, which were very intensively used, two or three acres, perhaps more, together with orchards, again, two or three acres.
Gardens that you see in the beginning of the 17th century, with the plantation period, with the whole new era of country houses being built in Ireland, And these new gardens are closely related to the manor houses.
Because of the disturbed times, shall we say, and also to protect the gardens, they were behind walls.
Really from about 1610 to the rebellion of 1641, there was a tremendous building in Ireland of country houses all over the place, all the manor houses everywhere, hundreds of them.
Most of them were destroyed during the rebellion of 1641 which went on for 10 years.
But of course they all had their associated gardens and they were destroyed too.
Essentially this was really the first phase, as it were, of ornamental gardening on a big scale happening in Ireland.
A
kind of central motif of the second half of the 17th century in Ireland is lands being seized, granted, seized, granted.
So after Cromwell's accession, anyone obviously who was associated with the king and the crown, went into exile.
So a lot of people like the, for instance, Duke of Ormond, who was one of the guardians of the young Charles II, the young king, he spent all his exile in the Low Countries.
So some people were very canny.
Ireland possesses some of the most wonderful historic gardens in the world, but they are much more than aged beauty.
They tell the story of a time when members of a powerful Irish elite spent vast fortunes making gardens to demonstrate their status and ambition.
Of an age of reason and discovery, when gardens came to signify man's dominion over nature.
Of a time of intrepid plant hunters venturing to claim the wonders of a new world for private Edens.
Yet set against a terrible backdrop of war and poverty in Ireland, this beauty was created in a contested landscape.
I'm Mary Brophy, and in this tale of politics, pleasure and empire, we explore the influences and magnificent obsessions that brought Ireland's formal gardens and landscapes into being.
Visiting great Irish gardens that have survived, and beautiful ghosts long forgotten, we reveal some incredible garden makers and explore their legacy.
Well, gardens go back to prehistory, of course, but gardens, really, we know, what we start knowing about gardens is in the medieval period, and especially with the monasteries.
So they had kitchen gardens, which were very intensively used, two or three acres, perhaps more, together with orchards, again, two or three acres.
Gardens that you see in the beginning of the 17th century, with the plantation period, with the whole new era of country houses being built in Ireland, And these new gardens are closely related to the manor houses.
Because of the disturbed times, shall we say, and also to protect the gardens, they were behind walls.
Really from about 1610 to the rebellion of 1641, there was a tremendous building in Ireland of country houses all over the place, all the manor houses everywhere, hundreds of them.
Most of them were destroyed during the rebellion of 1641 which went on for 10 years.
But of course they all had their associated gardens and they were destroyed too.
Essentially this was really the first phase, as it were, of ornamental gardening on a big scale happening in Ireland.
A
kind of central motif of the second half of the 17th century in Ireland is lands being seized, granted, seized, granted.
So after Cromwell's accession, anyone obviously who was associated with the king and the crown, went into exile.
So a lot of people like the, for instance, Duke of Ormond, who was one of the guardians of the young Charles II, the young king, he spent all his exile in the Low Countries.
So some people were very canny.
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