Designed landscape — formal garden in Formoyle (newcomen)

Associated with a 17th-century house (LF021-010002-) and adjoining it to the SW. In 1682 Nicholas Dowdall noted that Sir John Parker’s father ‘John, Lord ArchB[ishop] of Dublin, built a fair house with stables and all necessary houses and planted a pleasure Garden and Orchards.' (Gillespie and Moran 1991, 208). The orchards were located in the field to the NW of the house within the possible enclosure (LF021-010001-) (Kenny 1995, 57). On the 1837 ed. of the OS 6-inch map the gardens are shown as two roughly rectangular fields aligned NW-SE (dims. NW field: c. 75m ENE-WSW; 60m N-S; dims. SE field: 95m NNW-SSE; 80m E-W) separated by a narrow pathway or avenue. The enclosing S and W walls (H 1.2m; T 0.65m) constructed of mortared stone survive. Wall-footings of the SW half of a projecting circular tower (int. diam. 3.3m; wall T. 0.6m) are evident midway along the S wall. Its function is unclear - it may have marked the entrance into the gardens or was possibly a dovecote or gazebo. No traces of the internal dividing walls survive but the pathway or avenue is evident as a low rise running in a NNE-SSW direction. The SE part of the garden is now used as a farmyard and a number of outhouses have been built within it. The line of an old roadway can be seen on an aerial photograph (SMR file) in the fields to the SW of the garden. It possibly led to the pathway of the walled garden. Compiled by: Caimin O'Brien Date of upload: 18 February 2013