As we drove there we once again passed Errigal. It loomed large and formidable. We also passed Muckish Mountain or Hogs Back which was a more flat mountain. I continued to be awed by the beautiful country in this area.
Linda told us about the history of what we were going to be seeing today...
Glenveagh (means glen of the birch tree) is about 10 thousand hectares or 200,000 acres National Park. The man who set it up was John George Adare. He was very wealthy buisiness man and he bought the lands and built a castle.
The castle is not very old it was built in 1867, post famine, but for the most part it was still a very impoverished society. George Adare is infamous because when one of his stewards was murdered and sheep were stolen he retaliated by evicted 244 tenant farmers off their lands in 1871. That put him into history. He died about 5 years after the castle was built. Never saw his vision of a hunting lodge and place to entertain come to fruition.
His wife Cordilla was viewed as a kind hearted lady, she lived to 1921. She was the one who got the castle to the way it is today - laid out the garden as we see it today did a huge amount for the community - she lived here every year till 1920’s spending each summer here .
When she died, it was during the time Ireland was fighting for independence. The IRA took over the castle. It was built in granite stone and the IRA found it a perfect place to hide. They left, however when they saw the English Army. The Arm then moved into the castle for a bit.
Next a man named Arthur Kingsley Porter bought it 1924ish. He was a lecturer in Harvard and bought it for 5000 pounds. This man has a rich history he studied Irish Archeology - that is why he loved Glenveagh. There is some mystery about his demise. Supposedly he had an accident in the 1930’s. He mysterious died on Inishboffen, but his body was never found. Intrigue that is connected to him, Lousie Constacan wrote a book about him. It transpired that Kingsly Porter was married for 17 years before he was able to tell his wife he was homosexual. The Author reported he would go through bouts of depression and even went to a psychotherapist in London who told him to go with his heart. He started a relationship with a man named Allan Campbell. His wife was OK with this.
When he went missing, His wife reported him missing when he went over two Inishboffen. She sent out a 6 hour search - the body was never found. There was some question about this. In the book about 10 years later there were sightings of him in gay circles in Europe.
Henry Macelhenny bought Glenveagh after that and brought the castle to what it is today. Each room is a different theme. In the 1970’s he started to sell the lands to the Irish state. In 1980’s gave the castle to the Irish Nation. This is how it became a national park Mackelhenny and Derek Hill (the painter) were great friends. This is what encouraged Hill to move to Ireland. Machelhenny was well known for this parties - Charlie Chaplin, Greta Garbo were some of his guests.
We took a shuttle bus to the castle and gardens for a tour . From the outside, the castle was beautiful and I could picture what it must have been like back in the day. We had to wait for our tour so we all walked around the gardens. They were breathtaking. I, myself am not much of a gardener but I can appreciate a beautiful garden when see one. Julie said she wanted to apply for a gardner position and never leave.
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| Gardens were laid out beautifully |
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| Castle through the garden |
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| Beautiful flowers! |
I wandered through the gardens taking pictures and then found a path that lead down to the lake. There was a quiet beach there and I just sat for a bit. It was very quiet and peaceful. When our tour time came I went back to the castle. The castle was not as big as I thought from the outside, the rooms and furniture were decorated in the style of the 60's It was an interesting tour.
After our tour we went to Derick Hill's estate not far away for some lunch and a tour of his home. Very different it was a Georgian Home and filled to the brink with art work - they had plates done by Picasso on shelves and sitting out the guide commented that a couple from Paris was shocked to see the displayed so - they said they would be in climate controlled boxes at home. his comment was "there is some blue tack holding them on the shelves"
After all our touring we headed back to the Hotel. For a day off it was very rich in history and beauty. During dinner, Linda was looking at the weather forecast for tomorrow (Errigal day). She told us all it may be a wave off if the rains came in when they said they were gong to - visibility would be too poor. I was surprised to feel a sense of relief (WHAT!) So we just have to wait and see what tomorrow holds....
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