( Overview
/ Two Bullocks on a Boat Go West
Another dinghy run to top the canisters with water on shore. We also hoped to get fuel for the outboard, but the petrol pumps were closed! Taking the dinghy, we headed for Garinish Island, or Ilnacullin, aquired by the Bryce family in 1910.
Tourists can take the Harbour Queen ferry from Glengarriff Pier.
Harbour Queen coming into the jetty on the island.
Climbing the Martello Tower first in the hope of seeing white tailed eagles nesting and soaring, we had great views of Bantry Bay, but no sign of birds!
The Bryce’s planned to build a seven storey Italianate mansion incorporating existing structures such as the Martello Tower erected in the 1800s. These plans were curtailed by the First World War and financial difficulties brought on by over investment in Russia.
The original plans and gardens were designed by landscape architect and garden designer Harold Ainsworth Peto. His best known garden is at Ilford Manor in Wiltshire which particularly illustrates his Arts and Crafts approach to garden design.
After John Annan Bryce’s death in 1923, his widow, Violet sold their London residence and collection of art and artefacts and moved to the island to live in the gardener’s cottage built in 1912. Their son, Roland, also spent a lot of time on the island.
Violet Bryce. To help the local economy she developed the Glengarriff Agricultural and Industrial Show, and she opened the gardens to the public in 1925. Her daughters Marjery and Rosalind led the Women’s Coronation Procession of suffragettes and suffragists on white horses in June 1911.
Along with Maggie O’Sullivan, the housekeeper and great hostess, and Murdo MacKenzie, who was employed as a gardener in 1928, the house and gardens became a destination for visitors. He restored neglected gardens whose young plants were damaged by strong winds by establishing shelter belts of trees.
Violet Bryce’s bedroom; the wallpaper is a copy of the original 1940s paper. Most rooms were decorated with flowery ‘arts and crafts’ designs.
The walled garden.
Murdo cultivated a collection of rare and tender plants for which the island is now famous. Because of a well thought out will, when Roland died Maggie and Murdo remained in post, living in the house until their deaths, even when the Office of Public Works took over ownership of the island in 1953.
The clock tower in the walled garden.
Dinner plate dahlias.
The Casita.
The lawns, where once tennis and croquet were played.
The formal pond and Italian garden.
After Violet’s death, Maggie ‘the island’ O’Sullivan devoted her life to the Bryce legacy and the island, and she was the last permanent resident. Up until her death in 1999 she entertained dignitaries from around the world.
Happy Valley leads to the Grecian Temple with views over the bay and Sugarloaf mountain.
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