The Millennium Gardens

A millennium project supported by Gallaher (Dublin) Limited

Development of the Millennium Gardens

The family interest shifted from the world of science to gardening and forestry with the Fifth Earl, who inherited Birr Castle in 1908. He began the magnificent collection of trees but sadly never lived to see his dreams for the gardens fulfilled as he died early from wounds suffered in the 1914 - 1918 war.

Michael and Anne, the Sixth Earl and Countess of Rosse, shared a passionate love of gardens and the demesne really came into its own following their 1935 marriage. A perfect match, Anne came from a gardening background and had natural flair for colour and design while Michael as a very young man started to collect and plant on a massive scale inspired partly by the great collection of Lord Headfort of Headfort.

This striking Gallica rose was bred by the French grower Laffay in 1829. When in bloom its dark green foliage strikes a dramatic contrast with its small fragrant double soft blush-coloured flowers. The romantic names of many of the Demesne's old roses - "Belle Amour" "Mme. Pierre Oger" - reveal their origins in turn of the century French nurseries.

As a daughter of the Messel's of Nymans, a famous National Trust garden in the south of England, it was hardly surprising that Anne, Countess of Rosse displayed such profound devotion to gardening and an innovative flair for design.

By the time of the Sixth Earl's death in 1979, the couple had transformed Birr gardens into one of the most beautiful and admired gardens in Ireland and Britain. It is perhaps for their imaginative planting that Michael and Anne will be best remembered; the juxtaposition of wild and formal; the magnificent autumn colours in the River Garden and the Magnolias in Spring. Their work in propagation was famed and it is no surprise that a number of plants have been named after them for example the Paeonia 'Anne Rosse' and the Magnolia 'Michael Rosse'.

William Brendan Parsons, the Seventh and current Earl inherited the title in 1979. Brendan was working with the UN in Algeria at the time and returned with his wife Alison and children to Birr Castle. Although continuing to clear and plant the gardens, the financial resources of previous generations were not available. Unfortunately, the gardening staff had to be reduced from fourteen to five. Despite heroic efforts, the gardens could not be maintained to the glorious standards of previous years. This state of affairs, however, prompted Brendan to seek funding to recreate and maintain the magnificence of the demesne. Over the last four years, a programme of restoration has recreated the unique features of the Millennium gardens and made them available to all visitors to Birr Castle Demesne.

Millennium Garden Features

Arrived at through a Yew lined avenue, the famous box hedges are over 200 years old and were already recorded in the eighteenth century. One of a few splendid features to remain when Michael and Anne designed and planted the current lay-out of the Millennium Gardens, the box hedges are listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the tallest in the world. On either side of the Millennium Gardens' Upper Terrace is a parterre made from box hedging in the shape of crossed 'R's' and grass paths all laid out to Anne's precise design. The Upper Terrace is surrounded by hornbeams planted like a cloister and featuring 'windows' allowing visitors to contemplate the parterre from the cloistered walks. In Winter, snowdrops, planted by the Sixth Earl on home leave from the war, line the cloistered walk.

The magnificent Baroque Bavarian Urns formed a central part of a seventeenth-century design for a garden in Bavaria. This was one of the influences Michael and Anne drew on for inspiration when creating the Millennium Gardens to commemorate their 1935 wedding.

Tucked away in a little courtyard to the left of the glasshouses is the intimate Pergola Garden. The centre of attraction is the Wisteria floribunda macrobotrys, now called Wisteria multijuga. The Summer Border which fronts the glasshouses and the yew hedges still retains many of the original plants. These, which include yellow Hemerocallis, blue Iris sibirica, various Iris laevigate, red oriental poppies and Peony mascula, are divided and replanted and the border is once again edged with Nepeta x faasenii.

The central focus of the Millennium Gardens is the Box Parterre. The central logo of the family initial R rises above the level of the surrounding box which is clipped lower for emphasis. The grass and gravel surrounding the box hedges has been replaced to redefine the crispness of the original parterre. The Hornbeam alles lead to the Delphinium Border which are replanted with a mix of herbaceous perennials in shades of blue, white and yellow. Plants of the original Delphinium elatum hybrids grown in Birr, form the main accent of the revitalised border. To add Spring interest snowdrops are planted along the base of the hornbeam.

The Millennium Gardens' elegant white seats situated behind the Bavarian Urns provide another testament to Anne's flair for design. They are decorated with the couple's crossed initials, to commemorate Anne's marriage to Michael Rosse in 1935.

Located beyond the box hedges in the Millennium Gardens, this beautiful peony is a cross between one collected by Michael Rosse on a trip to the Tsang-Po Gorge in Tibet before his marriage and another discovered by the couple on their 1937 Yu expedition to China.

GALLAHER (DUBLIN) LIMITED

The Millennium Gardens at Birr Castle have been described as 'the real jewel' of the Demesne and tobacco manufacturer, Gallaher (Dublin) Limited is pleased to demonstrate its commitment to the conservation and preservation of our heritage by giving support to their restoration. Through its patronage Gallaher (Dublin) Limited supports an enterprise in horticultural renewal which is acknowledged as being of international significance and will result in the re-creation of the Millennium Gardens to their former magnificence - a richly rewarding experience awaits all who visit them.

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Ireland's Historic Science Centre   Birr Co Offaly Ireland