A HEARTY TALE: SIR WILLIAM BRABAZON In 1534, Sir William Brabazon was sent to Ireland by Henry VIII to 'establish the King's authority'. Only his heart returned. Read More

A HEARTY TALE: SIR WILLIAM BRABAZON

In 1534, Sir William Brabazon was sent to Ireland by Henry VIII to 'establish the King's authority'. Only his heart returned.

CHARLES I REIGN: WILLIAM THE 1ST EARL OF MEATH Read More

GREAT REBELLION. THE HOUSE IS DESTROYED IN A FIRE AND REBUILT SIX YEARS LATER BY THE 2ND EARL OF MEATH Read More

EDWARD, THE 2ND EARL, DROWNS AT SEA Edward, who established the first family home at Killruddery. was a passenger on the HMV 'Mary' which was shipwrecked off Beaumaurice in Anglesey in 1675 during a voyage to England. Read More

wILLIAM 3RD EARL OF MEATH Read More

WILLIAM EMPLOYS MONSIEUR BONET TO WORK ON THE GARDENS AT KILRUDDERY William employed Monsieur Bonet, supposedly trained at Versailles, to work on the Gardens at Killruddery. He creates the surviving French-Baroque gardens, comprising the Angles (a patte d’oie), the Long Ponds, the Sylvan Theatre, Lime Walks and the Beech Hedge Pond. Read More

EXTRACT: LETTER FROM OLIVER CHEYNEY, AGENT TO THE 3RD EARL OF MEATH, 1682 “I went on Friday last to receive you remainders of rents in the county of Wicklow and lay at Killruddery two nights…Capt. Ed Brabazon has and will make great improvements there, the park for his colts is long time since finished and he is making also a deer park and decoy. The decoy will be the finest in the kingdom or I believe in the 3 kingdoms. The pond is already made and the reed wall is making, round a out which he will built a wall at so great a distance that the fowl shall not be frightened thereat, the south and north ends of which wall shall without and against the other two…a dry wall. Against the south wall without and against the north wall within he will plant fruit of all sorts and will make a treble ditch without the south wall and quickset the fen to the end that the deer may not get to the fruit and that the park may be completed.” Read More

EDWARD 4TH EARL OF MEATH Read More

EDWARD 4TH EARL OF MEATH

PENAL LAWS / BATTLE OF THE BOYNE Read More

CHAMBRE 5TH EARL OF MEATH. THE PLEASURE GARDEN & CHERRY GARDEN ARE DEVELOPED. Read More

FIRST JACOBITE REBELLION. CHAWORTH 6TH EARL OF MEATH. THE GARDEN’S WILDERNESS IS DEVELOPED. Read More

THE KILLRUDDERY HUNT “At Five in the Morning, by most of the Clocks, We rode from Killruddery, to try for a Fox…” Thomas Mozeen’s most famous poem was a song titled “The Killruddery Hunt”, celebrating a fox hunt that took place in 1744. The protagonists in the poem were all well-known in hunting circles at the time and it was the Earl of Meath’s hounds that led the chase through “Bog and Briar”: The poem was encapsulated in a stylised painting of the 17th Century house on wood, showing the established gardens and dates from around 1720. The Killruddery hunting figures in the picture refer to the poem written by Mozeen. The painting is now hung in the Library at Killruddery and shows the Long Ponds on the south side of the house, central to the library windows. Also visible are the bosquet hedges, known as the Angles, and the Lime Avenue in the park beyond. Read More

THE 6TH EARL OF MEATH BECOMES PATRON OF THE MEATH HOSPITAL The institution was founded by four surgeons to care for the sick and poor of ‘the Liberties’, an area that fell under the Brabazon’s ownership. Read More

EDWARD 7TH EARL OF MEATH The 7th Earl followed up on his brother’s hospital patronage by laying the foundation stone for a new general hospital in the Coombe district in 1770. Originally called, "The Meath Hospital and County Dublin Infirmary", it was renamed the Coombe Women’s Hospital in 1993. Read More

ANTHONY 8TH EARL OF MEATH Read More

FRENCH REVOLUTION : NAPOLEONIC WARS William 9th Earl of Meath died in a fatal duel with Captain Robert Gore of the Mount Kennedy Corps. Read More

QUEEN VICTORIA'S REIGN The 10th Earl carried out an extensive reconstruction of Killruddery House between 1820 and 1830. Architects Richard and William Vitruvius Morrison were instructed to build a Tudor Revival mansion, incorporating the original low-level 17th century mansion. The new house took on the shape of an irregular quadrangle, enclosing a central courtyard. The interior still includes elaborate chimney-pieces by Giacinto Micali, crimson silk damask from Spitalfields, stained glass by John Milner, a domed ceiling by Henry Popje and the wonderful drawing room ceiling by Simon Gilligan who worked for Popje. Popje had received an apprenticeship in Stucco work from the Lafranchini brothers. Read More

SIR WALTER SCOTT AND SAINT RONAN’S WELL In 1823 Scottish writer Sir Walter Scott visited Killruddery and was highly impressed by the premises, especially the outdoor Sylvan Theatre in the Formal Gardens - boasting two fine marble statues and elaborate gates at its entrance. A year later he published Saint Ronan’s Well, his only novel with a 19th Century setting that portrayed the fashionable society of the fictional spa-town of Saint Ronan's. Although widely criticised by the English audience, it did gain appreciation from Scottish readers who enjoyed the author’s satirical portrayal of the provincial high society. Despite all criticism, the novel was later adapted for the stage and proved a great success in Edinburgh. Read More

"THE DEMESNE OF KILRUDDERY [SIC] OCCUPIES A NARROW VALLEY..." "The demesne of Kilruddery [sic] occupies a narrow valley, which separates the mountain termed the Smaller Sugarloaf from the promontory called Bray Head, and is marked by many circumstances of great natural beauty. The grounds are laid out in a manner peculiarly adapted to the character of the present building, and present nearly a unique instance in this country of the old Dutch style of gardening. From the natural grandeur of the surrounding country, the formality of this mode stands revealed with peculiar distinctness. The enclosing mountains rise boldly and at once, with all their brilliancy of purple and brown colouring, above the long avenues of stately elms, the close cut yew hedges, and regular terraces of this little St Cloud." - The Dublin Intelligence Read More

GREAT FAMINE. WILLIAM 11TH EARL OF MEATH. Read More

MY TIARA FOR AN ORANGERY The light-filled conservatory at Killruddery was designed and built for the 11th Earl of Meath and Harriot, his Countess, in 1852 by William Burn - inspired by Crystal Palace in London. Legend has it that the family tiara was sold to finance this work and that the crenellations surrounding the dome were based on the design of this tiara. With no social welfare system in Ireland at this time, it was during this same period that the 11th and 12th Earls decided to house workers. Many streets and terraces of houses named after the family were constructed in Dublin’s Liberties. Houses for employees were most important and these remained with the families even when the employee died, a practice which continued up to the end of the 20th Century. Read More

FAMILY TREES The gardens at Killruddery have been enriched with noble trees that have been planted by successive generations of the Brabazon family since the estate came into their possession over 400 years ago, often to mark the birth of a new family member. In the name of tradition, a tree was planted at Killruddery to mark the birth of Reginald Brabazon (the 12th Earl of Meath) in 1841. Reginald was a prominent politician, responsible for introducing the creation of ‘Empire Day’ as a Public Holiday. He married Lady Mary Jane Maitland, a dedicated philanthropist who financed a number of initiatives including Dublin Artisans’ Dwellings. Reginald later resigned from Diplomatic Service and became a Member of the Irish Senate and Chief Scout Commissioner for Ireland. A memorial, designed by Hermon Cawthra RA and unveiled in 1934 in the City of Westminster, was erected in honour of the Earl’s ‘duty, sympathy and self-sacrifice’. Read More

REGINALD 12TH EARL OF MEATH Read More

EDWARD VII 1901-1910. THE WATER CLOCK AT KILLRUDDERY IS COMPLETED The Clock Tower in the forecourt houses a water clock designed and constructed by Normand. The pendulum is powered by a jet of water, truly a free pendulum. Read More

JOHN MOORE-BRABAZON: PIGS CAN FLY John Moore-Brabazon was an aviation pioneer, balloonist and politician - descendent of the 7th Earl of Meath. During his university years he kept company with the Wright Brothers and Charles Rolls (of Rolls Royce) and later served as Minister of Transport and Minister of Aircraft Production under Winston Churchill. He became a Member of the House of Lords where he took a seat as Lord Brabazon of Tara. It was after he learnt to fly in France that he purchased and brought back a standard model Voisin aeroplane, securing the second pilots license issued to a British subject. In 1909, he made a flight of 500 yards with a pig attached to a wing strut - and it was officially recognised as the first flight by a British pilot in Britain. A hand-lettered sign attached to the basket read: ‘I am the first pig to fly’. Read More

1ST WORLD WAR Read More

EASTER RISING Read More

THE TREATY 1922. NORMAND 13TH EARL OF MEATH. Read More

GEORGE VI. 2ND WORLD WAR 1939. ANTHONY 14TH EARL OF MEATH Read More

QUEEN ELIZABETH II Following an outbreak of dry-rot at Killruddery, Anthony collaborated with the architect Claude Phillimore to dismantle and reconstruct a large part of the 19th century house. The end result was a house about a third smaller but infinitely more manageable and better suited to modern living. The entrance hall, great hall and dining room had vanished but some of the Morrison interior survived, particularly the Regency drawing room. Read More

THE GARDENS AT KILLRUDDERY ARE UNDER RESTORATION AND THE ORANGERY RE-ROOFED; THE MARBLE STATUES ARE RESTORED Read More

THE CLOCK TOWER IS RESTORED Read More

THE PIT HOUSE IS RESTORED ALONG WITH THE GRAIN STORE AND OLD FARM YARD Read More