Open in 2024: Jan 1-7, Feb 3-Dec 21, 28-31, Jan-Mar, Nov-Dec 9.30am-5pm, Apr-Oct 9.30am-6pm
Fee: adult €8.75, purchase in the gardens €9.50, child €6.75, purchase in the garden €7.50, family €28, purchase in the gardens €30, OAP/student free, any other concessions see website.
We visited Kells Bay Garden when we were in Kerry in March 2023. Like Derreen Garden, it has an abundance of tree-ferns, and avails of the microclimate created by the Gulf Stream.
You can stay at Kells Bay also, see the website. We just visited the gardens.
The website has a history of the property, written by Helen Haugh. The property was owned by the Blennerhassett family for four generations, whom we came across while staying in Ballyseede Castle (see my entry). The website tells us that in 1584 Ballyseede Castle and 3000 acres of confiscated land at Tralee were granted on perpetual lease to Robert Blennerhassett (1564-1654) and that the token rent for the estate was set at one red rose to be presented each year on Midsummer’s day.
Before the Blennerhassetts, the land was owned by William Petty (1737-1805) 1st Marquess of Lansdowne. He invested in planting forests and building roads in the area. Between 1805 and 1816 Lord Lansdowne planted more than one and half million trees. The trees were predominantly ash, elm, larch, beech and chestnut (Everett, 2001).
In 1819 Rowland Blennerhassett (1780-1854) is recorded as owning land at Cappamore on the Ivergah peninsula, purchased from the Marquess of Lansdowne, on which he built a ‘small hunting lodge.’ (Tithe Applotment Books, 1828). The plot at Cappamore is identified as Hollymount Cottage, probably named after indigenous holly trees near the house.
Rowland Blennerhassett was a descendant of Robert (1564-1654) of Ballycarty Castle and Ballyseede. Robert’s son who was also named Robert (d. 1702) married Avice Conway from Castle Conway, County Kerry. Generations of later Blennerhassetts lived in Castle Conway.
Robert and Avice’s son Henry (1663-abt. 1730) lived at Castle Conway. His son Robert married Frances Yeilding, daughter of Richard of Belview, County Limerick, and Rowland was their son. In 1809 Rowland was created 1st Baronet of Blennerville, County Kerry. He married a cousin, Millicent Agnes Yeilding.
Oral history interviews relate how the Blennerhassetts provided soup to tenants throughout the famine. The large famine bowl on the terrace in front of the house corroborates this story.
The website tells us that Richard Francis Blennerhassett (1819–1883) lived at Hollymount Cottage in Kells Bay. He was the grandson of Rowland, 1st Baronet, son of Rowland’s son, another Rowland (1780-1854). This Rowland married Letitia Hurly of County Kerry.
Richard Francis married Honoria Ponsonby in 1849, daughter of William Carrique Ponsonby of Crotto. Richard and Honoria occupied Hollymount Cottage and they had one son, Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett (1850-1913).
A Victorian craze for ferns from 1830, reaching its peak between 1850 and 1890 (Whittingham, 2012), influenced the garden at Kells. Collecting ferns at home and abroad was a hugely popular pursuit and it is likely that the tree fern Dicksonia antarctica was introduced to Kells Garden at the turn of the century. The tree fern colony is now well established, naturalised and self-seeding. The website tells us that Tree ferns were originally attributed to the French plant hunter de Labillardière (1755–1834) and then renamed in honour of James Dickson (1738-1822) a prominent Scottish nurseryman.
The Wild Garden by Irishman William Robinson, 1870, challenged the prevailing Victorian preference for formal landscaping and expansive carpet bedding by advocating for natural gardens in which hardy perennials and self-seeding annual plants would provide a sustainable and self-perpetuating display of plants and flowers.
Helen Haugh tells us that the county of Kerry accommodates several estates with notable gardens, which provide a backdrop to the establishment of Kells Bay and the prominence of naturalised trees from the southern hemisphere.
Glanleam lies 10 miles to the west of Kells Bay and is a large coastal estate established by Peter Fitzgerald (1808-1880) 19th Knight of Kerry. Glanleam is reported to be Ireland’s first subtropical garden and private letters kept at the estate document plant exchanges between Glanleam and other garden owners. The estate also hosts a large area of naturalised tree ferns.
On the southern peninsula of Iveragh, the Rossdohan estate was established by Samuel Heard (1835-1921). In 1862 Heard married the daughter of William Bradley from New South Wales and when he established the garden at Rossdohan he became famous for importing Australasian trees and shrubs, Helen Haugh tells us, and was visited by William Robinson.
The Garinish estate was established by Windham Thomas Wyndham-Quin (1841-1926) 4th Earl of Dunraven and was another subtropical garden, also visited by William Robinson. It hosts a long avenue of Dicksonia antarctica that were acquired from Rossdohan in 1923. Finally, there’s also Derreen Gardens, see my entry.
The website tells us that oral history interviews refer to how the exposed coastal location necessitated planting of a shelter belt prior to creating the garden. The shelter belt trees, Abies grandis, date from about 1870. The map from 1895 indicates Hollymount Cottage, woodland planting, and pathways through the garden. In addition to owning Hollymount Cottage estate, Richard Blennerhassett is recorded as landlord for a large number of plots, houses and farms in the area.
Young Rowland was only four years old when his father died in 1854. Rowland married Mary Beatrice Armstrong, daughter of Walter of London, in 1876. He was M.P. for Kerry between 1872 and 1885, and a Justice of the Peace.
The website tells us that Rowland extended the original Hollymount Cottage and renamed it Kells. He and his wife also kept a house at Hans Place, Chelsea, near to the Chelsea Physic Garden. Rowland Ponsonby Blennerhassett is responsible for making additions to the garden which still stand today. He established the Ladies Walled Garden adjacent to the front of the house for his wife Lady Mary and planted the Primeval Forest (O Cuirc, 2014), a collection of tree-ferns brought from Australia. He laid out the pathways through the gardens (O’Brien, 2014). The map from 1897 shows the cottage and layout of the estate, and photographs from the turn of the century capture the garden and tree ferns.
Rowland and Mary Beatrice had a son, Richard Francis Ponsonby Blennerhassett (1879-1938). He married Sylvia Myers and had a daughter Diana Mary, who married Richard John Moreton Goold-Adams. During this time, Haugh tells us, the Bowler family lived at Kells House as gardener, caretaker and labourers. The estate traded as Kerry Estates and sold fruit, vegetables, and dairy produce to local hotels and retailers. The estate also had a saw mill for processing wood from Kells and neighbouring estates.
The estate was sold to Roland and Nora Preece in 1953, then to Iain McCowan in 1973, then to Friedrich and Marianne Vogel from Germany in 1979. Haugh tells us that the Vogels already owned a house nearby and knew the area. The family purchased Kells and established a nursery trading as Kells Garden Centre Ltd which was managed by Mary O’Sullivan. The estate was maintained privately until family circumstances and the early death of their son Friedhelm led to the disposal of the estate. The head gardener was John Bowler and his son, Michael Bowler, succeeded him. In 2006 the estate was purchased by William Alexander, a fern enthusiast.
Kells Bay Garden is the home of ‘The SkyWalk’ Ireland’s longest rope-bridge. This is a feature to attract visitors. It crosses the river.
Dana is an artist who lives in County Kerry, you can see her work on https://danawinder.com/
Irish Historic Houses 