Long Canals and Round Pond, Antrim Castle Gardens, Randalstown Road, Antrim, Co Antrim

Long Canals, Cascade, Spur Canal, and Oval Pond, Antrim Castle Gardens

This is a formal garden water complex consisting of two long ornamental canals, a connecting cascade, a short spur canal, and a separate oval pond, laid out in a formal arrangement whose origins date to probably the late 17th century. It represents a unique survival of its type and date in Northern Ireland, and has only one counterpart anywhere else in Ireland — at Killruddery in County Wicklow. The layout follows continental European prototypes and remains in use today as an important public amenity.

Architectural Description

The two long canals run on a longitudinal north-south axis at different levels, connected to one another by a small cascade constructed of smooth granite blocks. A short spur canal branches off to the east from the longer lower canal. A separate oval pond lies to the east of the cascade.

The lower canal has concrete or smooth cement-rendered ends of curving form. The upper canal has a concrete end of angled form to the south, and a concrete or smooth cement-rendered end of curving form to the north; the inlet at the north end of the upper canal is formed by a short length of blue plastic pipe. The spur canal has a grass edge to its east end. Both canals are otherwise grass-edged, with a gravel path running along each side, bounded by rising grass verges bordered with hedges — lime hedges to the lower canal, and hornbeam hedges to the upper canal.

The oval pond is edged with grass. At its centre is a small artificial island of basalt rocks covered with plantings, which was added in the late 19th century.

Setting

The canals and pond form an integral part of the wider gardens of Antrim Castle, set within a heavily wooded area of those gardens, immediately surrounded by grassed areas thick with trees and cut through with paths and drainage ditches. To the western side of the lower canal lies a large rectangular area laid out with parterres. To the eastern side, south of the spur canal, is a small rectangular burial ground. The oval pond stands in a glade approached from both north and south along a broad lime avenue.

At the southern end of the lime avenue are the remnants of a walled garden, including flights of steps and surviving portions of walls. To the west of the walled garden remnant is an early medieval motte, which was transformed into a garden feature — probably in the early 18th century — by the cutting of a spiral path around it leading up to the top. To the west of the motte stand the remains of Antrim Castle itself. To the north-west of the castle is an 18th century stone bridge known as Deerpark Bridge, and beyond that an early Victorian stable block known as Clotworthy House, now used as an arts centre, with outbuildings called the Castle Farm standing immediately to its north.

The southern boundary of the gardens is formed by the Sixmilewater River, with some portions of old stone walls remaining. The eastern boundary is formed by a modern rubble stone wall alongside a new extension of Dublin Road. The western boundary is formed by the fence of a military camp established within part of the original demesne. The northern boundary is formed by a rubble stone wall facing Randalstown Road.

The main entrance to the gardens is by a driveway from Randalstown Road, passing through a pair of newly erected piers flanking the driveway and topped by a pair of stone pineapples previously situated in the burial ground within the gardens. The driveway leads to a car park beside Clotworthy House and also directly to Deerpark Bridge, with a branch off to the motte. Pedestrian entrances also exist from Dublin Road.

Historical Development

The precise date of the laying out of this formal garden arrangement is not recorded, but its style is consistent with the late 17th century, and it can be placed no later than the early 18th century. In 1758 the noted commentator Mrs Delany visited Antrim Castle and observed that "the garden was reckoned a fine one forty years ago — high hedges and long narrow walks", indicating that the garden was already in its prime by around 1718. An artist's sketch of approximately 1820 by Sir Philip Crampton depicts the general form of the long canal, its walk, and high hedge. The Ordnance Survey map of 1832 shows very clearly the overall layout of the gardens as they existed in the early 19th century, with the lower canal, its eastern spur, and the oval pond all shown in their present form, while the upper canal appears at that date as a much narrower channel than it is today.

The Ordnance Survey Memoirs of the 1830s describe the gardens in detail, referring to the layout as "a perfect specimen of the French style of gardening in the 17th century" and recording specific dimensions: one pond is described as "220 yards long and 10 yards broad, a walk and a splendid lime hedge 18 feet high extends along each side of it", which corresponds to the present lower canal; a larger circular pond is described as "186 yards in circumference", corresponding to the present oval pond. The Memoirs also note that the public were admitted to the gardens and castle at all times, and that the people of Antrim greatly enjoyed access to the walks — indicating the gardens were already functioning as a public amenity well before the 19th century.

The Ordnance Survey map of 1832 also depicts a smaller circular pond to the south-east of the larger one, of which only the outline remains today. The map of 1857 shows a third, still smaller circular pond just to the north of the spur canal, which has since entirely disappeared. The upper canal is shown as a narrow channel on both the 1832 and 1857 maps but appears in its present widened form on the 1921 map; McComb, writing in 1861, referred to "broad water canals", suggesting the upper canal was widened around 1860.

Other features of the gardens documented from at least the early 19th century include: a small parterre on the east side of the lower canal, which was later transformed into the present burial ground, probably in the 1860s; a kitchen garden on the west side of the lower canal, originally laid out with a cruciform and diagonal arrangement of paths as shown on the 1832 map, then cleared along with its small hothouse to form a large open area as shown on the 1857 map, used as a sports field in recent decades, and subsequently relaid as a parterre in a 1990s restoration scheme but with a different geometric configuration from the original; the early medieval motte close to the castle, described in the 1830s as "planted with a variety of trees and shrubs" with a "well-constructed spiral walk" leading to its summit; and the terrace gardens to the east of the motte, which contained a range of flower beds raised nine feet above the adjacent ground, enclosed by a high wall from a kitchen garden at the centre and by a lower wall on the outside, with a number of glasshouses added by the 1850s — much of this was destroyed in the 1970s when a new bypass road was built, leaving little but the remnant of a brick wall.

Also present in the early 19th century gardens were offices and stables just north of the castle, cleared away around 1840; a six-arched 18th century stone bridge to the north-east, the present Deerpark Bridge; and farm buildings to the north, a small portion of which still remain. Later additions included the new coach house and stables, known as Clotworthy House, of approximately 1840, connected to the farm buildings; a rockery garden along the river bank between the castle and Deerpark Bridge, which appears on the 1857 map and still survives in a derelict condition; and the memorial and burial ground laid out from around the 1860s on the site of the former small parterre east of the lower canal.

The formal late 17th to early 18th century layout survived into the early 19th century largely because the circumstances and difficulties of the Massereene family during the second half of the 18th century meant that the gardens were never remodelled in the informal naturalistic style then fashionable almost everywhere else. By the Victorian period, formal garden design had returned to fashion, and so the layout was preserved rather than transformed. Following the destruction of Antrim Castle by fire in 1922 and the family's retreat to the stable block for the following half-century, there was no further development within the gardens, and they were allowed to deteriorate until the growing recognition of their exceptional historical significance prompted the commencement of a long-term programme of restoration in 1992, following statutory listing in 1983.