Fountain

Small ornamental fountain, possibly dating from the 1780s, set into the bank of a now-culverted stream within Tollymore Park, just to the north of Horn Bridge and close to the site where Tollymore House once stood.

The fountain is built from granite and takes the form of a cube-like block with panelled faces. To the front, south-west-facing side there is a boss-like decorative moulded roundel. The block is topped with a pediment and sits on a sturdy chamfered base, which incorporates a small moulded lion's head as a water outlet.

The fountain may have been constructed by the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil during the 1780s, the same decade in which he added ornamental gates and bridges to Tollymore Park along with its gothick follies. It does not appear on the first edition Ordnance Survey map of 1834, but is shown on the revised edition of 1859. Given the more limited detail recorded on first edition maps, this absence does not necessarily mean the fountain was not present at that earlier date.

Tollymore Park has a rich history stretching back to the late medieval period, when the area was under the lordship of the Magennis family of Upper Iveagh. In 1611, Brian MacHugh Magennis received royal confirmation of his ownership of the area through a grant of seven and a half townlands from King James I. The estate remained in the Magennis male line until around 1685, when Bernard Magennis died without children and the property passed to his sister Ellen, who was married to William Hamilton. On Ellen's death the estate passed to their son James, and his son — also named James, who inherited in 1701 — was created Viscount Limerick in 1719 and Earl of Clanbrassil (of the second creation) in 1728.

This James, popularly remembered by his earlier title of Lord Limerick, began developing Tollymore as a naturalistic landscape demesne around 1720. He enclosed much of the land to form a deer park, undertook large-scale tree planting, built a hunting lodge and the Old Bridge, and rebuilt the parish church at Bryansford — the small estate village to the north of the park, named after his ancestor Brian Magennis. Around 1750 he began construction of a larger house, probably with design advice from his friend, the English architect Thomas Wright, who visited Ireland in 1746–47 and stayed at Tollymore Park in September 1746. Dr. Pococke, writing in his Tour of Ireland of 1752, noted that Lord Limerick had by that date completed two rooms of his new house and had also built a thatched open dining place on the south side of the Shimna River. Just to the north of the house, the Clanbrassil Barn was added in 1757, with Horn Bridge built to the south at around the same time.

Lord Limerick died in 1758 and was succeeded by his son, also named James, who extended the new house and continued the tree planting his father had begun. During the 1780s this second James erected the Barbican Gate at the eastern entrance to the park, the gothick gate at the Bryansford entrance, the hermitage, the gothick follies, a steward's lodge on the Hilltown Road, and a number of bridges within the park including Ivy Bridge, Parnell's Bridge and Foley's Bridge — the last named after his wife, Grace Foley. These additions, which also appear to have been influenced by Thomas Wright, along with the extensive planting, made Tollymore one of the most admired estates in Ireland. Bernard Scalé's map of Tollymore of 1777 gives a sense of the picturesque quality of the park at this period, showing a rolling landscape with much planting, meadows, rivers, streams, and woodland walks. An advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 offering lodgings in Bryansford village emphasised the prospect of "the Right Hon. Earl of Clanbrassil's much admired demesne, which is beautiful to the sight and extensive to the bounds," and praised the wholesome air and the herbage on which the goats fed, noting that the area was "much frequented by ladies and gentlemen for the recovery of lost health."

James, 2nd Viscount Limerick and 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, died without issue in 1798 and the park passed to his sister Anne, wife of Robert Jocelyn, 1st Earl of Roden. Their son Robert, 2nd Earl of Roden, who inherited the estate in 1802, built the Bryansford and Barbican gate lodges, the latter now demolished. He also erected an obelisk monument to the east of the house in memory of his second son James, who died prematurely in 1812. The 2nd Earl and his successor, the 3rd Earl Robert, further developed Bryansford, making it "a pleasing place of residence for those persons that like a quiet retreat." A Roman Catholic church was built at the eastern edge of the village in 1820, school houses in 1823 and 1826, and labourers' dwellings and the large dower house known as The Nest were added at around the same time. The 3rd Earl also constructed a water-powered sawmill within the demesne and in 1865 added another small lodge to the east. He enlarged Tollymore House itself by adding an additional storey to the wings and a tall French château-style roof to the original central block, the latter considered somewhat incongruous.

Tollymore Park remained entirely in Roden family ownership until 1930, when the 8th Earl sold two thirds of the land to the Ministry of Agriculture for afforestation. The remaining third was purchased by the Ministry in 1940, and during the Second World War Tollymore House and part of the grounds were used by the Army. After the war the house fell into disrepair and was demolished by Lord Roden in 1952. In 1955, Tollymore became the first state forest in Northern Ireland to be designated a Forest Park and was opened to the public. Although the house itself has gone, most of the park's 18th and early 19th century gates, bridges and lodges have survived, and the park has continued to be developed for timber production, recreation, conservation and education.