Hermitage, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, Co Down

Hermitage, Tollymore Park, Newcastle, County Down

This is a grotto-like hermitage cell of around 1770, built in random rubble and romantically set into the steep rocky ravine of the Shimna River as it flows through Tollymore Park. It was constructed by the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil as a memorial to his friend the Marquis of Monthermer, who died in 1770. Its design may have been influenced by the works of Thomas Wright of Durham, an architect and friend of both the 1st and 2nd Earls, who visited Ireland in 1746–47 and stayed at Tollymore Park.

The hermitage is approached from the east via a set of stone steps and a narrow path lined with timber log-style fencing. The main cell is small and roughly circular in plan, constructed in rubble laid in a random fashion in keeping with the deliberately rustic and romanticised character of the structure. The natural rock face forms the rear wall of the cell. It is topped with a pointed dome finished in smooth-faced broken rubble with a corbelled finish. There are entrances to the east and west, and two similar openings to the south overlooking the ravine, fitted with roughly hewn stone slabs across them for safety. Inside, a stone bench made from granite slabs runs the full length of the enclosure. An inscription formerly on the rear wall of the main cell was in Greek.

To the west, the path continues — with rubble fencing to the south side incorporating an upright stone parapet — and passes through a smaller, square-plan cell also built in rubble, with a curved roof and flat arch entrances and a window opening. The path continues westward beyond this secondary cell.

Writing in 1823, Alexander Atkinson described the hermitage as follows: 'The Hermitage, which you approach by a deep descent from the lawn, is composed of a huge mass of rough stones piled up together and forming, in the interior, a chamber 12 feet by 8, with a sort of arched doorway, on each end, and two open spaces of similar form, but much larger, on the river side. In this homely hermitage (the meditations of whose inhabitant are rendered solemn by the murmuring of the river), a stone bench, the full length of the enclosure, has been arranged for his couch or resting place. The planted hill, which forms the opposite bank of the river, confines the hermit's attention to the romantic scenery of his cell, and shuts out every foreign object, every illusive scene of that lower world to which he has bid adieu!…'

The hermitage is one of a number of gothick and picturesque embellishments made to the Tollymore demesne by the 2nd Earl of Clanbrassil, likely during the 1780s, alongside the Barbican gate, the gothick gate at the Bryansford entrance, gothick follies and steward's lodge on the Hilltown Road, and several bridges within the park including Ivy Bridge, Parnell's Bridge and Foley's Bridge. These additions, together with extensive tree planting, made Tollymore one of the most admired estates in Ireland during the late 18th century.

The broader history of Tollymore Park reaches back to the late medieval period, when the land was held by the Magennis family of Upper Iveagh. In 1611, Brian MacHugh Magennis received a royal 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 it passed to his sister Ellen, who was married to William Hamilton. Their son James inherited, and his son — also named James — inherited in 1701 and was created Viscount Limerick in 1719 and Earl of Clanbrassil in 1728. This James, popularly remembered as Lord Limerick, began developing Tollymore as a naturalistic landscape demesne around 1720, enclosing land as a deer park, undertaking large-scale tree planting, and building a hunting lodge and the Old Bridge. He rebuilt the parish church at Bryansford, the small estate village to the north of the park, which takes its name from the earlier owner Brian Magennis.

Around 1750, Lord Limerick began building a larger house, probably with advice from Thomas Wright, who had visited the estate in 1746. By 1752, Dr Pococke noted in his Tour of Ireland that two rooms of the new lodge had been completed and that a thatched open dining shelter had been built on the south side of the Shimna River. The Clanbrassil Barn was added just north of the house in 1757, and the Horn Bridge was built around the same time. Lord Limerick died in 1758 and was succeeded by his son James, who extended the house and continued his father's planting programme. Bernard Scalé's 1777 map of Tollymore gives a sense of the picturesque character of the park at this period, with a rolling landscape, extensive planting, meadows, rivers, streams and woodland walks. An advertisement in the Belfast News-Letter of 26 April 1785 drew attention to lodgings in Bryansford with a prospect of the Earl's 'much admired demesne' and noted that the healthy air and herbage on which the goats fed made it '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, inherited in 1802 and built the Bryansford and Barbican gate lodges, the latter now demolished. He also erected an obelisk monument east of the house in memory of his second son James, who died unexpectedly in 1812. The 2nd and 3rd Earls further developed Bryansford village. 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 around the same time. The 3rd Earl also built a water-powered sawmill within the demesne and in 1865 added a small lodge to the east. He enlarged Tollymore House by adding an extra storey to the wings and a tall French château-style roof to the original central block.

Tollymore remained 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. The house fell into disrepair after the war and was demolished by Lord Roden in 1952. In 1955 Tollymore became the first state forest in Ireland to be designated a Forest Park and was opened to the public. It has since been developed for timber production, recreation, conservation and education. Although the house itself is gone, most of the 18th and early 19th century gates, bridges and lodges within the park have survived.