Poet Thomas Tickell owned a house and small estate in Glasnevin and, in 1795, they were sold to the Irish Parliament and given to the Royal Dublin Society for them to establish Ireland’s first botanic gardens. A double line of yew trees, known as “Addison’s Walk” survives from this period. The original function of the gardens was to advance knowledge of plants for agricultural, medicinal and dyeing purposes. The gardens were the first location in Ireland where the infection responsible for the 1845–1847 Great Famine was identified. Throughout the famine, research to stop the infection was undertaken at the gardens.
Walter Wade and John Underwood, the first Director and Superintendent respectively, executed the layout of the gardens, but, when Wade died in 1825, they declined for some years. From 1834, Director Ninian Nivan brought new life into the gardens, performing some redesign. This programme of change and development continued with the following Directors into the late 1960s.
The gardens were placed into government care in 1877.
In the winter of 1948/9 Ludwig Wittgenstein lived and worked in Ireland. He frequently came to the Palm House to sit and write. There is a plaque commemorating him on the steps he sat on.
I published photographs of this a few weeks ago but I prefer these images produced by my Sony A7RIV but the difference is not great. Also, I wonder why the artist decided to call the frog sculpture Quack-Quack.
Petr Holecek was born in 1976 in Benesov, Czech Republic.
Between the years 1996 to 2001 he studied at University in Ceske Budejovice, CR, Pedagogical Faculty, and specialized in Art and Civic Education. In the Spring of 2003 he attended a drawing studies course at the National Gallery of Ireland, and in 2004 he was an art assistant in the studio of Patrick O’Reilly in Dublin
He has had many solo exhibitions in the Czech Republic and numerous group exhibitions throughout Ireland including a solo show at The Kildare Gallery in 2018.
This visit I noticed that the water was covered with a carpet of green and when I examined my photographs from 2021 it was much the same. After some research I discovered that there is an environmental problem as an invasive species of plant is hindering efforts to maintain the duck pond in Kilkenny’s Castle Park.
The state of the pond is due to a high level of algae building up in the water and the Office of Public Works has indicated that they have to be careful that any work they carry out doesn’t allow the ”Australian swamp stone crop” in the pond to get into the River Nore. Also, they were unable to clean the water until after the bird nesting season.
Australian swamp stonecrop (Crassula helmsii) is an invasive aquatic plant that dominates still and slow-flowing waterbodies. It was initially introduced from Australia in the early 1900s as a garden pond plant but is now spreading across waterbodies in the UK and parts of Western Europe.
It is particularly problematic in sensitive aquatic habitats where it has the potential to outcompete native flora and reduce oxygen levels by forming dense, impenetrable mats. This weed can also have negative impacts on recreation and can block filters necessary for water treatment. Australian swamp stonecrop tolerates extreme environmental conditions and, as such, management can be very challenging and often unsuccessful, especially for infestations in areas of high conservation value.
This park is well worth a visit. There is a children’s playground, an extensive wooded area, with walks to the banks of the Dodder (with access over a footbridge to the Rathfarnham area), a woodland pond, a duck pond, and a recently reopened kiosk. In front of the duck pond is a high hill, and east of the pond is a starting point for the woodland walk, beside a small cascade. The park is a good place for birdwatching – among the species which may be seen are sparrow hawk, treecreeper and kingfisher.
There is a children’s playground, an extensive wooded area, with walks to the banks of the Dodder (with access over a footbridge to the Rathfarnham area), a woodland pond, a duck pond, and a recently reopened kiosk. In front of the duck pond is a high hill, and east of the pond is a starting point for the woodland walk, beside a small cascade. The park is a good place for birdwatching – among the species which may be seen are sparrow hawk, treecreeper and kingfisher.
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