Please be aware that these photographs were taken on the 16th April 2016 and that the circle has been restored but the water feature has been infilled. I plan to publish more recent photographs later in July or August [2023].
Back in 2015 I was getting more than worried about the future of the “follies” in St. Anne’s park as most, if not all of them were in very poor condition.
When I visited in April 2016 there was still a basin at the Park, minus its central statue however the hedges were no longer in an overgrown state.
An account from 1873 (W. Heale, 1873) describes the yew circle in detail: “On the east side of this [Dutch style flower] garden is an amphitheatre some 150 feet in circumference; the outer portion is a well-kept Yew hedge with five entrances; equidistant from each entrance are four marble statues representing Europe, Asia, Africa and America; Australia is not yet represented. The centre is a costly marble basin with fountain and stocked with gold and silver fish.‟
In a quarter of the walled garden was a circular yew hedge with alcoves and arches in which stood allegorical Italian statues representing the five continents. These statues were reflected in the great circular marble basin which occupied the centre (Malins and Bowe, 1980). The 1939 auction catalogue included these statues: “Lot 1471 – 4 carved stone figures representing the continents, on square bases with carved mouldings‟ (Adam, 1939).
The description below refers to the Yew Circle as it was prior to my visit in April as it was anything but overgrown when I had visited in April of that year. The yew trees had been cut back to what appeared to be to an extreme degree.
The Yew Circle at St Anne’s Park in Dublin was created in the 1830s by Benjamin Lee Guinness, a member of the famous brewing family. The circle is made up of a circular yew hedge that was originally planted with five alcoves, each of which contained an Italian statue representing one of the five continents. In the centre of the circle was a fountain, which is now no longer extant.
The Yew Circle was part of the formal gardens that were once located at St Anne’s House, the Guinness family’s mansion on the site. The gardens were designed in the Italianate style, and they included a number of other follies, such as a Roman-style viewing tower and a cast-iron floral temple.
The Yew Circle fell into disrepair after St Anne’s House was demolished in 1939. However, it was restored in the 1980s, and it is now one of the most popular attractions in St Anne’s Park. The circle is still overgrown, but the five alcoves and the fountain base are still visible.
The Yew Circle is a fascinating example of 19th-century garden design. It is a reminder of the time when St Anne’s House was a grand estate, and it is a popular spot for visitors to the park today.
Here are some additional details [that no longer apply] about the Yew Circle:
The yew hedge is about 100 feet in diameter. The five alcoves are each about 6 feet wide and 4 feet deep. The fountain base is about 10 feet in diameter. The statues in the alcoves represent the continents of Europe, Asia, Africa, America, and Australia. The Yew Circle is located in the northeastern part of St Anne’s Park.
The statue in my photographs, located near the tram stop, was unveiled in June 1892. The Irish Times reported that the large presence of “the trades and of the working people” showed the gratitude of ordinary Dubliners to Ardilaun. The fine granite statue was sculptured by Thomas Farrell who was also the sculptor responsible for the statues of William Smith O’Brien and Sir John Gray, both of which can be seen on O’Connell Street today.
Arthur Edward Guinness, 1st Baron Ardilaun, 2nd Baronet (1 November 1840 – 20 January 1915), known as Sir Arthur Guinness, Bt, between 1868 and 1880, was an Irish businessman, politician, and philanthropist, best known for giving St Stephen’s Green to the Dublin Corporation for public use.
Ulysses by James Joyce includes several references to Ardilaun, as Joyce considered him to be a prime Irish example of Victorian conventional respectability. The porter brewed by the “cunning brothers” – he and his brother Lord Iveagh – was: “a crystal cup full of the foamy ebon ale which the noble twin brothers Bungiveagh and Bungardilaun brew ever in their divine alevats, cunning as the sons of deathless Leda. For they garner the succulent berries of the hop and mass and sift and bruise and brew them and they mix therewith sour juices and bring the must to the sacred fire and cease not night or day from their toil, those cunning brothers, lords of the vat.”[15] “Bung” referred to the stopper in a wooden barrel of beer. In the “Nighttown” section, the breasts of a girl who is undressing are “Two ardilauns”, meaning “two high islands”, a play on the Gaelic meaning of the word.
In 1902-03 Joyce also wrote literary reviews in the Irish Daily Express which was owned by Ardilaun.
In 1871 Lord Ardilaun married Lady Olivia Hedges-White, daughter of The 3rd Earl of Bantry, whose family home is Bantry House in County Cork; this was a happy but childless marriage.
He died on 20 January 1915 at his home at St Anne’s, Raheny, and was buried at All Saints Church, Raheny, whose construction he had sponsored. Those present at the funeral included representatives of the Royal Dublin Society, of which Lord Ardilaun was president for many years, the Royal Horticultural Society of Ireland, the Irish Unionist Alliance, and the Primrose League. His barony became extinct at his death, but the baronetcy devolved upon his nephew Algernon.
On his widow’s death Saint Anne’s Park passed to Algernon’s cousin Rev. Benjamin Plunket former Bishop of Meath, who sold most of the estate to Dublin Corporation in 1937, keeping Sybil Hill as his residence. The corporation has preserved much of the estate as one of Dublin’s most important public parks, though the house itself burnt down in 1943, with the remaining lands used for housing. The outcome of Ardilaun’s extensive tree plantings came into focus a century after his death, when in 2019 the park was given Green Flag status, and was listed as one of the world’s top five urban public parks.