BEECHPARK CLONSILLA – I WAS TRYING TO VISIT SHACKLETON GARDENS
Today I got the train to Clonsilla with the intention of visiting Shackleton Gardens but got lost. I though that I could access the gardens via Beechpark but no luck. Tried the local roads but too dangerous as there were no footpaths.
PRESS RELEASE JUNE 10 2019
The development of a major tourism attraction in Dublin 15 has moved a step closer after Fingal County Council awarded contracts for the main restoration and reconstruction works at The Shackleton Garden in Beech Park, Clonsilla. The works are part of a €400,000 investment from Fingal County Council and Fáilte Ireland.
The gardens, which include an internationally famous plant collection, were acquired by the Council last year with a view to opening them to the public as an important visitor attraction in the Dublin 15 area.
The work will involve the rebuilding of large sections of the garden walls, upgrading of paths and the restoration of garden buildings. Workers will be on site in two weeks to begin the restoration and it will take approximately three months to complete.
The Mayor of Fingal, Cllr Eoghan O’Brien, said: “The Shackleton Gardens have the potential to be a major visitor attraction in Dublin 15 and another addition to Fingal County Council’s growing portfolio of tourism assets. I warmly welcome the news that contracts have been signed and workers will shortly be on site to commence these major restoration works.”
Fingal County Council’s Interim Chief Executive, AnneMarie Farrelly said: “The restoration and rebuilding of The Shackleton Gardens will provide a fantastic recreational and tourist attraction for Dublin 15. The Gardens were once considered the best-walled gardens in the country, with a unique collection of plants, and I am delighted that the Council will be able to restore this amenity and open it to the public.”
The Council’s Parks and Operations staff are also working with a local volunteer group on the conservation and replanting of the plant collection which includes a wide range of herbaceous perennials, shrubs and specimen trees.
The Gardens, which are inside a 1.5-acre walled garden, are home to an important collection of herbaceous perennials, grown in large herbaceous borders.
During the 1980s, the gardens were included in The Good Gardens Guide and were awarded two stars. This is the highest accolade awarded by the Guide and reserved for the very best gardens in Britain and Ireland.
Senior Park’s Superintendent, Kevin Halpenny, added: “The restored Shackleton Gardens will represent an important and exciting addition to Fingal’s portfolio of heritage properties and historic gardens.”
The canal passes through Maynooth, Kilcock, Enfield, Longwood, Mullingar and Ballymahon has a spur to Longford. The total length of the main navigation is 145 kilometres (90 mi), and the system has 46 locks. There is one main feeder (from Lough Owel), which enters the canal at Mullingar.
The Royal Canal was originally planned to terminate in Dublin at Broadstone [where I live], to serve the then fashionable area of residence, as well as King’s Inns and the nearby markets, but it was extended so that now, at the Dublin end, the canal reaches the Liffey through a wide sequence of dock and locks at Spencer Dock, with a final sea lock to manage access to the river and sea.
The Dublin – Mullingar railway line was built alongside the canal for much of its length. The meandering route of the canal resulted in many speed-limiting curves on the railway. The canal was bought by the Midland Great Western Railway to provide a route to the West of Ireland, the original plan being to close the canal and build the railway along its bed.
The canal travels across one of the major junctions on the M50 where it meets the N3, in a specially constructed aqueduct.
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