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Avondale House

Coordinates: 52°54′48″N 6°13′22″W / 52.91333°N 6.22278°W / 52.91333; -6.22278
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Avondale House
Map
General information
LocationAvondale Forest
CountryIreland
The Drawing Room, with some of the house's original furniture

Avondale House, in Avondale, County Wicklow, Ireland, is the birthplace and home of Charles Stewart Parnell. It is set in the Avondale Forest Park, spanning over 2 km2 (500 acres) of land, approximately 1.5 km from the nearby town of Rathdrum. The river Avonmore flows through the park on its way towards the Irish Sea. The House is now a museum.

History

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Avondale House was built in 1777 for Samuel Hayes, a barrister who wrote a book on Irish Forestry and was a pioneer of the re-afforestation of Ireland, planting many thousands of trees on the estate.[1] He died childless in 1795 leaving the estate to his cousin Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet, with the condition that it pass to a younger son.[2] On Sir John's death in 1801, his third son, William, inherited and changed his surname to Parnell-Hayes.[3] Charles Stewart Parnell, his grandson, was born there in 1846 and inherited in 1859.[4] After Parnell's death in 1891 the estate was sold to a Dublin butcher from Phibsboro who felled most of the trees to recoup his investment.[5]

The house is Georgian, probably designed by James Wyatt and built in 1777. It is notable for its fine plasterwork and still contains many original pieces of furniture.[6] The American Room is dedicated to Admiral Charles Stewart (1778-1869), Parnell's American grandfather who commanded the USS Constitution (now moored in Boston Harbor) during the War of 1812.[7]

The woodlands were renewed in 1904 when the estate was sold to the government. The house was used as a forestry school and the grounds planted with a great variety of trees, the most successful being conifers from the Pacific coast of North America. The grounds now boast specimens of giant redwoods from California and Sitka spruce from British Columbia.[8] The ruins of Parnell's old sawmill and Parnell's well are located on the site. One of the site's attractions is a trackless Forest Train that runs through the park.[9] The outside of the house is featured in a painting in the R. Barry O'Brien 1898 biography of Parnell.[10] In 2019, Failte Ireland announced a major restoration project for Avondale House and Forest Park.[11] In July 2022, President Michael D. Higgins officially opened Beyond the Trees Avondale, the new World Class Visitor Destination at Avondale Forest Park.

Avondale House is open for guided tours. Other facilities in the grounds of the Beyond the Trees Avondale visitor attraction include a Treetop Walk & Viewing Tower, gift shop, picnic areas, walled garden, children's playground. In the surrounding Avondale Forest Park there are forest trails and walks ranging in duration from 30 minutes to five hours.

References

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  1. ^ McCracken, Eileen (1 November 1968). "Samuel Hayes of Avondale". Irish Forestry. ISSN 0021-1192.
  2. ^ "History of Avondale Estate". Beyond the Trees Avondale. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  3. ^ Sturgeon, Sinéad; Murphy, David (2009). "Parnell (- Hayes), William". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.007205.v1. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  4. ^ Callanan, Frank (2009). "Parnell, Charles Stewart". Dictionary of Irish Biography. Royal Irish Academy. doi:10.3318/dib.007199.v1. Retrieved 26 August 2023.
  5. ^ "Stop the Sale of Public Forest assets - Support the Day of Action in Avondale House and Forest Park - Indymedia Ireland". www.indymedia.ie. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Avondale House & Park", Wicklow Gardens, 24 January 2014 Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine
  7. ^ emmet (19 June 2012). "Avondale House, Rathdrum. County Wicklow 1777". Curious Ireland. Retrieved 15 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Ireland of the Welcomes". July–August 2004. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  9. ^ ""The Forest Train at Avondale"". Archived from the original on 15 December 2015. Retrieved 8 August 2015.
  10. ^ O'Brien, R. Barry. The Life of Charles Stewart Parnell 1846-1891, Vols. I&II, Harper And Brothers, New York, 1898 (Vol.II contains the sketch of Avondale); reprinted in paperback i.a. by BiblioBazaar, 2009, ISBN 978-1-113-79910-4
  11. ^ "Famous Irish". Leisure Opportunities. February 2019.
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52°54′48″N 6°13′22″W / 52.91333°N 6.22278°W / 52.91333; -6.22278

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