One of Dublin's finest yet least known parks are the Iveagh Gardens located between Earlsfort Terrace (behind the National Concert Hall) and Harcourt Street.
The layout of the gardens varies from the formal to the free natural environment and includes a rustic grotto, a water cascade (photo above), rockeries, fountains, a maze, a rosarium, archery grounds, sweeping lawns, statuary, wilderness and woodlands, all contained within the 8.5 acres (3.4 hectares) site.
In 1777 the Earl of Clonmel built his mansion on Harcourt Street and took in what is now the Iveagh Gardens as his own private demesne. After his death they became known as Coburg Gardens and in 1860 they were attached to a new mansion, Iveagh House, built on St. Stephen's Green. The new owner was Benjamin Lee Guinness (Lord Iveagh) who, three years later, leased the grounds to the Dublin Exhibition Palace and Winter Gardens Company who built a large exhibition centre on Earlsfort Terrace. The park, as we know it today, was then laid out by the eminent landscape designer, Ninian Nivan.
When the exhibitions had run their course the gardens reverted back to Lord Iveagh who sold them on to University College Dublin in 1939. The state bought the gardens in 1994 and under Dúchas The Heritage Service, they have since been undergoing extensive refurbishment.
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