Glantelwe Gardens History
‘A name from the Late Middle Ages, an Eighteenth Century Mill, and a Garden for Future Generations.’
The name Glantelwe comes from the Late Middle Ages and is an Anglicized form of Gleann Tulaigh (the glen of the hillocks). It first appears in the Red Book of Ossory where, in the 1460s Bishop Clifford of Ossory is recorded as marking the bounds of his Durrow manor with named witnesses that were locally resident. Glentelwe extends along the north side of the river Erkina from the obelisk field – visible opposite Castle Durrow through a series of hillocks that encompass the local GAA grounds and terminates at the confluence of the rivers Erkina and Nore located a few hundred metres east of the gardens. In the early eighteenth century it was Lord Castle Durrow’s racecourse from which the current townland name ‘Course’ is derived.
Decades of detrimental decline were halted with the restoration of the Miller’s house and the grain store, Renowned landscape designer Arthur Shakleton was commissioned to create a new garden centred on the ruinous mill along the banks of the river Erkina. Arthur Shakleton’s impressive portfolio includes Fruitfield, Grange, and Capard House in county Laois, Butler House and Lacken Mill in Kilkenny City and internationally renowned gardens at Ashford Castle and Dromoland Castle. Some of his high profile clients include Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ryanair founder, the late Tony Ryan.