Garinish Island
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SECRETS OF ILNACULLIN, GARINISH ISLAND, Glengarriff, Co. Cork.
John Annan Bryce MP (1844-1923), was a Belfastborn merchant and Liberal MP who had worked in Burma and Siam as an East India Merchant and held, among other roles, directorships of the Bombay, Baroda and Burma Railway Companies. He was a member of the Council of the Royal Geographical Society, the Alpine Club and the Savile Club. He was appointed to the Royal Commission on Congestion for Ireland during his time as an MP. Garinish Island was sold to him by the British War Office in 1910. Not long after that, he commissioned his friend, renowned English architect and landscape
designer, Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (1854-1933), to design and set out an Arts and Crafts style garden, an Italian Garden and a series of carefully conceived garden buildings and elements. Peto had previously been commissioned to design the 1st class accommodation on the Mauritania in 1907 (sister ship of the ill-fated Lusitania).
Bryce and his wife Violet (1863-1939), née L’Estrange, cousin of Constance and Eva Gore-Booth of Lissadell, Co. Sligo commenced the transformation of Garinish Island to Peto’s design in 1911, employing more than one hundred men between 1911 and 1914. Work continued apace until the outbreak of the First World War. By this time, many of the Italianate Renaissance-style
buildings along with a two storey gardener’s cottage, constructed of local stone with green slate roof in an Edwardian picturesque style, had been completed. Peto brought a collection of Architectural stone carvings purchased in Italy, Spain and France, to display in the gardens and intended to integrate them into a new grand house on the island.
The palatial seven storey house was never executed due to the collapse of the Russian market in 1917 which brought with it the decline of the Bryces’ financial fortunes. However, hundreds of species of exotic plants had been introduced to the island by this time.
Following the death of her husband in 1923, Violet Annan Bryce took up permanent residency in the gardener’s cottage. By this time the cottage had been extended to include an extension to the drawing room. In 1925 the gardens were opened to the public to generate income, thereby creating a relationship between the island and the public.
In 1928 Scottish Gardener, Murdo Mackenzie, was appointed by Violet. Much of Peto and Bryce’s early planting had perished in a series of storms. Mackenzie began the planting of new shelter beds of Scots and Monterey Pine and the gardens began to flourish.
Violet’s son, Roland L’Estrange Bryce, joined her in 1932. Shortly afterwards,
in 1940, the cottage was remodelled and extended into an Edwardian middle class home; 2 storey over basement, with 6 bedrooms and separate quarters for the owners and guests and for the staff.
On the death of Roland in 1953, Garinish Island was gifted to the Irish people and entrusted to the care of the Office of Public Works. Mackenzie continued to tend the gardens until his retirement in 1971, and lived and worked there until his death in 1983. The Bryce’s housekeeper Margaret O’Sullivan lived and worked there from 1926 up until a few years prior to her death in 1999.
Following this the house was entirely vacant and as a consequence deteriorated significantly. But there
remained, miraculously, evidence of a way of life forever gone, still visible in the fragments that had been left behind. A project team was established by the OPW and its goal was to open Mrs. Annan Bryce’s family home to the public and share its stories and secret life in a museum and exhibition style presentation, and to make the house, garden and unique features universally accessible.
Orchestrating the transition from private residence to public building, while all the time trying to retain and protect a delicate and fragile story within its walls, proved to be the real challenge. The cataloguing of the contents of the house yielded a treasure trove of items that illustrate the ‘story’ of Garinish Island and the Bryce family. This inspired
the creation of an exquisite and thought-provoking exhibition. Architectural interventions included: a reception room, conservation works to the existing building fabric, installation of a lift, hard landscaping and environmental and infrastructural improvements.
The official opening was performed on the 9th September 2015 by Minister Michael Ring T.D., Minister of State for Tourism and Sport. In attendance were Claire Spencer and Marianne Tudor Craig, descendants of John Annan and Violet Bryce. The hope is that Garinish Island will continue to inspire and enchant a whole new generation of visitors, like it has been doing for over ninety years.
The storm has passed –the wind now gently lulls The waves, so lately on destruction bent, Firm Garnish stands, while round it sweep the gulls, Magnificent in every element.
Extract from Glengarriff and Garnish (sic) by Nigel Erskine Bryce (November 1892-February 1910), Eton, 4 December 1909. Nigel was the youngest son of John and Violet Annan Bryce.
Terri Sweeney Meade with assistance from Deirdre Spring
