[Illustration: WOODLANDS, COUNTY OF DUBLIN]
Woodlands, the seat of one of our good resident landlords, Colonel
White, considered in connection with its beautiful demesne, may justly
rank as the finest aristocratic residence in the immediate vicinity of
our metropolis. As an architectural composition, indeed, the house,
or castle, as it is called, will not bear a comparison, either for
its classical correctness of details, or its general picturesqueness
of outline, with the Castle of Clontarf--the architectural gem of our
vicinity; but its proportions are on a grander scale, and its general
effect accordingly more imposing, while its demesne scenery, in its
natural beauties, the richness of its plantations, and other artificial
improvements, is without a rival in our metropolitan county, and
indeed is characterised by some features of such exquisite beauty as
are very rarely found in park scenery any where, and which are nowhere
to be surpassed. Well might the Prince Pückler Muskau, who despite of
his strange name has undoubtedly a true taste for the beautiful and
picturesque, describe the entrance to this demesne as “indeed the most
delightful in its kind that can be imagined.” “Scenery,” he continues,
“by nature most beautiful, is improved by art to the highest degree of
its capability, and, without destroying its free and wild character, a
variety and richness of vegetation is produced which enchants the eye.
Gay shrubs and wild flowers, the softest turf and giant trees, festooned
with creeping plants, fill the narrow glen through which the path
winds, by the side of the clear dancing brook, which, falling in little
cataracts, flows on, sometimes hidden in the thicket, sometimes resting
like liquid silver in an emerald cup, or rushing under overhanging arches
of rock, which nature seems to have hung there as triumphal gates for
the beneficent Naïad of the valley to pass through.”
This description may appear somewhat enthusiastic, but we can truly state
as our own opinion, formed on a recent visit to Woodlands, that it is
by no means overdrawn, but, on the contrary, that it would be equally
difficult, if not impossible, either for the pencil or the pen to convey
an adequate idea of the peculiar beauties of this little tract of fairy
land.
Singularly beautiful, however, as this sylvan glen unquestionably is, it
is only one of the many features for which Woodlands is pre-eminently
distinguished. Its finely undulating surface--its sheets of water, though
artificially formed--its noble forest timber--but above all, its woodland
walks, commanding vistas of the exquisite valley of the Liffey, with the
more remote scenery bounded by the Dublin and Wicklow mountains--all are
equally striking, and present a combination of varied and impressive
features but rarely found within the bounds of even a princely demesne.
Though Woodlands derives very many of its attractions from modern
improvements, its chief artificial features are of no recent creation,
and are such as it would require a century or two to bring to their
present perfection. Woodlands is emphatically an old place, and is
said to have been granted by King John to Sir Geoffry Lutterel, an
Anglo-Norman knight who accompanied him into Ireland, and in possession
of whose descendants it remained, and was their residence from the close
of the fifteenth till the commencement of the present century, when it
was sold to Mr Luke White by the last Earl of Carhampton. Up to this
period it was known by the name of Lutterelstown, a name which, for
various reasons, the family into whose possession it has passed have
wisely changed.
The principal parts of the mansion were rebuilt about fifty years back.
But a portion of the original castle still remains, and an apartment in
it bears the name of King John’s chamber. It has also received additional
extension from its present proprietor, who is now making further
additions to the structure.
Woodlands is situated on the north bank of the Liffey, about five miles
from Dublin.