Castlewellan
Castlewellan has had several names and corruption’s, including:— Caislean Mhaolain, Waelen's Castle, Caislean a' Mhuilinn (Castle of the Mill), Castlevelan, Castlewillane and Castlewilliam.
In 1751 Mrs. Delany, wife of the Dean of Down, a tenant of the Annesleys' at Dundrum,
wrote to her sister informing her that the Annesleys had 'walled in and planted with oak, etc., three hundred and fifty acres of ground for a park. Near them is a large bleach yard, and Mr. Annesley is going to build a town.' The family commissioned a French architect to design the demesne and estate and work on the town was in progress in 1764. It was laid out in two parts, the Old Town (now Upper Square) and the New Town (Lower Square). As with many of the planned towns of this period, the 'owner' retained a fair say in the organisation of the inhabitants lives, e.g. Rev. Moore, trustee for the young 4th Earl William Annesley, in 1844
told the people that it was the late Lord Annesleys wish that the market should be held alternatively in each of the 'towns |
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The founding of the Irish branch of the family is generally attributed to Francis Annesley, later Sir Francis, who by Royal grant, and also by purchase, acquired estates in 15 counties. He was Secretary of State in Ireland, Treasurer and Receiver- General of Irish Revenues and he also became Viscount Valentia in Co. Kerry and Baron Mountnorris in Co. Armagh. Among the many Royal grants received by him was the Manor of Cloughmaghericatt (now dough) in Co. Down near the site of Castlewellan town.
A descendant, William Annesley, born 1709, became a Barrister at Law and Member of Parliament for Middleton, Yorkshire, in 1741, but continued to reside at the family seat in Clough. He was advanced to the Peerage of Ireland, becoming the first Baron Annesley of Castlewellan in 1758 and Viscount Glerawley of Fermanagh in 1766. |
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It was during the lifetime of the fourth Earl, in 1856, that the present Castle was built. When he died unmarried in 1874 he was succeeded by his brother, Hugh, who created the existing arboretum for which he collected plants from all over the world.
His only son, Francis, who inherited the title and estates as sixth Earl was killed in action in the First World War and the Earldom passed to a distantly related branch of the family. The Estate at Castlewellan, however, became the property of Lady Mabel, sister of the sixth Earl. Lady Mabel, in 1940, transferred her interest in the Estate to her son, Gerald Francis, who sold it to the Department of Agriculture in 1967. |
Dolly's Brae
There is a historical connection between Tollymore Forest Park and Castlewellan Forest Park. On the 12th July 1849 the Orange Lodges of Ballyward District had visited Tollymore Park to honour the 4th Earl of Roden who was the Grand Master of Ireland. The Lodges turned homewards in procession through Bryansford, leaving Castlewellan by the old county road which now forms the southern boundary of Castlewellan Forest Park. When opposing factions barred the road through the defile at the western end of what is now the Forest Park, the famous battle of Dolly's Brae was fought. |
Physical Features
The Forest Park, covering some 450 hectares and lying north of the foothills of the Mourne Mountains, is typical, geologically, of this part of County Down. The low-lying lands astride the main avenue are on a bedrock of silurian shale while metamorphic silurian schist and gneiss dominate in the areas around the lake. The two gently rising hills, Slievenaslat (270 meters)*
and Slieve Beg (200 metres) are of Newry granite.
The largest stretch of water in the Park is Castlewellan Lake, nearly one mile in length and covering about 40 hectares. The original lake was much smaller but the construction of a dam to regulate the outflow and provide a reserve supply for the mill pond (also known as the Town
Dam) raised the level and increased the area of the lake to its present size. It is fed by a
number of small streams running off surrounding hills. |
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The controlled outflow is used to serve the Bleach Green at Annsborough, a small village about a mile away.
There are a number of other small lakes in the Park, all of which are easily reached by the planned walks.
*Sliabh na slat or 'the hill of the twig or tree'
Sliabh Beag or the small hill'. |
The Forest
It is clear that Mr. Gerald F. Annesley and his family have always been actively interested in commercial tree growing as well as amenity planting. When the Department acquired the Estate in 1967 there were already some 280 hectares of plantation. That the amenity of the area was not neglected is evidenced by the fact that rhododendrons and laurels covered vast areas under tree crop while the arboretum, maintained by successive generations of the family, is now one of the finest in the United Kingdom. The extensive area of woodland in the Forest Park is managed as a commercial forest together with other plantations in the district, including those at Drumkeeragh on the lower eastern slopes of Slieve Croob, at Drumaness near Ballynahinch, at Castleward, some seven miles east of Downpatrick and at Hollymount. |
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Many forest tree species will only grow satisfactorily where there is good soil and some shelter. Because these conditions are available over much of the Forest Park the variety of species which can be grown is much wider than usual. Indeed this variety of species, age, size and form as well as of colouring, especially in the spring and autumn — is one of the most attractive features of the woodlands at Castlewellan. The majority of the plantations, however, have been developed primarily for commercial timber production. For this purpose Sitka spruce is by far the most common species now being planted in Northern Ireland. It grows particularly well on good soils and a stand planted in 1924 in Drumbuck Wood* at the eastern end of the Estate had attained a height of nearly 30 metres when it was clear felled in 1976. |
Elsewhere in the Estate, however, there are plantations of old heavily branched hardwoods of great beauty but of little or no commercial value. Stands such as these are regarded as being of special aesthetic importance and will be retained as long as possible or regenerated without clear- felling. These stands include groups of Scots pine and other species on the hilltops, a fine mixture of beech, ash and oak at the western end of Castlewellan Lake, gnarled open-grown oak behind the stand of beech at the north end of the Lake and other scattered stands of European larch and tall beech planted in the early years of the century. Parkland trees, some of which are thought to have been planted between 1740 and l76O will also be kept as long as possible.
*Drom bocht or 'the poor land'. Prior to land improvements carried out by the first Viscount Glerawley the area below the Lake, including Drumbuck, was a swamp. |
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