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You are > Home > The last 50 years at Johnstown Castle
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Thursday, January 21, 2010
The last 50 years at Johnstown Castle
DESPITE CENTURIES of existence, not many castles survived the transition from private ownership to public use, but Johnstown Castle did.
Johnstown Castle, located about four miles from Wexford town between the villages of Piercestown and Murrintown, was the ancestral seat of the Esmondes, established in the reign of Henry II (1154-1189).
In 1945, Johnstown Castle was presented to the Minister of Agriculture for the Nation for use as an Agricultural College by Captain M.V. Lakin and Dorothy Violet Jefferies, and fifty years ago this week on January 18th 1960 it was finally transferred to the Agricultural Institute for use as a Soils Research Centre.
The Agricultural Institute had been established with the aid of funds provided by the American Government as part of the Marshall Aid Plan with an expanded research role in land classification and grassland production.
The last private occupant was Lady Maurice Fitzgerald, grand-daughter of H.K. G. Morgan, who died in 1942.
At the height of its development in the early part of the 19th century, extensive ornamental grounds and gardens were laid out and an artificial lake constructed.
Many houses for the farm staff, gatekeepers and coachmen were also built around this time.
Johnstown always had a resident landlord and chroniclers of the 18th and 19th century has often praised the relations between landlord and tenant on the estate.
In the Act of 1945, known as the 'Johnstown Castle Agricultural College Act', the Department of Agriculture undertook to maintain but not alter 'the ornamental nature of the gardens and pleasure grounds of the Estate'.
This responsibility was transferred to the Agricultural Institute. Parts of the castle were used as laboratories and offices for soil research.
With the amalgamation of the Agricultural Institute and ACOT (An Chomhairle Oiliúna Talmhaíochta) in 1988 forming the Agriculture & Food Development Authority (Teagasc), the role of the Centre was refocused more to work on environment related areas.
Johnstown was also home to a major analytical laboratory, providing soil, plant and water analyses, etc. on a national basis for farmers, agri-business and the bloodstock industry.
At one stage there were over 100 staff including research, technical, administrative and general personnel.
National and international seminars and workshops and public open days were a feature at Johnstown, where the total area of the estate is about 400 hectares, of which 267 hectares are arable, the rest being woodlands, lakes, gardens and ornamental grounds.
The Irish Agricultural Museum was established in the old farmyard, buildings erected about 1810, and about 100 metres from the castle.
Amongst the machinery on display were locally manufactured implements from the Wexford factories of Philip Pierce & Co., and Doyle's Selskar Ironworks.
One of the outstanding features in the grounds is the castle lake, occupying about two hectares or five acres in imperial measurement. It is home to mute swans, moorhens, coots, little grebes, and occasionally herons pay a welcome visit.
It is thought that the landscaping of the surrounding grounds and the castle lake was originally planned by Daniel Robertson, an architect of considerable fame in Ireland with examples of his work at Castleboro, Wilton Castle, Ballinkeele, Bloomfield and Wells House.
Old days in Courtown and Ballymoney
Courtown was a different place in 1921.
Old Mrs. Byrne in her cottage at the pier.
The sailing boats coming in, in the evenings and loaded with fish, sailing up to the harbour mouth where ropes were thrown to them and they were hauled into their berths.
There were just two motor trawlers.
The Swan owned by the Byrnes and the Michael Joseph.
There was a lifeboat in the harbour at that time, but it was powered by strong and brave men using the oars!
The big day was when the lifeboat went out on a practice run.
At that time, before erosion took its toll, the space between the harbour basin and the basin and the sea was a sandy bank planted with blackthorns.
The boat was pulled out from the house on a sort of a trailer to a gap in the bushes, close to the present foot bridge, where it ran down the slope to the sea.
At this point the crew, equipped with life jackets, climbed in, took the oars and away.
After a short trip the boat would return to the harbour mouth, was pulled up the slipway and secured in the house.
At the same time at Ballymoney, the Coast Guard Station was owned by a man named Ireton from Craanford who had purchased it from the British Admiralty in 1916.
Apart from Cooney's farm, the Connors house opposite and John Fanning's farm, there were no houses between the sea and the village.
Oil lamps were the principal source of light, there was no electricity and all drinking water had to be carried in buckets from a reliable artesian well on Cooney's farm.
A postman named Noctor walked from Gorey every day with letters and parcels, while a man named Reynolds delivered groceries by horse and cart twice a week.
Otherwise, the only communication with Gorey was on foot or by bicycle. Children used go to the gardens at Courtown House where the head gardener, Mr. Turner, allowed them pick the fruit, strawberries and raspberries, red and black currants in abundance, and, of course, all kinds of vegetable.
Each summer, Mr. Ireton rented the houses in the Coastguard Station and the same families went back there year after year, they all got to know each other well and by all accounts, everybody, adults and children collectively, had a wonderful time and eagerly awaited the reunion.
Another generation of active souls would take to the North Beach in the evenings and dance in Mike Spencer's dance hall. Girls from Dublin brightened up the evening for the lads. It was mainly 'squeeze box' music.
Bill Dempsey played the accordion and his brother, Peter, played the fiddle. Peter Hughes, followed by Lar Kavanagh, were the popular masters of ceremonies.
Some families coming to the North Wexford area for the annual family holidays took the forward step of erecting a wooden hut or bungalow and many were the work of a builder called James McDonald from Enniscorthy.
Some things had improved in the 1930's. The bungalow was permanent, oil lamps still gave the light, a semirotary pump brought water from a nearby stream, but that was for washing purposes only and the drinking water came from Cooney's Well.
For a Dublin family to enjoy the monthly holiday in North Wexford, the only access was by railway, and suit cases and trunks had to be carried, so matters improved when the motor car became more popular in the 1950’s and 1960’s.
In 1935, Courtown Golf Club was opened for business, and cost ten shillings (50c) for an annual family subscription!
Dancing took place at the old Tara Hall as Mick Spencer's venue at Ballymoney had ceased to function. Tennis was played at Harvey’s of Duffcarrig and Warren’s of Ballincarrig.
During the years of World War II and 'The Emergency' in this country, there were many restrictions and some Dubliners had to resort to the bicycle to travel from Dublin to Courtown and Ballymoney, however, since they were going on holiday, well, time was on their side and cycling was good exercise then, as it is now.
*This is a summary of a story written by Stan H. Polden, whose mother was a Cooke from Gorey, he was first brought to Courtown for a holiday in 1917, but for more than seventy years he went to Ballymoney, with the exception of 1921 when Courtown was the chosen holiday venue.
Stan’s story was published in the Christmas 1985 edition of 'LINK, The Gorey Newsletter'.
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