In her introduction to the book Lismore Castle: Food and Flowers from a Historic Irish Garden published by Rizzoli, Laura Burlington notes, “For many years, people have asked for a book about Lismore Castle.” For those hopefuls, the wait is finally over. “The gardens of the castle were opened by my husband William’s grandparents in the 1960s, and each year many visitors from around the world make the journey to see them,” she adds Though the couple welcomes the public’s desire to experience the time-honored ambiance, which gleams in the featured image above, opening such a historic structure to the masses brings with it some concerns. “The castle has such a particular atmosphere, and one of my worries as one of the present incumbents is how not to spoil this,” Laura explains.
Lismore Castle and Its Gardens
She describes the gardens surrounding Lismore Castle as constantly dynamic—living, dying, and aggressively growing. This comes to life in the book that beautifully depicts the landscapes that fan out around the turreted building and in the floral displays cut from those landscapes to bring color and brightness into the storied interiors. “Above the fireplace in the banqueting hall is written céad mile fáilte, Gaelic for “one hundred thousand welcomes,” Laura says, “and short of making the journey, we hope this book extends the same welcome.” It does indeed.
Laura’s husband William shares the history of Lismore Castle, which is over eight-hundred years old. “During this time, it has been bought and sold, attacked and defended, occupied and relinquished, destroyed and rebuilt,” he says. He quotes William Makepeace Thackery, who wrote about the building’s aspects in his The Irish Sketchbook of 1842, “Nor in any country that I have visited have I seen a view more noble—it is too rich and peaceful to be what is called romantic, but lofty, large and generous, if the term may be used; the river and banks as fine as the Rhine.” The Burlington’s call it a place full of stories—some happy, some sad.
William explains that he first visited Lismore Castle when he was ten years old and it was like “a dream filled with turrets and cannonballs, mist and moss, and green everywhere. There was a place where one could feel an actual cannonball lodged in a defensive wall—if one was brave enough to put one’s hand deep into a dark hole.” He notes, “I fell in love, and that love has endured.” The name of the castle is an interpretation of Lios Mór, which means “great fort” in Irish, which was inspired by its location looking down over the River Blackwater. This is significant because the original fortress was built in 1185 to defend a crossing place. It was built on the site of Lismore Abbey—a religious settlement and a seat of learning founded by Saint Mochuda, or Carthage, in the seventh century—and was used for some years as a bishop’s residence.
The fame of those who have owned the castle over the intervening centuries are historically significant: the earls of Desmond lived within it during the medieval period; for a short while it was owned by Sir Walter Raleigh, who sold the estate to Richard Boyle in 1602—he became the first Earl of Cork in 1620; since William Cavendish, the sixth Duke of Devonshire, inherited the estate in 1811, it has remained in the Cavendish family. The duke’s second son Lord Charles Cavendish and his wife, Adele Astaire, who was Fred Astaire’s sister, inherited the estate in 1932; and Andrew Cavendish, William’s grandfather, and his wife Deborah Mitford, took the reins in 1950. King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra visited in 1904; Astaire brought a Hollywood moment to the castle and its grounds, undertaking modernizations like a swimming pool, and tennis and squash courts to please her movie-star pals.
William and Laura inherited the estate in 2007. “At Lismore Castle the layers of history overlap and intertwine, they clash and they elide,” he says after noting they have spent some of their happiest moments in the castle. “It is not difficult to imagine the inhabitants of the past, or even the Vikings who came up the river in search of gold, in the rooms.” These are featured at length in the book. “Each generation that takes up residence at Lismore leaves their mark upon the place,” the Burlingtons note. “The layers of history are hardly better represented than in the physical layers of furniture, fabrics and decoration which are so often added to rather than replaced.” Along the way, they have tried to preserve the sixth duke’s intentions while bringing the castle into the twenty-first century.
The gardens become the focus once the tour of the interiors is complete. The importance of the fresh ingredients that are grown within the surrounding plots of land become characters woven into the story as recipes that have been cultivated in the castle’s kitchens are shared. Divided by the seasons, the Spring recipes include the Warm Broccoli and Asparagus Salad in the image above. There is also a section dedicated to Chutneys and Jams with an array of recipes that include Mixed Tomato Chutney and Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam. The Drinks and Cocktails section includes the Elderflower Cordial seen in the image below.
The section on Flowers bring the garden into even sharper focus. “Just as with food, we take a seasonal approach to flowers in the house at Lismore,” Laura says. “In every bedroom beside the bed or on top of the chest of drawers there is an opportunity to have a smaller, more controlled arrangement. […] In the center of the dining room table, we have a multi-articulated ceramic planter by the Brazilian ceramicist Carina Ciscato in which I like to arrange what William refers to as ‘hedgerow chic.’”
The last section of the book is written by Lee Behegan, the gardener at Lismore Castle. He says, “Each different season poses its own challenges and unique opportunities for expressing the individual beauty of each season.” He adds, “All of the seasons have something to offer, and each new cycle of growing season provides more opportunities for learning and making adjustments to plans for new plants, preventing arrangements from becoming stale and predictable. This not only makes me happy and content, but I’m always humbled to know that each new season allows me to have another go.”
A Stroll Through Lismore Castle © Saxon Henry, all rights reserved. Saxon is an author, journalist, poet, and strategist whose books include her newest title Lives Illuminated and The Modern Salonnière, both of which are available on Kindle. Saxon posts weekly salon explorations on Substack. The author received a review copy of this book from the publisher but her comments were in no way swayed by this fact and are authentically true.
