In this book we set out to explore some of Wicklow’s important demesnes and gardens from two viewpoints, those of the artists who painted them and the travellers who left detailed descriptions.

The artists’ paintings included here range from major works in oil and watercolour to rapid sketches ‘drawn on the spot’. The work of notable professional Irish painters appears alongside that of keen, competent amateurs; photographers have also been given their due place. The travellers quoted, too, range from well-known authors of tour guides—some writing about the whole of Ireland, some concentrating on County Wicklow—to occasional visitors from across the Irish Sea. More than twenty demesnes and gardens are featured, including the best-known such as Killruddery and Powerscourt, those that have disappeared like Bellevue and Blessington, and lesser-known ones such as Castle Howard, Glenart and Hollybrook.

The Dargle Glen, Devil’s Glen and Pollaphuca, once important tourist destinations, are also included. This book is not comprehensive: it could be far longer without exhausting the topic of Wicklow’s historic demesnes and gardens. There is much here that is new, however, and we hope it will stand as a historical record of some of the special places shaped by human activity in one of Ireland’s most beautiful counties.