Nigel Everett recounts how John Annan Bryce and his architect Harold Peto transformed Garinish Island into one of the most important gardens in Europe
Garinish Island comprising thirty-seven well-sheltered and spectacularly panoramic acres in Glengarriff Bay, West Cork, first acquired national significance as part of the British government’s defences against Napoleon. A fort, barracks, and Martello Tower were built by 1805 but promptly rendered obsolete following Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar. The Cork antiquarian John Windele, writing in 1837, described the ruined fortifications of Garinish as its principal feature, ‘not unpicturesque’ and crowning a ‘rocky summit’. By this time, the peace of Garinish faced a new threat; the projected railway from Berehaven to Cork would leap across the island, newly connected to the mainland by two viaducts of seven and fourteen arches.
Northern Ireland: 30 Years of Photography at Belfast Exposed and the MAC this summer highlights the medium as a highly-charged, critical artform that constantly questions its own role in the construction of memories, writes Stephanie McBride
As a building commissioned by a State entity charged with the stewardship of a precarious energy resource, Bord Gáis Network Services Centre warrants some reflection on its relevance as a benchmark and path-finder, writes Seán O’Laoire