The Grounds of Charleville Castle, Tullamore

I'll be covering the Castle itself sometime in the future, it's been a while since I was inside the castle itself.   For now I will say simply that Charleville Castle was built by the Earl of Charleville, Charles William Bury and Lady Catherine Marie Charleville in 1798. It was designed by Sir Francis Johnston, who also designed the GPO in Dublin.  It was left uninhabited from 1912 and was in a poor state when I did a volunteer weekend there in the 1990's with the Conservation Volunteers of Ireland.  (I should do more of that sort of thing, it was great craic, that weekend, and it was there I tasted my first elderberry wine, which was gorgeous)  I believe it lost it's roof for a while, which certainly wouldn't have helped.   It's being run by the "Charleville Castle Heritage Trust" now and while there's a lot of work still to be done, things have certainly changed for the better since I stayed there.   Some of the ceilings are beautiful and the rooms are gradually starting to look as they once might have, but as I say, more about that another day.

The castle was built in truly ancient oak forest, and a few of these ancient trees lie just inside the Charleville Road entrance. 

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When I was kid I was told one of these trees was the oldest Oak in Ireland.  It's called the King Oak, and isn't in fact the oldest oak, but it is impressively ancient, commonly aged between 400-800 years.  "The Hutton-Bury family believed that if a major branch fell, one of their family members would die, so they supported the enormous limbs over the years with wooden props. In 1963 the tree was hit by a thunderbolt. It survived but Colonel Charles Howard-Bury died a few weeks later. " (from the Tree council of Ireland website)

The King Oak has massive branches reaching down to the ground, stretching out like arms on a waiting fairground attraction.  It's so easy for anyone to hop up near the end of one of these long limbs and walk or clamber along to get higher into the tree.  Or, you know, just laze on. 

There are 10 other ancient oak trees recorded on the Tree Council website, including the Queen Oak, which was storm damaged and has a birch growing from a fork near the crown of the tree.  (not pictured) We rather took a fancy to this, stories of aliens falling to earth and getting stuck in the ground head and chest first featured.   The adults remained adult.   

Oak apples are plentiful, the new and the old pictured here.  Oak apples are the home of gall wasp larvae, a female gall wasp lays her eggs into developing leaf buds and larvae inject chemicals which cause the oak apple to form, and the larvae feed on this "apple" to grow.    Lesson 134,907 in how to freak out small children.  Mention the word "wasp" in any sentence involving something they are currently holding. 

I like Charleville a lot because there's a very decent sized wood, with leaf laden paths winding around and and places to go adventuring (aka clambering through massive rhododendrons) .  It was particularly gorgeous this trip, bluebells hung around the feet of the trees like a low lying mist, transforming the usual moss and leaf litter into something infinitely more magical. 

Evening was starting to fall as we got closer to the castle, and we searched for some atmosphere

I love this rock, but we were in a huge clump of rhodedendrons and the light was really bad, so this picture isn't all I'd like, but doesn't it have incredible features?   Lots of monster gazing in one place. 

Today's Handy Tip!

You don't need a bag to carry your discoveries, just make sure you wear something with a roomy hood.  Bonus points if what you're carrying makes you look like an archer, I think.