Picnic Tour of County Meath - Saturday 8 July, 2017

Members started the day with a visit to Larchill Arcadian Gardens which has a beautiful designed landscape with ten follies and a Ferme Orneé which was developed by a haberdasher called Richard Prentice in the late eighteenth century. The group proceeded to Agher Church to see the the painted stained glass window by Thomas Jervais which once adorned the family chapel in Dangan Castle. This window was restored with the assistance of the Irish Georgian Society. Next on the tour, a grotto part of the estate of Summerhill House where the group met a local hermit. Then the group visited Dangan Obelisk, part of the ruined Dangan Castle estate which was own by the Wesley or Wellesley family. The obelisk was restored by Christopher Gray,  R. Daly (owner), Meath County Council and a grant from the Irish Georgian Society. Next, members were treated to a lovely lunch at Higginsbrook House provided by the Gray family. After lunch, the group visted the ruins of Trimblestown Castle and roamed the estates graveyard and chapel which was recently re-roofed by a local group. St. Mary's Abbey was next which is a house built next to the yellow steeple in Trim. Part of the monastery was converted to a house in 1415 by Sir John Talbot and changed owners most notable of which was Esther Johnson, better known as Stella who sold it to Jonathan Swift. It was later used as a school, its most famous scholar was Arthur Wesley, later the Duke of Wellington.