altamont

Parts of Altamont date back to the 1500's when nuns were reputed to live here. A new road was made in about 1720 from Carrickslaney to Kilbride when the then owners of Altamont, the St. George family, were obliged to turn the house back to front. They made new back and front avenues with the handsome granite entrance gates and planted the beech trees to line the avenue and the old Nun's Walk. They also built the bow fronted Georgian dining room and hall porch with its decorative fan light typical of that era. Later additions were built on in the 19th Century and the lake was dug to give employment during the famine. The Broad Walk and terraces leading down to the lake were laid out in about 1850 and many beds and pools and pergolas added; with urns and statuary in appropriate places around the lakes. Walks were made through the ancient oak woods of the ice age glen down to the River Slaney and along its bank. A flight of 100 granite stone steps (again hand-cut during the famine) lead up from the river, to where the present path winds back through the woods, which are carpeted with bluebells and ferns and wild daffodils. Residential Garden courses, telephone for information.