Avondale House



Avondale House, in Avondale, County Wicklow, Ireland, is the birthplace and home of Charles Stewart Parnell. It is set in the Avondale Forest Park, spanning over 2 km2 (500 acres) of land, approximately 1.5 km from the nearby town of Rathdrum. The river Avonmore flows through the park on its way towards the Irish Sea. The House is now a museum.

History
Avondale House was built in 1777 for Samuel Hayes, a barrister who wrote a book on Irish Forestry and was a pioneer of the re-afforestation of Ireland, planting many thousands of trees on the estate. He died childless in 1795 leaving the estate to his cousin Sir John Parnell, 2nd Baronet, with the condition that it pass to a younger son. On Sir John's death in 1801, his third son, William, inherited and changed his surname to Parnell-Hayes. Charles Stewart Parnell, his grandson, was born there in 1846 and inherited in 1859. After Parnell's death in 1891 the estate was sold to a Dublin butcher from Phibsboro who felled most of the trees to recoup his investment.

The house is Georgian, probably designed by James Wyatt and built in 1777. It is notable for its fine plasterwork and still contains many original pieces of furniture. The American Room is dedicated to Admiral Charles Stewart (1778-1869), Parnell's American grandfather who commanded the USS Constitution (now moored in Boston Harbor) during the War of 1812.

The woodlands were renewed in 1904 when the estate was sold to the government. The house was used as a forestry school and the grounds planted with a great variety of trees, the most successful being conifers from the Pacific coast of North America. The grounds now boast specimens of giant redwoods from California and Sitka spruce from British Columbia. The ruins of Parnell's old sawmill and Parnell's well are located on the site. One of the site's attractions is a trackless Forest Train that runs through the park. The outside of the house is featured in a painting in the R. Barry O'Brien 1898 biography of Parnell. In 2019, Failte Ireland announced a major restoration project for Avondale House and Forest Park. In July 2022, President Michael D. Higgins officially opened Beyond the Trees Avondale, the new World Class Visitor Destination at Avondale Forest Park.

Avondale House is open for guided tours. Other facilities in the grounds of the Beyond the Trees Avondale visitor attraction include a Treetop Walk & Viewing Tower, gift shop, picnic areas, walled garden, children's playground. In the surrounding Avondale Forest Park there are forest trails and walks ranging in duration from 30 minutes to five hours.