Visitor Centre
Meet the Vandeleur family, who made Kilrush their home in the mid 17th century. They lived in luxury in Kilrush House, designed the streetscape of Kilrush as we know it, funded building projects, provided local employment and were landlords to many local families who lived on and worked their lands.
However, their name is also associated with a dark chapter in the area’s history; the mass evictions that began in the 1840’s during the famine period and carried on into the Land War years of the late 1880s, when the local people started to speak up against rack rents, mass evictions and an absentee landlord. With the local military on the side of the Vandeleurs, the result of this was brutal for the local people. Families were forcibly removed from their homes by the military, left on the side of the road and their homes knocked or burnt to the ground. Similar events happened all over Ireland at this time.
Our visitor centre will give a unique insight to this momentous piece of Irish history, bringing it to life with stories of the local people who bravely stood up to their landlord and paid a very high price for it.
It is the story of a town in the west of Ireland, uniquely located at the mouth of the River Shannon, which was once a vibrant centre of shipping trade and a prosperous home for many.
In the early 1980’s, the walled garden was uncovered and painstakingly restored to be here for the enjoyment of locals and visitors alike. The garden is both a reminder that it’s history must never be repeated, and a celebration of the enduring human spirit.
We hope you enjoy your time in our visitor centre and walled garden!
The Legacy Exhibition
Vandeleur Walled Garden & Visitor Centre has officially opened a new, permanent exhibition space, which currently houses both The Vandeleur-Phelps Fireplace Installation and The Frank O’Connor Butterfly Collection. This new exhibition room allows us to honour both the cultural legacy of the Vandeleur family and the lifelong dedication of Frank O’Connor to the natural world. Come see the historic Vandeleur-Phelps Fireplace, commissioned in 1864 by John Lecky Phelps of Waterpark House, Clonlara, as a wedding gift for his bride Rosetta Anne Vandeleur. And feast your eyes upon the dazzling butterfly collection of Frank O’Connor, a naturalist and advocate for wildlife who spent decades observing and recording the birds, butterflies, and habitats of West Clare.
The exhibition is now open for all to enjoy and is accessible every day from 10am – 5pm in the Visitor Centre at Vandeleur Walled Garden in Kilrush, Co. Clare.