Tyrrelstown: House History, Gardens and Lady’s Well

A place between architectural history and landscape

Tyrrelstown brings together historic places and varied experiences: Tyrrelstown House tells the story of several periods of construction, Lady’s Well is a revered well house, and the Community Centre has a sports hall. When planning a trip, you can choose between architectural history, garden landscapes and sporting interests. An important consideration when planning is the access requirement for Tyrrelstown House & Gardens.

Tyrrelstown House & Gardens

Today’s Tyrrelstown House is a detached, two-storey, five-bay house dating from around 1820. Attached to it is an older, two-storey house dating from around 1720. Tyrrelstown House also stands on the site of a house built by the Bellings family in the mid-17th century. These details point to several historical layers without reducing the present house to a single construction period.

Tyrrelstown House & Gardens is in Fingal, in the north of County Dublin, within a 10-hectare parkland estate. The grounds include an arboretum with woodland paths, as well as two hectares of wildflower meadows and pictorial meadows. The woodland paths and meadows are different parts of the estate: those interested in trees and paths through an arboretum will find a different focus here from the areas of wildflowers and pictorial meadows.

There is an important restriction on visits: Tyrrelstown House & Gardens is open to the public only by prior arrangement for garden groups of more than eight people. If you would like to include this place in your trip, take this condition into account when planning. This access requirement clearly distinguishes a visit from one that is open to all without prior arrangement.

Lady’s Well: well house and place of worship

Lady’s Well in Tyrrelstown is a vaulted well house dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary and still revered today. Stone steps lead to it. Its two roof finials include a stone cross and a stone niche with an inscription. These features make Lady’s Well a place where religious significance and distinctive architectural details come together. Visitors interested in religious traditions or historic architectural forms will find a different focus here from a visit centred mainly on the park and its paths.

Lady’s Well’s geological designation also contributes to its identity: Fingal County Council recognises it as a County Geological Site. Together with its dedication and continuing veneration, this gives it a multifaceted character that goes beyond describing it simply as a well house. The stone steps, cross and inscribed niche are tangible features that reveal the site’s distinctive design.

Sporting interests and choosing where to go

Tyrrelstown Community Centre can be reached on foot, by bicycle, by car or by bus; free parking is available for drivers. Its large sports hall has marked courts, basketball hoops, junior training hoops and activity mats. Alongside the historical and landscape-related attractions, visitors can also find specific sports-hall facilities and a range of ways to get to the Community Centre. This information can help you weigh up your interests when planning a trip without treating these very different places and facilities as if they were the same.

Lady’s Well offers a religious and architectural focus; the Community Centre adds a sports hall to the picture of the area. Other destinations: Balbriggan, Kilsallaghan, Gormanston, Portmarnock, Rush, Howth, Ballyboughal, Sutton.

For the broader travel overview: County Fingal.