After passing the
ornamental gateway of Phoenix Park, the pedestrian finds himself on a broad road
with a splendid surface. This is the main avenue of the park and leads straight
as an arrow to the Castleknock gate nearly four miles away. On the right hand is
the ornamental plot known as the People's Gardens.
Further along the main road the unimposing white front of the
Viceregal Lodge comes into view on the right hand. It was originally a small
two-story building, the residence of the chief ranger. Further along a wide and
spacious common appears on the left. This is the famous Fifteen Acres.
After passing the Fifteen Acres, the next object of interest
is the Phoenix Monument, standing in the very centre of the park in a circle of
some extent formed by clearing away the woodland. During his term of office in
1745, Chesterfield erected this pillar, which bears an effigy of the unique
classical bird, with which the park, not undeservedly, is compared. The open
space around was a fashionable promenade during the period when the court
resided at Chapelizod. Chesterfield's taste effected another improvement in the
park. He planted a fine elm avenue from one extremity to the other, following
very much the course of the present main road, but serpentining so that on the
city side of the Phoenix Pillar it lies to the right of the main road, while
beyond, it appears on the left. The trees were arranged in successive clumps,
not in single or double file. Some of them are still standing, despite the
storms of nearly two hundred winters.
After the Phoenix Pillar is passed, the park becomes
delightfully wild. The road seems like a highway through a forest. On every side
there are the beautiful vistas characteristic of sylvan scenery. The best
direction to take now is to break away after a while from the main avenue
towards the left, travelling to the south-east. Eventually the Furze, or Furry,
Glen is reached, a deep hollow lined on either side with furze bushes and
innumerable hawthorn trees.
A road winds through the bottom of the ravine, leading to the
Knockmaroon gate, from which there is a fine view of the upper
Liffey, stretching away in long, placid reaches through a country of brilliant
verdure and fertility. The river here is as different from the river at
O'Connell Bridge as the Thames at Richmond from the Thames at Westminster. On
these sunny waterside slopes are the strawberry beds, from which the village
below takes its name.
A walk along the bank here will reveal to the visitor why
Ireland is called the "Emerald Isle." The fields are almost vivid in their
bright, living green, and the foliage is nearly as gay in its hues.
A few miles up the valley are the sleepy towns of Lucan and
Leixlip, fashionable resorts in the remote past, when the sea coast was thought
only fit for fishermen and coastguards. Their tall, grey stone houses look
despondently on empty streets. The demesne walk from Lucan to Leixlip beside the
Liffey, is perhaps the most delightful, certainly the most tranquil and
soothing, piece of woodland scenery in County Dublin. The wooded heights around
here are studded with old castles and ruined churches, so that the river seems
like a miniature Rhine.
At Leixlip again there is a beautiful natural picture to be
seen, the cascade known as the Salmon Leap. Here, at certain seasons of the
year, the fish going upstream, by herculean efforts, jump from the lower to the
higher level. Apparently they have been doing the same thing these thousand
years, for the Danes, who settled here long ago, were so impressed by their
performances that they called the settlement Lax-Hlaup (Leixlip), from two Norse
words meaning salmon and leap.
On return to the park by the Knockmaroon gate, another route
may be chosen for the homeward journey. After passing through the Furry Glen, it
will be necessary to keep to the right along the southward boundary wall. The
Hibernian Military School soon appears on its hill to the left, and just
opposite is the gate giving access to the old-world village of Chapelizod. Here,
just as at Lucan and Leixlip, the houses have an air of faded gentility. They
seem to have been built for grander inhabitants than they lodge at present.
Chapelizod, the chapel of Izod, or Isolde, was the residence of that
auburn-haired and passionate Irish princess, immortalized in Malory's romance
and Wagner's opera.
From "Chapters of Dublin History".