What a Fad
We visited Mount Congreve on a very sunny spring day in 2014 while staying nearby at Gaultier Lodge in Woodstown, County Waterford. The exterior of the house and the gardens were pristine, glistening in fact, but the interior was closed. Not any more. While the priceless collection of art and antiques is now history, the main rooms opened as a visitor centre in 2022. A café is now in the stables. Even more excitingly, visitors don’t have to go home: there is overnight accommodation in forest eco cabins and four gatelodges called Acorn, Damson, Oak and Rowan. Revisit overdue!
First it was Farmleigh, then Lissadell, next it was Mount Congreve. Historic Irish houses lived in by the original families with intact interiors and gardens that could have been saved in their entirety for the nation. The Guinnesses’ former Dublin home Farmleigh was eventually purchased by the Government after its contents had been sold. Lissadell in County Sligo, once the home of Countess Markievicz who helped establish the Republic of Ireland, was sold on the open market and its contents auctioned despite the Gore-Booth family offering it to the State. At Mount Congreve, it is the gardens that have been saved. The last owner, Ambrose Congreve, struck a deal with the former Taoiseach Charlie Haughey that in return for tax exemption during his lifetime, the gardens would be left to the people of Ireland. The house is still there, stripped naked of its phenomenal collection of furniture and art, still surrounded by one of the finest gardens in the country, if not the world.
It took just one day in London in May 2012 and two days in London in July 2012 for Christie’s and Mealy’s to auction the entire contents. At the time, George Mealy explained, “There are lacquered screens and vases from Imperial China, rare books, Georgian silver, vintage wines, chandeliers and gilt mirrors and enough antique furniture to fill a palace. Everything is on offer. It’s a complete clearance of the entire estate. He did his art shopping in London. He got most of it through London because he had spotters for items that he might be interested in. Mr Congreve loved collecting. He loved nice things and he had unbelievable taste.” Chinoiserie takes on Versailles.
Andrew Waters, Head of Private Collections at Christie’s, writes in the auction catalogue, “Mount Congreve stands in a splendid position above the River Suir, not far from the city of Waterford in the southeast corner of Ireland. The name is internationally known today for the astonishing gardens among the greatest in the world … Much less well known than the garden, indeed largely unknown, is the magnificent collection of decorative arts in the house that was formed concurrently with the garden. The neoclassical house was built circa 1760 for the Congreve family by the leading architect John Roberts. From the mid 1960s the house was restored with the addition of a deep bow with a baroque doorcase on the entrance front. This created some magnificent additional spaces in the house for the growing collection. Among them was the Chinese wallpapered drawing room, the elegant setting for much of the superb French furniture in both sales.
“The furniture collection was begun in 1942 and was still being added to in the early 21st century. Although a taste for French furniture was to be a constant theme during the formation of the collection, full advantage was taken of the dispersal sales after 1945 of English furniture from great country houses,” continues Andrew. Robert Adam pieces from Croome Court in Worcestershire are some of the highlights.
Jim Hayes, former Industrial Development Agency Director, records a visit to Mount Congreve in his autobiography The Road from Harbour Hill, “We were received on arrival by Geraldine Critchley, the social secretary and long term assistant of Ambrose Congreve. The ornate hall was decked with a number of gloves, walking canes and a variety of riding accessories. We were escorted into a large drawing room, the walls of which were covered in 18th century, hand-painted, Chinese wallpaper. Three large Alsatian dogs lay asleep in the corner of the room. A liveried servant then appeared with a silver tray and teapot and antique bone china cups and saucers. This young man, of Indian origin, was one of the last few remaining liveried servants of Ireland’s great houses.” Sheila Bagliani, doyenne of Gaultier Lodge, recalls, “Gus, Ambrose’s Alsatian, had full run of the house.”
Ambrose was in London rather aptly for the Chelsea Flower Show when he died in 2011, aged 104. He had no children so eight generations of his family’s enhancement of Waterford came to a close. Geraldine Critchley, who was actually his partner, survives him. The son of Major John Congreve and Lady Irène Congreve, daughter of the 8th Earl of Bessborough, Ambrose inherited Mount Congreve in 1968 and restored and redecorated and revived it to within a square centimetre of its being. The good life took off, on a whole new level. Ambrose divided his time between Mount Congreve and his townhouse in Belgravia. He employed a succession of fine chefs de cuisine including Albert Roux who went on to co found Le Gavroche restaurant.
Now for some stats of the 45 hectares estate: 28 hectares of woodland; 1.6 hectares of walled gardens; 26 kilometres of paths; 3,000 rhododendrons; 1,500 plants; 600 camelias; 600 conifers; 300 magnolias; 250 climbers. All piled high on the south bank of the River Suir. The manicured gardens end abruptly next to open fields, like a beautiful face half made up. Sheila Bagliani remembers, “Piped music in the grounds kept the 25 gardeners entertained while working. Ambrose also employed The Queen Mother’s former chauffeur.” Lot Number 492 at the auction in Mount Congreve was his 1969 shell grey Rolls Royce Phantom V1, price guide €12,000 to €18,000. It sold for €55,000. At his 100th birthday lunch, Ambrose Congreve declared, “To be happy for an hour, have a glass of wine. To be happy for a day, read a book. To be happy for a week, take a wife. To be happy forever, make a garden.” His garden lives on in perpetuity, making plenty of people happy.
