1806 – Trinity College Botanic Gardens, Ballsbridge, Dublin

In 1806, Trinity College took a lease on two acres of land at Ballsbridge, later extending it to a total of just over seven acres by 1848. The whole site was enclosed by stone walls, lined with yellow brick. The Pembroke and Lansdowne Road walls were lower and topped with railings.

Three conservatories were in use by the 1830s. A greenhouse with three compartments at 165 feet long, and a hothouse 180 feet long were the main features other than a pond fed from the Dodder river. Adjacent to the ironworks of Richard Turner’s Hammersmith Works, and it was said to have suffered from fumes emitted there.

The lease on the land, which was due to expire in the 1980s, was relinquished late in the 1960s and the gardens relocated to Trinity Hall in Dartry where they still operate today. Many of the specimens were transplanted but mature trees around the perimeter of the site were left. The site was redeveloped for the Intercontinental Hotel (Jury’s) and later the Berkely Court Hotel.