The Garden Temple was built around 1920. It was made from salvaged pieces.
“Almost opposite the greenhouse, across the lawn, stand the most recent arrival. This is a stone tetrastyle portico, which has been salvaged from a demolished house and reconstructed to provide a small temple seat. The shallow pediment is supported on four Ionic columns, which stand on a raised plinth, reached by a short flight of steps. Underneath the portico is a marble statue of a winged Cupid and a nymph, on either side of which seats are placed.”
The Follies and Garden Buildings of Ireland by James Howley
Leixlip Castle Garden Temple Seat
Portico is an Italian borrow word for a porch with a roof. Tetrastyle means it is supported by four columns. A plinth is a heavy base.
Leixlip Castle Garden Temple Seat
When my book described; “on either side of which seats are placed,” I was not thinking lawn chairs.
Leixlip Castle Garden Temple Seat
“Freestanding cut-limestone garden temple, c.1920, comprising prostyle tetrastyle Ionic portico approached by flight of four cut-stone steps having frieze and pediment over sheltering statuary. Set back from road in grounds shared with Leixlip Castle.
“This temple, built as a garden folly, is a fine, picturesque structure that has been very well-maintained to present an original aspect – the folly is evidence of the continued embellishment of Leixlip Demesne in to the early twentieth century. The use of a sophisticated Classical-style portico is an attractive foil to the medieval quality of the remainder of the architectural stock in the grounds of Leixlip Castle. The construction in cut-stone is a fine example of the high quality of stone masonry traditionally practised in the locality and this is especially evident in the carved detailing, particularly to the capitals, that has retained a crisp intricacy. The statuary within is of some artistic merit.”
The National Inventory of Architectural Heritage of Ireland
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