{"id":2912,"date":"2021-01-20T13:53:20","date_gmt":"2021-01-20T13:53:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2021-11-21T22:24:10","modified_gmt":"2021-11-21T22:24:10","slug":"acheson-moore-and-the-aughnacloy-thistle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.design42.com\/ireland\/2021\/01\/acheson-moore-and-the-aughnacloy-thistle\/","title":{"rendered":"Acheson Moore and the Aughnacloy Thistle"},"content":{"rendered":"

In the 1750s, Acheson Moore, an eccentric Irish Jacobite planted his demesne in the shape of a thistle. You can still see the outline on Google Maps. <\/p>\n

After reading (and writing) about Tullynally Castle and the Pakenham family that lives there, I bought Valerie Pakenham\u2019s book \u00a0Big Houses of the Irish Countryside.<\/p>\n

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Big House in Ireland : An Illustrated Anthology by Valerie Pakenham<\/p><\/div>\n

The book is beautifully illustrated and I love the format. It is almost entirely quotes or citations organized by topic and date. It offers a fresh way of looking at things I\u2019ve read about for years.<\/p>\n

This little piece is so mad I had to share.<\/p>\n

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Big House in Ireland : An Illustrated Anthology by Valerie Pakenham<\/p><\/div>\n

An eccentric Irish Jacobite plants his park in the shape of a thistle, 1750s<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mr M__\u2019 is Acheson Moore of Aughnacloy, Co. Tyrone. The outline of the thistle can still be seen in the fields from the air. Campbell also records that when he was in his eighties Moore became convinced that a young relative called Stuart was the rightful heir to the crown of England and changed his will to leave him his entire fortune, disinheriting his own children.<\/p>\n

Born to a good estate, after receiving the best education this kingdom could give, Mr M__ made the tour of Europe; but Rome had such attractions, that it became his home for several years. There he engaged in such connections, as rendered him for ever estranged to his native country, and enthusiastically devoted to the house of Stuart, whose interest he not only maintained in conversation, but supported by his purse.<\/p>\n

His ruling attachment marked his every action of this life. Instead of following nature, in ornamenting his demesne, he took up the whimsical thought of cutting it into the form of a thistle<\/em>. I have it from a gentleman, who has often seen the park, that he cut a deep and wide trench, of a mile in circumference for the bulb of the flower, with double ramparts from thence, forming the petals, with clumps of trees representing the down; the avenue to his house was for the stalk, and the several fields branching from thence, and from each other, delineated the leaves. This indeed was madness, but you must allow there was method in it.<\/p>\n

-Thomas Campbell, A Philosophical Survey of South of Ireland<\/p><\/blockquote>\n