myrtle grove

Myrtle Grove is a house that was not built for defence reasons - but for the Warden of a religious college. It was built during the reign of Edward IV and it is still used as a family home today! The most famous resident of Myrtle Grove, is Sir Walter Raleigh, poet and explorer and a favourite of Queen Elizabeth I.

It was Sir Walter Raleigh who is credited with introducing the potato to Ireland - which was to become the staple diet of Ireland's poor. Sir Walter and his friend Edmund Spenser the poet and Governer discussed Spenser's poem "The Faerie Queen", at Myrtle Grove.

The house still retains the oak panelling, which dates from the Tudor period (1580's).
There are also a collection of watercolours and curios collected by Sir Henry Blake and Lady Blake who were avid collectors and travellers in the West Indies and Hong Kong.