Altamont House

Altamont House is a historic building best known for its ornamental gardens in County Carlow. The Robinsonian-style gardens are often referred to as "the jewel in Ireland's gardening crown".HistoryThe early origins of the house are unclear, with some claiming that the building was first built as a convent, perhaps dating as far back as the 16th century. The central section of the house dates from the 18th century and the sections that face the east remain unchanged, were built by the St George family. Most of these changes to the house were to reverse it to face a newly built road. During the 1780s, Benjamin Burton Doyle the High Sheriff of Carlow lived at the house. In the 1840s the Dawson Borrer family refurbished and altered the house and gardens, adding the lake that was dug as relief work for the local population during the Irish famine.Feilding Lecky Watson bought Altamont in 1923, and proceeded to extend and expand the gardens. Watson's interest was primarily in rhododendrons, planting seedlings from around the world and exchanging specimens with Sir Frederick Moore of the National Botanic Gardens. Following Watson's death in 1943, his daughter, Corona North continued her father's horticultural work.