This lovely garden is actually to commemorate the Irish soldiers who have sacrificed their lives during the World War I. The war took part between 1914-1918. In total 300,000 Irish soldier participated on that war and died 49,400 out of them. That means almost 17 out of every 100 soldiers had died that time. The garden was designed by the great British architect Edwin Lutyens.
When I came in Ireland for the first time, I was living near to the Heuston station. And the park was just a 10 minutes of walking distance from my house. That time I’ve visited the park several times. Later I rented my house near the park (10 minutes of walking distance). During the summer and spring I use to be a frequent visitor for the park. Having a very long day helps me to go there even after my office work during summer. Besides during a sunny weekend it is a lovely place to be there with plenty of local visitors.
War memorial garden is having plenty of spaces for walking (lot of people do the dog walking here as well). During the summer people bring blanket, tent, etc in the park and spend the day in picnic mode. I mainly go there to see the river and have a short walk at the river bank. I like to see the water birds playing in water too.
The garden has two Circular sunken rose gardens. Those gardens are full with roses and other flowers. During the winter you’d see hardly any plant there. But during spring and summer the place is packed with plenty of roses and other flowers. In Ireland you’d see roses very rarely (people use different other flowering plants in their gardens or backyards). But this War memorial garden is a nice place to see plenty of roses together during summer.
For the nature lovers, the garden has plenty of trees. Although during winter you won’t see any leafs. During the summer the War memorial garden becomes very green. There are few cherry trees inside the garden. They look most beautiful when the trees are having fallen flowers in ground. There are several walkways available with benches for sitting. During a dry day people can easily sit on grasses as well.
Between the two Circular rose gardens it has a green field that contains the Great Cross of Sacrifice. It also has a small water fountain like monuments. People use to put flower to commemorate the soldiers (along with the government events). I was kind of thinking about the fate of those poor soldiers. It made sad for a while, why do people do war?
Anyway, the river Liffey is just flowing beside the memorial garden. It is not a very wide or deep river. But still this shallow river is one of the Ireland’s prime river. There were few small water birds on the river. The Mallard, Swan, Waterhen (or Common moorhen), Grey heron, etc I could remember. Some people were feeding the birds from their hand.
There is a Kayaking club available at the other side of the river. People use to do Kayaking practice in the river. During my visit I use to sit on the bench beside the river and watch them rowing boats. During the winter the trees beside the river gets colorful. And the reflection of those colorful trees on pristine river water makes the thing more picturesque.
Not too many tourists use to visit War memorial garden. At least I didn’t see too many paying visit the garden. Most of the people visit are local people who came to the park for jogging or to walk their dogs. Or people like us to spend some time as they are living nearby.
How to go:
This War memorial garden is very easy to locate. It is just a 10 minutes of walking distance from the Heuston station. Also it is at the opposite of the Phoenix park (the park is at the other side of the river). The bus stoppage outside the park servers the following Dublin Buses 25A, 25B, 25D, 25X, 51D, 51X, 66X, 67X, 69, 69X, 79, 79A, 845, 847. That means plenty of options.
Where to stay:
As I live in Dublin I didn’t need to stay in any hotel. But if you are an outsider you’d probably want to have a look at the list of hotels near War Memorial Garden. There are lot of tourists use to visit Dublin every year and you shouldn’t face any issue with that.
Opening hours:
War memorial garden is open through the east and west side gate 24 hours (but not sure whether you are allowed to stay there after dark or not). The south side gate uses to be closed based on the length of daylight. During the summer it can remain open till 8:30pm, but during winter it gets close even before 4:00pm.
Best time to visit:
Obviously summer is the best time as you’d see plenty of flowers blooming in gardens (specially roses). Spring and autumn is ok as you’d see plenty of colors from the river as well. For the winter it would be very dull and grey. Nothing to see there except the monument, and walking inside the park.
Suggested activity:
River Liffey is just beside the War memorial garden. It has a nice walking path beside the river (which is outside the garden). At few places having plenty of trees at the both side of the river bank makes the places mysterious. Also the water of the river is always calm, and the reflection in water during afternoon is picturesque. I’d recommend anyone to have a walk on that road during afternoon.
Irish National War Memorial Garden,
South Circular Rd, Islandbridge,
Dublin 8,
Ireland
List of hotels near War Memorial Garden
This article has written by Lonely Traveler,
for the blog http://icwow.blogspot.com/
