The gardens at Marble Hill House were very productive during the time of the Burkes, with large glasshouses and an orchard. The gardens were laid out with drives and walkways and planted formal gardens. The Burkes family planted large numbers of trees and made other changes that gave the grounds a more natural, unplanned appearance, especially on the small hill behind the house on the borreen running alongside the main house.
Many hardwood trees were planted in the immediate grounds of Marble Hill house and surrounding areas by the Burke family, now mostly cut down and replaced by non native trees by Coillte, the Irish forestry company that’s responsible for planting non native sitka spruce trees everywhere, including at Marble Hill, even as recent as 2020.
Marble Hill House Vegetable Garden
Marble Hill Herb Garden
Many different herbs were grown at Marble Hill in the different gardens of the house. The only surviving part of the herb garden now is along the borreen in the small garden, where the only standing house remains in front of the gardens shed doorways.
These sheds were used as storage for garden tools, plant pots, culinary and medicinal herbs and potatoes. Mullein is still to be found there self-seeded year after year from possibly the time the Burke family owned Marble Hill House in Galway or at least during the time of the Rafferty family (according to Jack Rafferty) who used to live in the (now ruined) courtyard house behind the main house ruins.
