Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
the privileged status of landowners of the same faith was assured. In the 1700s, Ireland's
many Catholic rebellions seemed finally to be squashed, so Anglican landlords felt safe
flaunting their wealth in manor houses surrounded by utterly perfect gardens. The Mount
Stewart House in particular was designed to dazzle.
Cost and Hours: £7.40 for house and gardens, £5.60 for gardens only; July-Aug
daily 12:00-18:00; May-June and Sept Wed-Mon 13:00-18:00, closed Tue; April and Oct
Thu-Sun 12:00-18:00, closed Mon-Wed; March Sat-Sun 12:00-18:00, closed weekdays;
closed Nov-Feb; 8 miles south of Bangor, just off A-20 beside Strangford Lough, tel. 028/
4278-8387, www.nationaltrust.org.uk .
Visiting the House: Hourly tours give you a glimpse of the cushy life led by the Mar-
quess of Londonderry and his heirs over the past three centuries. The main entry hall is a
stunner, with a black-and-white checkerboard tile floor, marble columns, classical statues,
and pink walls supporting a balcony with a domed ceiling and a fine chandelier. In the din-
ing room, you'll see the original seats occupied by the rears of European heads of state,
brought back from the Congress of Vienna after Napoleon's 1815 defeat. A huge painting
of Hambletonian, a prize-winning racehorse, hangs above the grand staircase, dwarfing a
portrait of the Duke of Wellington in a hall nearby. The heroic duke (worried that his Irish
birth would be seen as lower class by British blue bloods) once quipped in Parliament,
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