THE SHOCKING STORY behind the beautiful SCRABO TOWER in COUNTY DOWN. Who does it celebrate and why?

Описание: A celebrated landowner is not all he's cracked up to be - the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry and his treatment of tenants during the Great Famine in Ireland.

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Scrabo Tower sits on top of Scrabo Hill, 160 meters above sea level, near the town of Newtownards and commands the most amazing views of the lough as well as a panorama of the surrounding countryside. It is a Victorian monument to the 3rd Marquess of Londonderry, Charles William Stewart Built in 1859. It sits in its own country park, which includes Killynether Wood, managed by the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

The dedicatee of this folly, Charles William Stewart, was later to become Charles Vane after marrying his second wife who was a rich heiress. The marriage contract obliged him, rather than her, to change his name.

The Dublin Builder who was the contractor of Scrabo Tower, reported finding vast quantities of wild boar tusks when excavating the site – indicating that this had been an area in which animal sacrifice, or what he had described as ‘Pre-historic pic-nics’ had taken place. So this elevated area without doubt has had a long human history.

On this clear Autumn day, you can see for miles across County Down, it’s breathtaking. Reportedly you can see the Scottish coast, the Mull of Kintyre and the Isle of Man to the North East and The Mourne Mountains in the South and Divis and Cavehill montains in the direction of Belfast 16 miles east.

Charles William Stewart, 3rd Marquess of Londonderry's Irish residence was the beautiful stately home called Mount Stewart on the Ards Penninsula. But, in fact he was like many Anglo-Irish gentry, largely an absentee landlord. So interestingly, this folly, this monument in his name, was built using donations from 730 people organised by a committee in Newtownards. The suggestion was, according to those loyal to the Stewart Family, that the monument was a testament to its dedicatee’s support for his tenants during the great famine. It seems though, nothing could be further from the truth. The majority of the funds raised came from landed gentry and there even was a donation from Napoleon III. But Stewart’s actual record of looking after his tenants during the famine was actually pretty abominable. He refused to consider their appeals for rent reductions. He objected to public works schemes for famine relief, and his £30 donation to soup kitchens was dwarfed at the time in 1847 by his £15k renovation of Mount Stewart. By this stage Stewart was one of the 10 richest men in the UK. Most of the 12,000 tenant farmers on his estate gave nothing. In fact, the more I read about the Marquees of Londonderry, the more appalling he sounded. As an owner of the coalfields in County Durham in England, he campaigned ferociously to keep children from as young as 8 years old working in his mines, in opposition to the mines and collieries act of 1842.

But while we may find this Anglo -Irish absentee landlord reprehensible, and him not worthy of this monument, we can at least enjoy this fairly spectacular landmark for its beauty. It was created undoubtedly as a symbol of landlord power, but I prefer to see it as a memorial to the many hundreds of noble tenants who worked the land in this part of Ireland and undoubtedly suffered as tenants of the 3rd Marquees of Londonderry. So the inhumane activities of Mr Stewart, shouldn’t spoil our enjoyment of this striking landmark and its surroundings, which are simply stunning.

The Tower itself is 41 meters high and is built in Scottish Baronial Revival style. It was originally called the Londonderry Monument, but now is always referred to simply as Scrabo Tower. The name Scrabo is derived from the Irish for ‘thinly covered rock’ or alternatively depending on your pronunciation, it means cow pasture - the word Bo in Irish meaning cow.

During the design and building programme the plans were altered due to rising costs. The tower’s height was shortened and the form was simplified. Nevertheless, work ceased in 1859 as the cost amounted to over £3000. The contractor went out of business and the tower was left unfinished. At this point a caretaker moved into the tower and his family inhabited the tower until 1966, running a tearoom. It can’t have been easy, since there was no running water up here, due to the height of the hill. The state bought the property in 1966 and was listed as a Grade B+ historic building in 1977. In 1992 a £20K renovation was carried out.

Only the Victorians could think to build something like this purely as a folly and having no other function. However, it is now a striking landmark calling people to the top of Scrabo hill where we can all enjoy the beauty that it commands.