Garnish Island
Garinish or Garnish Island is an island in Glengarriff Bay, an inlet of Bantry Bay, near the shore of the Beara Peninsula in County Cork, Ireland. It is a tourist attraction with walled gardens and a Martello tower.
History
The garden was designed by Harold Peto,, for its owner John Annan Bryce,, a Belfast native, who purchased the island from the War Office in 1910. Bryce's son Roland bequeathed the island to the Irish nation in 1953. It was taken over and is still maintained by the Office of Public Works. Renowned for its gardens and architecture, the island has played host to writers including George Bernard Shaw and George William Russell.There is a restored Martello tower on the island dating from the time of the Napoleonic Wars. The tower, like others in Cork, but unlike other Irish Martello towers, has a straight cylindrical shape that does not splay out at its base.
Mains electricity was brought to the island in the early 1950s via overhead cable.