WILD FRONTIERAnthonyThis winged statue of Victory is a good place to tell you how my family, the Wingfields, acquired Powerscourt.Sir Richard Wingfield was the first member of my family to come here. Powerscourt was his reward for many military victories. AlexThis peaceful place was once a wild frontier. The Wicklow Mountains were the stronghold of fierce Gaelic clans - the O’Byrnes and the O’Tooles. Anthony The name ‘Powerscourt’ derives from an Anglo-Norman knight, Eustace le Poer. He built a stone castle here in 1316. SarahThe fire at Powerscourt in 1974 revealed that stone castle hidden inside the house.HACKERS Anthony In 16th century Ireland the control of land was a cutthroat business. SarahLe Poer’s lands were soon overrun by the O’Tooles. Anthony Clan Chieftain Phelim O’Toole kept switching sides in the constant fighting between Queen Elizabeth I of England and the Wicklow clans. In 1603 a band of exasperated Englishmen cornered O’Toole near his castle.The eighty-year old clan chief was killed. Alex The Killing Hollow, where this happened, features on our garden tour. SIR RICHARD’S REWARD Anthony Richard Wingfield had given many years of service to Queen Elizabeth. She asked “Well, Sir Richard, what is to be your reward?” He replied “The scarf that your majesty wears is enough for me”. Sarah The Queen gave it to him. Alex Was that all? Anthony Sir Richard also received a lease on 40,000 acres of O’Toole’s lands. In 1609 he won his biggest victory. He defeated Gaelic Lord Cahir O’Docherty. James I granted him outright ownership of O’Toole’s lands, along with the title ‘Lord Powerscourt.’ Sarah The rents from these vast lands maintained Powerscourt for three centuries.