An Irish patriot, Francis Ledwidge was an acclaimed poet from Slane, and above are some lines from one of his most famous poems titled ‘The Blackbird’.
In 1843, the first manual on the cultivation of tropical orchids was written, and then published, in the heart of Ireland!
The author/printer/publisher was John Charles Lyons, JP, of ‘Ladiston’ near Mullingar, Co.Westmeath. He built his own printing press (now in the county Library, Mullingar), and grew orchids in a glasshouse that he heated and watered by filling it from a stream with his own invention. Lyons’ manual is a fascinating period piece, so much so that it was republished in 1983 in a facsimile edition, available in Mullingar library.
-The Orchid House-
John Charles Lyons
"Orchids for everyman and the Mullingar connection"
Ladestown History
From Ledwidge Town to Ladestown
Mullingar History
“ In that rich earth a richer duct concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped made me aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by suns of home.”
John Charles Lyons
Francis Ledwidge
