It is ironic to consider that the Gothic Revival castle designed by Francis Johnston for Charles William Bury - who was from 1800 Viscount and from 1806 Earl of Charleville - was named Charleville Forest rather than castle in deference to the extensive woodlands, particularly the ancient oaks dominating the estate. Today, the great house is subdued, its approach and grandeur diminished by the addition of an ugly block wall.
But the woods remain and, now more than ever, play an important part in testifying to Ireland's ever-diminishing landscape heritage. Charleville covers some 170 hectares, and the smaller woods at Abbeyleix, Co Laois, extend to some 120 hectares on either side of the River Nore. They are the finest surviving examples of what David Cabot describes as "ash-pedunculate oak-hazel woodland". Central among the trees of the long, front avenue is the aptly named King Oak of Charleville, a massive tree, heavily pollarded, claiming a 26-foot girth below its lowest offshoots. Among its massive branches, reaching out like many arms, is one stretching about 30 yards parallel to the ground. It continues to flourish, having survived its main trunk being splintered top to bottom by a thunderbolt in 1963. For all its majesty and potentially sinister splendour, it is a curiously welcoming tree enticing the visitor to sit among its branches, and this despite its reputation as a purveyor of bad news - at least for the Bury family. Too many coincidences led to the fear every falling branch would invariably be followed by a death in the family. Believed to be well in excess of 400 years of age, the Charleville Oak is probably far older. Some estimates suggest it could be closer to 800 years old. It was already old when the previous Charleville residence, a 17th-century house known as Redwood, stood on a site some distance from Johnston's romantic castle.
Elsewhere on the estate, another giant oak resides alone in a pasture not far from Charleville Lake. Traffic runs relentlessly on a busy road between Tullamore and Birr, which was cut through the estate during the 18th-century. It lies between the lake and pasture, with the tree, recognised as the largest oak in Ireland. These individual giants apart, Charleville Woods is currently in the news because of the preferred route of a proposed bypass of Tullamore. At present, the route cuts through the southern part of Charleville Woods, a "candidate SAC (Special Area of Conservation)", which also includes the largest badger colony in Ireland. According to Offaly County Council, the current route "does impinge on the SAC". This skirting of the candidate SAC may be further increased should Duchas decide to have the area of the existing candidate SAC extended to include the area known as Black Wood. Originally named Black Wood because of the closely planted fir planation dating from 1840, which was then felled in 1930. The southern tip of nine hectares planted in oak about 1840 remains, and could be viewed as an ecosystem at risk.
The edge of the original Black Wood is mainly broad-leaved woodland dominated by pedunculate oak (Quercus robur) with some beech (Fagus sylvatica). Of the 17 tree species found in Black Wood, 13 are native to Ireland. A subsequent conifer plantation planted about 1860 currently connects Charleville Woods' candidate SAC with Black Wood. A case for the conservation of the broad-leaved part of Black Wood, including the conifer, as a habitat could be made. While local resident groups and ecologists stand on one side, with Offaly County Council planners on the other, David Hutton Bury, manager of the Charleville Estate Company, has even more complex fears. "This is a valuable area of conservation not only for the trees, but most importantly as a habitat for otter, pine marten, fallow deer, badgers, weasel, fox, shrews and most native mammal species, as well as woodcock and snipe."
A descendent of the original Bury family, he has known Charleville intimately for more than 50 years. He is well aware such habitats are constantly under threat. "The climatic changes and global warming - particularly wind blow - have affected it more in the past 20 years than in the previous 50.
"I am particularly concerned with the pollution of Charleville Lake. Its size has diminished more rapidly in recent years because of the renewed interest in turf cutting, which leads to silting. This has been intensified by mechanisation replacing hand cutting."
On a map survey in 1910, Charleville Lake - home to mallard, teal, widgeon, pochard, shoveler, whopper and mute swans - extended to between 49 and 60 acres, depending on flooding. It now covers about 35 acres. Where pike, rudd, roach and perch were once fished, the water is now almost empty due to its increased acidity. The lake is beautiful and quite special as it includes a small island of about 8 acres upon which an ancient woodland stands. "Due to its total inaccessibility, this woodland has never been touched by machinery," says Hutton Bury. "Some of the oldest trees on the estate stand on that island." According to a woodland survey carried out by the Forest and Wild Life service in 1971, some of the oaks on the island appear to date from the 18th century.
STANDING in the woods and overlooking the lake fringed by bulrushes, we think we have sighted a deer. A pair of buzzards nesting here for the past couple of seasons produced between two and four chicks last year. At least two, possibly more, are believed to have survived.
The scene, lightly touched by frost, is beautiful, and would be peaceful but for the roar of the cars passing yards from the edge of the lake. As for its future, Hutton Bury is clear. "It wants a quicker turnover of water. In the past, of course, the lake could depend on the natural drainage process from the surrounding bog, and it overflowed into the Clodaigh River. But now, due to increased human activity, the flow of water into the lake is more seasonal and limited in summer. We need to secure a constant flow of water to preserve the life of the lake." An urgent but costly filtration system would prevent the silting up and counter the increasing acidity caused by turf mould and other potential agricultural run-off.
"In view of the publicity surrounding the bypass, I would hope the needs of the lake will not be overlooked. Indeed I also hope the badgers who live near the part of the woods where the road might go will not be forgotten either." In another world, another time, priorities were different. The pocket-sized, leather-bound game book for 1873 belonging to the fifth and final Earl of Charleville - pages neatly divided into lists of pheasants, hares, rabbits, grouse, snipe and woodcock shot - records a shooting party that killed 7,131 wild creatures on December 9th, in the Charleville Forest estate. Hutton Bury disputes this figure as "outrageous and impossible". It is now illegal to shoot here on any scale without permission.
Unlike most similar estates, Charleville is not an official heritage property. "People have always been free to wander here at their risk as long as they respect the wildlife and the natural heritage."