Sir, - Apropos the recent letter from Desmond Guinness (September 11th) concerning our disregard of our national heritage, I should like to suggest an historical analogy, however strained, between Carton and its importance to the Irish nation and that of Blenheim to England and Versailles to France. I would suggest to the English that the parterre d'eau at Blenheim would make an excellent water hazard to an 18th hole and the Petit Trianon at Versailles a most commendable clubhouse. Further developments could then ensue in both instances: hotel accommodation, with luxury bungalows scattered here and there in the landscape and, given the plentitude of water in both locations, watersports. After all, both these nations have a lot to learn from us in the preservation of national heritage. - Yours, etc.,
Dermot Walsh, Warrington Place, Dublin 2.