Walled Garden, Brodick Castle, Arran, Ardrossan and Arran, North Ayrshire

Description

1769. 4-sided irregular walled enclosure of 4 acres, with 19th and 20th century ancillary buildings against N wall. Pink sandstone rubble walls with slab coping. S wall, to coastal road, with upper 2 courses of squared rubble. W wall, breached and patched in places, partly integral to gable of adjacent sawmill on W and E wall of cottage on SW. N wall with vehicle aperture midway along, and integral to 3 ancillary lean-to structures against outside wall. E wall entrance, with timber gates to castle's western entrance drive. Cottage garden on outside of SW corner, with lower S wall with boulder coping, timber gate, and squared stone piers with pyramidal copes. Dwarf walls of sandstone rubble enclosing raised beds along N side of Nursery.

BOTHY AND OFFICE (NS 01318 37711): 19th C. Lean-to building of random rubble, with ashlar quoins. Slate roof with 3 skylights. Vertically boarded timber door in E gable. Interior: painted stone walls, plasterboard walls, stud partition with hollow door. Early 21st century kitchen sink and units, plasterboard ceiling, concrete screed floor.

BOILER HOUSE (NS 01350 37716): 19th C. Semi-submerged monopitch structure of random rubble and rendered brick, corrugated iron roof. Square brick stack with ceramic can. Stone steps down to entrance on E between stone retaining walls. Interior: timber rafters, rubble walls with remains of rendering, square brick flue on concrete base.

CHEMICAL STORE (NS 01363 37719): circa 1930 lean-to building of rendered brick, with 2 vertically boarded timber doors, timber sash and case windows. Interior: lavatories and store.

GARDENER'S COTTAGE: Mid-19th century. Single storey, rectangular-plan cottage adjoining the external wall of the garden at the SW corner. Stugged pink sandstone rubble with ashlar dressings, rear wall formed by garden wall. Rendered lean-to bathroom extension to E and vestibule extension to W. Timber lean-to shed to S. Piend roof of grey slates, with ridge stack. Multi-pane timber sash and case windows. Hopper windows to extensions. Timber door. Bracketted eaves. Cast-iron rainwater goods. NW angle splayed. Interior: Plaster walls. Vertically boarded timber door of recent construction to main room. Hollow timber doors elsewhere. Only a few original features, including timber skirtings, architraves and panelling in window embrasures.

Statement of Interest

Part of A Group at Brodick Castle Estate comprising: Brodick Castle; Bavarian Summerhouse; Cnocan Burn Road Bridge; Greenhyde and Castle Cottages; Ice House; Walled Garden; the Nursery; Main Gates, West Gates and Coastal Boundary Walls; South Gates; Sylvania and Brodick Kennels.

The Nursery was an important component in the Brodick Estate providing both saplings for timber aforestation and ornamental varieties for the pleasure gardens. It was also used for food production and as a general service area. A tree nursery appears to have existed on the site by the time the enclosing wall was built in 1769, with a further nursery area to the NE, outside the wall. It is believed to have taken over the role of kitchen garden when the Walled Garden below the castle was laid out as pleasure grounds in the mid-19th century - see separate listing.

At the time of the 1864 OS survey the NE quarter was still in use as a tree nursery. The Boilerhouse and Bothy against the exterior N wall were also present at this time. The cottage was built between 1864 and 1900, on a vacant triangular plot. The west wall of the Nursery was breached in the 1950s to allow vehicle access to the sawmill. It has not been rebuilt. A large glasshouse, know as the Buchanan Glasshouse was brought from Buchanan Castle in 1948, presumably to replace the earlier structure that appears in historic maps, and using the same dwarf wall base courses. In 1958 the large glasshouse was heated by electricity and 8 smaller greenhouses by a single coke burning boiler, no longer extant. The large glasshouse was removed in the 1980s and the ensuing dwarf walls now serve as raised beds. The SE quarter of the Nursery is occupied by Shore Lodge: single-storey hostel accommodation, with pitched roofs, on an E-plan built in 2000. This is screened and enclosed by hedges. The New Tractor Shed, a recent timber clad structure with pitched roof, is set in NE corner. Also present are recent metal framed greenhouses, a timber framed greenhouse of circa 1930, and several ad-hoc structures.

Brodick Castle Estate, now a discreet entity, was originally the nucleus of the Lands of Arran. Fought over during the Scottish War of Independence, it was transformed into an Earldom and granted to James Hamilton by his cousin, King James IV, in 1503. The Isle of Arran remained as one of the minor estates of the Dukes of Hamilton until the late 19th century. Agricultural improvements in the 18th century, culminating in the clearances of the early 19th century, eventually displaced the small scale and subsistence farming on the island. In the mid-19th, improved transportation made Brodick an attractive picturesque resort and hunting destination for the Hamiltons and the castle was substantially rebuilt with the area around it laid out as gardens and pleasure grounds. On the death of the 12th Duke, in 1895, Brodick passed to the future Duchess of Montrose. In 1957 the Castle and the policies immediately surrounding were conveyed to the National Trust for Scotland.

List description revised and category changed from B to C(S) as part of the National Trust for Scotland Estates Review, 2010-11.

External Links

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