Description

1726, William McGaw, mason from Newburgh, Fife. Fine large rectangular-plan walled garden and adjoining part-walled orchard sited to E of Moncreiffe House at foot of Moncreiffe Hill with open S aspect to take full advantage of sun and winter light. Ha-ha, sited to form visual link between Walled Garden and Moncreiffe House, and demarcating pleasure garden area at E house from track and less formal walks across Moncreiffe Hill to N.

FURTHER DESCRIPTION:

WALLED GARDEN: high flat-coped rubble walls with large roughly squared sandstone quoins, margins and lintels. Early studded timber door to W, decorative ironwork pedestrian gate to S and broad segmentally-arched entrance to NW. N wall has remains of greenhouses to S elevation and potting shed to N.

HA-HA: roughly coursed snecked rubble ha-ha.

Statement of Interest

B Group with Moncreiffe House, Stables, Dairy, Dovecote, Filter Bed and Water Tank, Gamekeeper's Cottage, Garden Cottage, West Lodge and Gate, and East Gate.

The large well-preserved Walled Garden and Orchard at Moncreiffe are key elements of the estate and make a significant contribution to the surviving group of estate buildings. Typically for the period, the garden is sited some distance from the house, and the Ha-Ha forms an important visual link between formal pleasure and work zones, while the orchard at the opposite end of the Walled Garden leads to the Garden Cottage (separately listed).

The walled garden was a vital element and would have been central to the successful running of the estate. Owing to Scotland's tradition of fruit growing it is likely that at least part of the earliest walled gardens were orchards. By the 18th century the walled garden had become visually important, and this is reflected at Moncreiffe as the south gate links to a network of paths which encompass the ruins of Moncreiffe Chapel (a Scheduled Monument).

An altered rectangular-plan building close to the NW of the Walled Garden may have been an Ice House, but this cannot be confirmed from the early maps. It is probable that there were two Ice Houses as mentioned by Gifford, but these were not located 2009.

Moncreiffe House dates from 1962, it replaces a house destroyed by fire in 1957.

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q77781636

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Pevsner's Architectural Glossary (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Period Property Manual (New Ed)
• 
  Bristol (Pevsner Architectural Guides: City Guides)
• 
  London 4: North: North v. 4 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Lancashire: Manchester and the South-East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)