Crathes Castle, Walled Garden
Walled Garden (Period Unassigned)
Site Name Crathes Castle, Walled Garden
Classification Walled Garden (Period Unassigned)
Alternative Name(s) Crathes Castle Policies
Canmore ID 77318
Site Number NO79NW 8.01
NGR NO 73478 96784
NGR Description Centred on NO 73478 96784
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/77318
- Council Aberdeenshire
- Parish Banchory-ternan
- Former Region Grampian
- Former District Kincardine And Deeside
- Former County Kincardineshire
NO79NW 8.01 73478 96784
NO 734 968 (centre) AOC (Scotland) Ltd undertook a desk-based assessment and walk-over survey of archaeological monuments as part of a survey of the designed landscape within the grounds of Crathes Castle. The surveys recorded 57 features, of which 15 were field boundaries, six were related to the water mains of Aberdeen Waterworks, four were recorded from aerial photographs, three were extractive sites, two were mounds, and the remaining 27 are almost exclusively related to the recent land-use within the Crathes Castle Estate. Four aerial photograph features were noted: one is scheduled and is thought to represent a timber hall akin to that excavated at Balbridie, across the Dee; a second coincides with a plantation feature recorded on the 1st edition OS map; and the remaining two sites represent amorphous groups of pits.
Sponsor: Peter McGowan Associates for National Trust for Scotland.
R McCullagh 1997.
NO 7350 9680 Complete late 18th-century glass wine bottle, found some time ago in yew hedge.
NO 7291 9700, NO 7303 9679 Numerous fragments of 19th and 20th-century wine and gin bottles in mixed dump deposits were recovered from the castle grounds. More than 300 bottles are represented.
NO 7338 9676 The removal of an old chestnut tree about 40m S of the castle led to the discovery of a dump of late 18th-century wine bottles, presumed to have been redeposited from a dump in another location. Other than fragments of slate, no other artefacts were present.
Sponsor: National Trust for Scotland
K Sabine 1997
NO 735 968 The development of the layout of the Rose Garden, partially known from documentary evidence, was explored by geophysical survey carried out by post-graduate students at Glasgow University in April and May 2000. The results of resistivity survey confirmed the photographic evidence published in 1913: the former central garden feature of four arcs of bed around a central trellis and, beyond, four small circular beds. Other features were detected, but they seemed unlikely to relate to (earlier) layouts of the garden.
R Jones 2000.
See reference to Crathes Castle
Field Visit (June 1997 - July 1997)
Much modified and constantly planted walled garden on several levels. Measuring circa 100 m and 250 m, this feature is orientated south south-west to north north-east and is walled on all sides. It has glass houses along its east side and a square doocot of an ornamental nature at its south-east corner (CRT97 029).
Information from NTS (BNMMB) November 2014
Watching Brief (8 August 2022 - 15 August 2022)
NO 73470 96780 The central compartment of the formal gardens which lie to the E of Crathes Castle, known as the Rose Garden, was being redesigned in 2022.
A desk-based assessment reviewed the evidence of the changes in the design of the garden between 1798 and the present and strategies were developed to test if any evidence of the earlier designs survived. The work was carried out from 8–15 August 2022. Small test-pits were cut across the line of earlier paths, the earlier make-up of existing paths was tested and a section of wall that was temporarily dismantled was recorded. A watching brief was then maintained on all groundbreaking works, partly to look for earlier garden layouts, but also to observe if any prehistoric finds or features were uncovered. No prehistoric finds or features were evident and no additional information was recovered of the earlier garden designs.
Archive: NRHE and Aberdeenshire HER
Funder: The National Trust for Scotland
Hilary and Charlie Murray – Murray Archaeological Services
(Source DES Volume 23)
