Detail of carved head on arch over grotto (no.5 on plan).

Description Detail of carved head on arch over grotto (no.5 on plan).

Date 1/4/1999

Collection Records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS), Edinbu

Catalogue Number SC 757583

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of D 59530 CN

Scope and Content Detail of carved head over grotto, Drummond Castle, Perth & Kinross This shows a carved stone head representing Neptune, god of the sea. He is shown as a bearded old man with seaweed and shells in his hair. The sculpture forms part of a grotto below the terrace which leads down to the formal parterre gardens. Within the grotto are carved stone shells and white quartz rocks. Grottoes were fashionable features in houses and gardens from the 17th century onwards, and varied in complexity from simple shell-lined niches to huge complexes of man-made caves with fountains, shell work, statues and cascades. A growing interest in natural history made grottoes popular for the display of mineral and shell specimens, as well as picturesque areas for entertaining. Drummond Castle was built c.1490, but the complex of buildings visible today consist of a gatehouse which was added in 1630-6 by architect John Mylne III (1611-67) and an L-plan mansion built for the 4th Earl of Perth in 1689. The mansion was extended in the 18th or early 19th century, and remodelled in Baronial style into its present form by architect G T Ewing in 1878 and 1900. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap