Blair Castle, walled garden. General view of gardener's house from South-East. Digital image of B 30442.

Description Blair Castle, walled garden. General view of gardener's house from South-East. Digital image of B 30442.

Date 11/4/1990

Catalogue Number SC 767010

Category On-line Digital Images

Copy of B 30442

Scope and Content Gardener's House from south-east, Walled Garden, Blair Castle, Perth & Kinross This shows the two-storeyed, rubble-built gardener's house at the west end of the walled garden (now known as the 'Hercules Garden'). A rubble wall with arched gateway (right) surrounds the garden, and is ornamented by a white marble statue of 'Autumn' (to the left of the house). She is shown holding a sheaf of corn, and was sculpted by John Cheere (1709-87) in 1742. The head gardener of a country estate would be given a comfortable cottage for himself and his family, whereas his staff of under gardeners would share more basic accommodation. They would work in the kitchen garden providing fruit and vegetables for the estate, grow exotic flowers and fruits in the glasshouses, and tend the formal gardens and parkland. Blair Castle, the seat of the Dukes of Atholl, was begun in 1269, extended in the 15th and 16th centuries, and remodelled to resemble a Georgian mansion by architect James Winter in the mid-1700s. The south-east wing was built in 1743-5, and rebuilt to include a clock-tower to designs by architect Archibald Elliot in 1814 after a fire. The castle was 're-baronialised' to designs by architect David Bryce in 1869-71, who also designed the ballroom (1826-7). It was modified again in 1886 (J C Walker), 1904-5 (J McIntyre Henry) and 1920-1 (Sir Robert Lorimer). Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/collection/767010

File Format (TIF) Tagged Image File Format bitmap