Arniston

http://portal.historic-scotland.gov.uk/hes/web/f?p=PORTAL:DESIGNATIONS:0

Type of Site

A landscape park of the late 18th century and early 19th century (Thomas White improvement plan 1791) that incorporates features from a previous formal scheme part of which was designed by William Adam (1726-33).

Location and Setting

Arniston is situated on the east bank of the River South Esk some 12 miles (19.5km) south of Edinburgh. The A7(T) forms the eastern boundary of the policies beyond which lies the town of Gorebridge. The village of Temple is situated beyond the south-west corner of the Arniston policies. Arniston itself lies on an undulating plateau above the river valleys of the South Esk, the Gore Water and the Middleton Burn which run through the site to the west, north and south respectively. Beyond the northern boundary are the flat Lothian plains which extend to the River Forth. On a clear day, the Forth and the Hills of Fife can be seen beyond the policy woodlands from the top of the house. To the south the land rises gently to the Moorfoot Hills.

The surrounding landscape was used in the 18th century landscape design of Arniston to close vistas created as part of the formal design. The impact of the surrounding landscape has, however, been reduced over the years as the planting has matured and the overall scheme has become less formal. The woodlands and policy wall are of moderate significance in the local scenery.

Arniston House stands within some 1,052 acres (426ha) of designed landscape which extends north to Trotter Bridge, west to the woodlands on the banks of the River South Esk and east to the A7. The southern boundary of the policies today is formed by the B6372 which links Penicuik with Gorebridge, but an area to the south of this road was part of the original design and should still be considered as part of the designed landscape today.

Several maps exist to show the development of the estate since the 17th century. Reference to a 'Plan of the Policies prior to 1690', 'Plan of the Woods and Enclosures at Arniston in 1753' and the 1st edition OS map of c.1850 shows the landscape around old Arniston House in the 17th century, to be extremely simple and apparently confined to a walled enclosure around the house with some tree planting in the fields beyond. Following 1690, a new and more extensive landscape was laid out to the south of the house between it and the present southern boundary. After 1753, the estate of Shank, which lay to the north of Arniston, was purchased and the designed landscape was extended to include it. In the course of the subsequent years, it reached the form shown on the 1st edition OS map by the early 19th century.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Arniston House, listed category A, is a Georgian House begun in 1726 to the design of William Adam. Part of the old house dating from c.1620, which stood on the same site, was incorporated. The Adam Corps de Logis is three storeys high with a nine- bay front. It is connected by wings to twin pavilions, each two storeys high with three-bay front ends. The western third of the house was completed by Robert & John Adam between 1750-55 and a massive entrance porch was added by Wardrop & Reid in 1876. The porch on the garden front was added c.1800. The Orangery extends from the western pavilion and is included in this listing. It is now used for garden storage. The statues of sphynxes on the roof were added by the Chief Baron in The North Lodges and Gate, listed category B, are one-storey twin lodges which date from 1790. The roofs are platformed and a Lion, the Dundas family crest, surmounts one, whilst the other is surmounted by an Elephant, the crest of the Oliphant family; Katherine Oliphant was the wife of George Dundas who purchased the estate in 1571. The South Lodge, listed category C(S), is a one-storey random rubble building with the date 1826 inset into the north gable. The South Gates, or Cougar Gates, are listed category B. They are dated 1824 but were brought to Arniston at this time, having been acquired from a house in Nicholson Street, Edinburgh, where they were originally erected in 1766-67.

The Walled Garden, listed category B, stands to the south of the house, bounded on its south side by the B6372. It dates from c.1764 and was embellished with ornamentation, including three gates and a Loggia, from Parliament House, Edinburgh, after its demolition in 1808. A Grotto, listed category B, is situated to the north of the walled garden and is thought to have been formed from stones from Old Arniston House, one of which is dated 1644. There is also an Ice House. An Urn on an octagonal pedestal with two stepped bases, listed category B, stands in the wilderness area, and an Ornamental pillar, also listed B, which is thought to be particularly unusual stands in the same area. Both are thought to be 18th century in origin.

Parkland

The parkland extends on all sides of the house between the woodlands which flank the River South Esk and the East Lodge on the B6372. From the house, it extends north between the river and Arniston Mains Farm and encloses the walled garden at Shank. This layout was established in the early 19th century. William Adam's plan of 1726 included formal avenues and roundels in the parks to the north and east of the house but it would appear that these were never planted.

Thomas White prepared an improvement plan in 1791 which suggested extending the park much further south than the present park boundaries, to include all the farmland between the B6372 and the farms of Halkerston and Castleton. The present park boundaries are relatively similar to those of the 1st edition OS map indicating that the extent of the White plan was not fully adopted. The White plan assumed the removal of all the earlier formal features including the Wilderness and the Avenues. This part of the proposals was also dismissed, as were his suggestions for an extensive system of winding paths and drives. The informal landscape developed in the early years of the 19th century retained the Avenues and Drives of the previous scheme and some of the original trees of these features remain today. They include the remains of the south end of the Beech Avenue laid out between the house and what became the South Lodge, by Robert Dundas soon after he returned to Arniston in 1689. Also remaining are specimens of lime and oak on the Avenue between the house and the Home Farm, and the mature limes which stand on the lawn to the south of the house which are remnants of the Wilderness area which was laid out in accordance with William Adam's plan of 1726.

The parkland has been replanted with specimen trees including oak and sycamore by successive generations, in particular the great-grandfather of the present owner who held the estate c.1900.

Woodland

The present woodland structure dates from the informal improvements made c.1800- 1819 but it includes woodlands which were well established at Arniston by the early 18th century, following the plan by William Adam of 1726. Larch, which had been introduced the previous year, was used in the planting. Crow Wood and part of Carlisle Wood, situated to the south-east of the house, appear on Roy's map of c.1750. Between 1764-87, 'numerous woods and plantation were planted near the house', according to the Chief Baron's records.

Numerous rides and drives were extended through the woods in the early 19th century to the south of what is now the B6372 from Castlelaw Bridge through Crow and Carlisle Woods to the East and South Lodges. Much of the timber was felled on reaching maturity. The woods now have a mixed age structure. Robert Adam's Wood in the north of the policies and the woods along the banks of the River South Esk are mixed deciduous and the woods to the south of the B6372 are now largely coniferous.

The Gardens

Formal lawns are laid out adjacent to the south front of the house, fenced off from the park by an enclosure, the form of which appeared on the 2nd edition OS of c.1900. Some individual lime trees stand within this enclosure which are remnants of the formal layout designed by William Adam in 1726. Adam's plan (RHP 5246/3) was of a formal 'Wilderness' with trees underplanted with shrubs 'intersected in all directions by alleys bordered by yew hedges'. A pond formed the central feature of the Wilderness and the vista down the alley was closed on the hill beyond the Middleton Burn by a Cascade which reputedly was 'let off' when dinner was served. It is a striking feature on General Roy's plan of 1750. A sunken garden was apparently constructed as part of the scheme for the Cascade. The whole feature was lost around 1764 although the ground is still marshy today. The location of the parterre however can be detected on the lawn to the south of the house in appropriate weather conditions. A sundial now forms the central feature of this lawn.

The wild garden is situated between the Wilderness and the kitchen garden on either side of the Middleton Burn which has been canalised through this part of the garden. The wild garden was established after the construction of the kitchen garden in the 1760s. An early 19th century pen and ink sketch shows the valley floor of the garden at this time. On the lawns adjacent to the Burn, an ornamental urn formed the central feature of informal clusters of planting. By the late 19th century, this informal planting had gone as photographs show formal carpet bedding around the urn which remains today although the bedding has gone.

A footpath borders the lawns on the north side and, beyond it, the ground rises steeply to the parkland. These south-facing banks are planted out with yew, other ornamental conifers and beech, dating from the early to mid-19th century with late 19th century and early 20th century additions. Beneath the tree canopy, laurel and Rhododendron hybrids are well established along with other varieties of ornamental shurbs. To the north of the west end of the kitchen garden, the footpath runs to the grotto along the banks of the Burn and, here, the remains can be seen of moisture-loving plants which were established beside the cascades of the burn in the early 1900s.

Walled Garden

The kitchen garden was established on its present site, to the south of the house in 1764. It replaced a previous garden which was located to the east of the house on the north side of the east drive, and an orchard which stood on the south side of the east drive. The present garden is embellished with stone features from Parliament House which was demolished in 1808.

The new kitchen garden incorporated the large and small basins of the previous cascade system as shown on a plan of the garden described by Alan Tait in the Burlington Magazine, March 1969, 'William Adam and the Country Seat'. Reference to the 1st edition OS map indicates that the garden was laid out in a series of ten compartments with intersecting paths. The garden became a market garden following World War II and is still leased out as such today.

The walled garden of the Shank Estate is incorporated in the park to the north of the house. It was sold privately in recent years and is also run on a commercial basis.