Glamis Castle

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Location and Setting

Glamis is situated about 12 miles (19.5km) north of Dundee in the broad vale of Strathmore. The Dean Water is canalised through the policies up to and past the Castle. Glamis Village lies at the junction of the A94 to Forfar, 5 miles (8km) to the east, and the A928 running along the west boundary of the park north to Kirriemuir, 4 miles (6.5km) away. The land slopes gently north from the Sidlaw Hills in the south to the Castle and the Dean Water. Strathmore is a fertile area and the soil is a rich loam, with much sand. However the short summer growing season does constrain the type and variety of plants that can be grown. There are magnificent views to the surrounding area from the parks and particularly from the roof of the Castle, the Grampian Mountains forming a magnificent backdrop to the north. The policy woodlands are particularly significant to the designed setting of the Castle. Views into the parks from the surrounding roads are limited by the woods and the high policy walls which form a significant scenic feature in themselves. The Castle is visible from the A928 to the west, and the farmed parks to the east are visible from the A94.

The Castle is set in the low plain of the Dean Water, unusual for such an old stronghold as Glamis. Tradition holds that attempts to build on higher land were foiled by the fairies who threw down the stones as soon as they were put up. However, the Castle was originally defended by a system of moats. By 1746 when Thomas Winter drew his plan of the Mains of Glamis 'as presently laid out', the designed landscape extended from north of the Dean Water to the north of the Castle to Crams Hill, Hunters Hill and Lera Park in the south. These hills were planted up with woodlands with a formal design of radiating avenues within. The main focus of the design was the straight approach road lined with a broad avenue which extended from the south woodlands north to the Castle. The parks around the Castle were enclosed in a diamond pattern, and a shrubbery area with serpentine walks lay to the south-east of the Castle. General Roy's plan of 1750 shows the same layout.

By 1860 and the 1st edition OS map, the railway had cut through the estate to the north of the Dean Water and the area south of the railway was shown enclosed as parkland with marshy areas and clumps of trees. The formal lines of the 1750s' plantings had disappeared, to be replaced by more fashionable, picturesque curves and with many individual trees in the parks. The extent of the designed landscape remains similar today although the woodland plantations to the south of the village of Glamis are regarded as outwith the policies and are planted commercially; they are recognised as significant features in the design and important to the views from the Castle. There are 1,080 acres (437ha) in the designed landscape today.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

The Castle is based on an old tower house with additions and improvements from 1606,1620,1690,1811,1849 and 1891. It is a five-storey L-plan building with two and three storey wings, and pepper pot turrets. It is listed A. All that remains in situ of the former court walls are the East and West Towers, listed B and thought to be 14th or 15th century. The Great Sundial brought in by the 3rd Earl between 1671-89 is 21' high, very ornamental, and is listed A. The Lead Statues of Charles I and James VI, discovered some years ago in a basement, have been reinstated in front of the Castle and are listed B. The Gladiator Gates, De'il Gates, and Church Lodge Gates are all listed B, and are late 17th century in origin, moved to their present position in the 1770s with 18th century screens. The Doocot is of 17th century lectern-type and was formerly attached to the offices; it has 750 nesting-boxes and is listed B. Earl John's Bridge on the north drive is dated 1697 and listed B. The North Bridge is dated 1866, (engineers, Blackadder) and is listed B. The East Bridge is listed C(S). The Ice House on the east drive is listed C(S). There are other features of architectural interest in the park including the Garden Cottage and Walled Garden with its three sets of huge wrought-iron gates, and the Statue of Mercury in the Dutch Garden. Glamis Village was built as an estate village to the south of the policies. The ha-ha walls c.1770 are part of the modified version of Abercrombie's plan of 1768.

Parkland

The parklands at Glamis contain many fine individual parkland trees of a variety of deciduous species: oak, lime, ash and beech, many dating from the laying out of the parks in the late 18th century. Comparison of the site today with the 1st edition OS map shows that more parkland trees have been added since 1860, and today they present a magnificent parkland scene. The south drive extends from Glamis Village up the long avenue as in former days, but with oaks, ash, horse chestnut and sycamore species in the avenue planting. The East Drive is still present along its former course but is now used mainly as an estate track. The fields to the east of the policy woodlands have also been planted with parkland trees in the past but they are now in agricultural use, as in the 1860s. To the north of the Dean Water is an area extending to Claypotts Wood, formerly called the Back Park Wood or Cossans Wood. This is an area of older birch woodland which has been separated from the main part of the policies since the railway was built. The land here is marshy, and in the 1930s a pond was made by Captain Michael Bowes Lyon, known as The Captain's Pond. This area is treated very much as a nature and wildfowl reserve and is not open to the public.

Woodland

There was much forestry planting in the 17th & 18th centuries at Glamis. The areas of woodland remain similar in size to those shown on the 1st edition OS map. Some areas have been felled and were completely replanted during the last war, eg Crams Wood and parts of Hunters Hill Wood, but the estate policy is to selectively fell and replace, retaining a mixed age range and a mixed species range, so that the amenity and shelter value of the woodlands is preserved. The woods are also managed for game-cover and for commercial purposes, and there is an estate sawmill.

The Gardens

Adjacent to the south-east front of the Castle is the formal sunken garden created by the 13th Earl and known as the Dutch Garden. It is a secluded, private garden with walls in the style of those at Edzell, and dated 1891 and 1893. A central feature is the Statue of Mercury in a pond which stands amid a formal display of box-edged beds filled with roses and annuals.

This was designed by Cecilia, wife of the 14th Earl, and was put in to the east of the Castle. The work involved felling and levelling about four acres of the Shrubbery between 1907-10. An inscription in the garden records the names of the local people who were involved in making the garden. The Countess recorded in the Gardener's Year Book that she designed the garden on the lines of the old French gardens, completely enclosed by clipped yew hedges. The large central parterre is shaped like a fan and radiates from the steps up to the terrace and was originally planted up in different colours to resemble a rainbow. The garden features two magnificent pleached beech alleys providing diagonal vistas between the formal beds and box-edged parterres infilled with gravel. A fountain, a seat and two gazebos are features in the garden. A new wrought-iron gate was designed in 1980 for the 80th birthday of the Queen Mother and was made up by a local blacksmith, George Sturrock. ^^ From the Autumn Garden a Yew Walk leads westward to the Dutch Garden and the Castle, and to the lawns in front of the Castle where the statues, sundial and some old yews stand.

Walled Garden

The five acre walled garden was constructed in 1865 by Mr Fowler from Castle Kennedy. It was kept up as a vegetable, fruit and flower garden until the 1970s, when it was let for commercial market gardening.

Arboretum

A new Gingko and Larch Avenue leads from the north-east side of the Castle north toward the walled garden and the pinetum. This area up to the river was planted as a shrubbery in the late 18th century and part of it was laid out by James Abercrombie and George Baillie. The pinetum was started in the mid-19th century by the 13th Earl and, in 1981, Alan Mitchell measured and listed over 130 specimen trees in this garden, one of his largest lists for a collection in Scotland. A nature trail with numbered posts winds through the area, underplanted with Rhododendrons and laurel, along the riverbank and back towards the east side of the Castle.