Gordon Castle (also known as Bog o'Gight)

The following is from the Historic Environment Scotland Gardens and Designed Landscapes Inventory. For the most up-to-date Inventory entry, please visit the Historic Environment Scotland website:

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Type of Site

A late 18th and early 19th century designed landscape of parkland, policy woodlands, avenues and walks, with formal gardens, quarry garden and large walled kitchen garden and areas of 20th century commercial forestry plantations.

Location and Setting

Gordon Castle is situated on the flat coastal plain of the Moray Firth on the east side of the Spey Estuary. The town of Fochabers, built as an estate town on the southern boundary of the park, lies 1 mile (1.5km) south of the Castle. The coastal area is renowned for its relatively mild climate and for its fruit-growing. Views of the surrounding landscape are limited by the flat nature of the coastal plain and by the shelter plantings, which also screen inward views of the policies.

The drawing of 'Old Castle Gordon' in Pennant's Tours 1769, shows walled formal gardens to north and south of the old Castle with walled orchards to its west and east. The Castle was virtually rebuilt and Thomas White Snr was commissioned to landscape the park in c.1786. His design removed most traces of the previous formal layout, shown in General Roy's map of 1750, with its NNE/SSW and WNW/ESE avenues leading to the Castle with tangential lines and blocks of planting to the north and east. Some of the woodland was incorporated into White's design, particularly on either side of the road to Buckie (now the A98).

A survey of the Thomas White layout of the park shows that in 1808 the designed landscape extended from the River Spey in the west to Auchenhalrig in the north, to Bridge of Tynet in the east and to Fochabers in the south. It was at that time part of a much larger estate, indeed the 6th Duke of Richmond and Gordon in 1882 held 269,300 acres in Scotland. The policies today are considered to encompass the park immediately round the house bounded by the estate roads to west and east, extending to the Quarry Garden in the north-east and the kitchen garden and main gate in the south.

The original 'designed landscape' is now mostly farmed or planted by the Forestry Commission but with many parkland trees and clumps remaining. There are 2 acres (0.8ha) of woodland garden, some 3 acres (1.2ha) of formal garden round the house, and 128 acres (51.8ha) of mixed woodland between the Spey and the Quarry Garden. The market garden amounts to some 20 acres (8ha) including 8 acres (3.2ha) of enclosed wall garden. The designed landscape today extends to 1, 977 acres (800ha).

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Pennant's Tours 1769 contains an engraving of the Renaissance Style 'Old Castle Gordon' prior to its remodelling in that year. All that remains of the 568' frontage of Gordon Castle is the 84' tall central Tower, the East Wing and Conservatory, and part of the West Wing. Additions were made by John Baxter in 1769 and Archibald Simpson in 1822-7 after a fire in the East Wing. Only the East Wing is lived in today and Gordon Castle is category A. The laundry remains and has been converted into two cottages. The main gates were built in the late 18th century and are category B listed. Bellie Lodge is situated at the entrance to the north of the Castle and the park wall extends for several miles; it is dated 1860 and is category C(S) listed. The East Lodge is category A listed and the Roman Camp Gate Lodge, dated 1823, is category B listed.

The Walled Garden is very large and at one time was divided into 16 compartments; the north-east compartment contains several glasshouses. Two cottages are set into the north wall and the whole is category B listed. To the north of the walled garden is the old village Mercat Cross, category B listed. There are various ornaments in the grounds including the urns along the main driveway, the 1540 fountain in the Formal Garden, and the balustrading and the deer statues on the terrace. The Eagles mounted on the front gatepiers were brought here from Lady Gordon Lennox' family home. The Quarry Gardens contained a temple and pavilions but these are overgrown today; the Gate Lodge is category B listed.

Parkland

In 1882, Gordon Castle was recorded as having 'a beautifully wooded deer park and policies', the former being 1,300 acres in extent. The Deer Park is no longer parkland but the policies remain much as they were in 1882, although some of the individual parkland trees have been lost. There used to be a 9- hole golf course to the north of the house and this can be seen in the photographs dated 1931, at the Castle. The main entrance by Fochabers has an impressive archway and the drive goes straight for 0.5 mile to the Castle. Thomas White's park design did not meet with universal praise, since Thomas Skrine described it in 1795 as 'a flat and ill-kept lawn surrounded by its thick plantations and not even commanding a view of the Spey, though perpetually subject to its inundations'. However, by 1826, Loudon records that 'the grounds were celebrated for their fine woods, extensive gardens and romantic walks'.

Woodland

A large area of the former estate woodlands are now under commercial forestry management by the Forestry Commission. Within the policies there has been some conifer planting in shelterbelts but most of the woodland clumps, parkland trees and avenues are planted with deciduous species. The management policy is for replacement planting with similar species. A beech/copper beech avenue was planted in the 1920s to the north-east of the house toward the Quarry Garden. There is a lime and beech avenue to the east of the Broad Walk which is about 180 years old and some beeches remain along the main drive. The loch is surrounded by deciduous woodlands which include some oaks over 200 years old. Within the policies there are several unusual trees which have been measured and recorded by Alan Mitchell. These include some larches thought to have been planted in 1738 from the famous parcel of seeds from John Menzies in 1737, the largest Western Hemlock in Scotland, and one of the largest Morinda Spruce in this country which was planted in 1856.

The Gardens

Photographs of the grounds at the end of the last century show a large area of formal gardens extending along the south frontage of the Castle symmetrical in structure and bisected by the Broad Walk which ran from the Central Tower southwards. The detail of the gardens appears asymmetrical with different sized ponds in each half of the garden; however, all but one has been filled in. Since World War II, General Sir George and Lady Gordon Lennox have restored part of the formal garden in front of the East Wing and retained the pond with its fountain, dated 1540. The balustrades have been re-positioned and the Broad Walk is now grassed over. The formal beds are planted with roses. Some of the plant material survived from before the last war, particularly the species Rhododendron, some of which are thought to be 100 years old. South of the formal garden, an avenue runs parallel to and east of the Broad Walk and a former small loch has been filled in and is now a tennis court. An 1842 bill receipt refers to the provision of water for a fountain, from the sawmill through 'bored trees' to the south end of the Broad Walk, for the fountain and a new stair (Price £164.14).

A photograph at the Castle shows the Quarry Garden before it became overgrown, with steps, clipped yew bushes, a fountain and a shrubbery planted with Azaleas.

Walled Garden

The kitchen garden is very large and the walls are about 15' high and possibly predate the Thomas White park layout, when the Bog of Gight village would have been near this garden.