Inveraray Castle

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

Type of Site

Inveraray is a designed estate landscape with castle focal point incorporating an 18th-century improvement landscape (parklands, garden buildings and vast woodland plantations) and planned town.

Location and Setting

Inveraray is the ancestral home of the Dukes of Argyll. The focal point of the designed landscape is Inveraray Castle, located at the mouth of the River Aray on the north-western shores of Loch Fyne. The planned town of Inveraray is the traditional county town of Argyll, located 600 metres northwest of the castle. Three fingers of naturally low-lying land extend outward from the castle into Glen Aray to the northwest, Glen Shira to the northeast and the large tract of land known as the Fisherlands (or alternatively the Argyll Fields) to the southwest. These low-lying areas form the parklands and pastures of the designed landscape. The boundary broadly follows the sloping contours of woodland plantation surrounding these three flatland areas including Ballantyre Wood, Brackley Wood, Dub-Loch Wood and the plantations at Sron-ghabh and Tom-breac. The Woodlands, covering more than 4000 acres, are a key component of the landscape intervention. Loch Fyne, one of Scotland's largest sea-lochs, borders the designed landscape to the southeast. The distant mountains and high moorland of Argyll provide a wider setting for both the castle and the planned town.

The 18th century planned town of Inveraray is located on a natural promontory on Loch Fyne known historically as the Gallows Foreland Point. To the northwest of the castle, Dun Na Cuaiche (the hill of the cup) and the watchtower on its summit, is a dominant part of the natural topography making a significant contribution to the setting of the castle and the overall experience of the designed landscape.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

The Inveraray Castle designed landscape provides the setting for over 100 listed buildings, more than 30 of which are ancillary to the castle. The pervading character is Gothick and rustic forms infused with classical order and proportion. Various works by Roger Morris, William Adam and Robert Mylne accord with flourishing ideas of the 'sublime' in landscape and garden design between 1750 and 1800. Inveraray Castle was begun in 1746 to designs by Roger Morris. The building is an important and influential example, blending Gothick and castellated elements with classical order and proportion, to simultaneously reflect dualistic ideas of both ancestry and progress. William and John Adam were the superintendents of works. The architect Anthony Salvin added the conical towers and a third floor in 1877 following a major fire.

The planned town of Inveraray (largely 1750 to 1790) is Scotland's most ambitious and distinguished early model planned town. It acts as the principal counterpoint to the castle within the designed landscape. The structured order of the central axial plan configuration with the prominent point-of-view locations of key buildings on Front Street and Main Street with Inveraray Town Church (designed 1792 by Robert Mylne) at its centre embodies 18th century improvement ideals in architectural form. The order and linearity of the central plan is juxtaposed with the irregular height and massing of the buildings lining Front Street. Some of the earliest buildings in the town on Front Street include the former Town House and the Great Inn, both 1750 by John Adam. Robert Mylne's round-arched Screen Wall (1790) helps unify the town frontage as part of the wider setting of the castle. The layout of the planned town was influential, anticipating the towns founded by the British Fishery Society across Scotland after 1800 such as Oban and Ullapool.

Key architectural features in the wider environs of the designed landscape include the commanding Watchtower (1747-8 by Roger Morris), crafted to give the impression of a building of antiquity. It stands on the 248 metre high hill of Dun Na Cuaiche to the northeast of the castle and is the principal high ground viewpoint for the castle, town, parklands and plantations with the loch, moorland and mountains of Argyll forming the wider backdrop. The large cylindrical tower Dovecot (1747 by Roger Morris) at Carloonan at the northern end of the park is an important element of the built landscape drawing the eye into the furthest reaches of the parkland, terminating the vista of the Oak Walk avenue. It is visible from the Garden Bridge (1761 by John Adam) two kilometres away at the south end of the avenue. The handsome Aray Bridge (1774 by Robert Mylne) carries the road across the mouth of the river to the south of the castle. The circular void at the centre of this humpback bridge is aligned with the Carloonan Dovecot along the axis of the Oak Walk avenue to the north (vista now obscured by trees) and the bridge is also framed by the arched screen wall at the head of the Town Avenue to the southwest. There are fine views of both the castle and the town frontage from the summit of the bridge. The rusticated temple-like spring house known as the Bealach an Fhurrain Well (circa 1747 by William Adam or Roger Morris) is located on sloping ground behind the Upper Avenue on the axis of the lime avenue extending from the castle. It was a popular excursion for visitors to the castle in the 18th century, and it also supplied the town of Inveraray with water for a period. The most northerly bridge in the policies is the Carloonan Bridge (1757 by William Douglas) in Glen Aray and the most easterly is the Kilblaan Bridge (1761) in Glen Shira.

Cherrypark Court Of Offices (1760 by John Adam), now the Argyll Estate Office, is a symmetrical Neo-Palladian square with pyramidal corner blocks around a cobbled courtyard. A domed Ice House (1781 by Robert Mylne) stands a short distance to the north of Cherry Park. Further northwest, the Walled Garden (1752-55 by James Potter) incorporates a high, 450 metre long wall. The adjoining Gardener's Cottage was remodelled in the 19th century. The 19th century glasshouses have been restored and are used to grow flowers for the castle's formal garden. To the north of the walled garden, the surviving buildings of the Maltland Square complex continue to evoke the agricultural ambitions of the ducal estate during the 18th century. The Glen Aray parkland provides the setting for the surviving buildings at Maltland Square include the restored and converted 'Great Shade' Barn (1774), the former Coach House (circa 1760) and former Riding School (1780).

To the east at the mouth of the River Shira, are the Garron Bridge (1747-49 by Roger Morris and William Adam) and the Garron Lodge and Screen Wall (1775-6 by Robert Mylne). This important group of buildings served as a processional introduction to the designed landscape when arriving from the northeast with long views from the Garron Bridge towards the planned town two kilometres away across the bay. The lodge was built for a new private approach drive to the castle established circa 1775. Robert Mylne provided designs for the Dubh Loch Bridge (1785) and also Maam Steading (1790), an important half-circular Gothick agricultural range on the flatlands of Glen Shira. The circular 'Beehive' Cottage (1801 by Alexander Nasymth) is situated in woodland on the southwest slopes of Dun Na Cuaiche. The 'Fishing House' (1802 by Nasmyth) is a hexagonal summerhouse near the waterfall at Carloonan. North Comalt Lodge and South Comalt Lodge, sited toward the southern end of the Fisherland Meadow, are early 19th century and may also be by Alexander Nasmyth.

Drives and Approaches

The Lime Avenue (circa 1650) is the historic processional approach to the castle. Orientated on the southwest axis, it extends across the Wintertown Park. The new castle was begun in 1746 in front of the 15th century castle (demolished by 1775) using the same lime avenue axis. The Lime Avenue is no longer used as an approach but remains a fine feature of the present designed landscape. At its southwest end, the Lime Avenue adjoins the less formal Upper Avenue (probably established circa 1650-80) bordering the north side of the Fisherlands. At its far end, the Upper Avenue joins the Queen's Drive which meanders on higher ground through the Ballantyre woodland to the north.

The Town Avenue runs the full length of the Fisherlands tract parallel to the shore of Loch Fyne. This was originally the 'Great Beech Avenue' (circa 1650-80), part of a processional approach to the ancestral seat from the southwest. From 1750 the avenue served as a separating boundary between the Duke's parkland and the developing new town. It was felled in 1955 due to over-maturity and has subsequently been partly replanted.

The Oak Walk avenue is the primary co-axial route northwards across the policies. It extends over the garden bridge through the Duchess Louise Wood towards Carloonan and predates the 1747 dovecot terminus eye-catcher to the north. An extended avenue of oak trees crossing the northern parkland leading to the dovecot, shown on various early plans, was probably removed at some point between 1750 and 1800.

The shift away from the axial formality of the earlier avenues is recognisable in the lengthy Grand Approach (circa 1775). Beginning at the Garron Lodge two kilometres to the northeast of the castle, the approach passes behind the A83 following a meandering route around the lower slopes of Dun Na Cuaiche where glimpses down towards the castle and town were stage-managed by the arrangement of parkland specimen trees. The approach emerges from woodland alongside the River Array and passes over the Garden Bridge to further heighten the effect of progression before reaching the castle.

The principal approach to the castle in the present designed landscape is from the Wintertown Gate. It proceeds from the Castle Lodge (1795) at the north end of the town's Front Street, westwards across the Wintertown Park.

Parkland

The parklands broadly occupy the areas of low-lying land at the foot of Glen Aray and neighbouring Glen Shira, and the tract of land to the southwest known as the Fisherlands. The man-made serpentine watercourse that runs south from Carloonan Mill, parallel to the River Aray, remains evident in the present landscape and is shown on Patterson's 1756 survey plan. By the mid-19th century the layout of the parklands had moved further towards a naturalistic, more informal arrangement. The 1870 Ordnance Survey map shows numerous specimen trees growing in the parkland and edging the rides. A number of 18th century examples are evident across the parkland, particularly around the banks of the River Aray, and are apparent on recent satellite mapping. A programme of replanting in key areas of the parklands is on-going. In the present landscape, much of the parklands and farmland are grazed with livestock. The Fisherlands meadow was drained in the 1740s and this large open area of parkland was planted with four roundels of trees by the 3rd Duke. In the present landscape, the large roundel near the centre of the tract continues to provide a punctuation point of visual interest for long views southwards across the parkland from the castle and particularly from the watchtower on Dun Na Cuaiche. The track running through the middle of the Fisherland Meadow and skirting the large roundel is first shown on George Langland's map of 1801. The remains of two further roundels are located further southwest on what is now the Inveraray golf course, behind the post-war housing scheme at Newton. A private housing development has more recently been built along this section axis of the Town Avenue (2005-10).

Woodland

The first recorded woodlands were planted by the 8th Earl of Argyll circa 1650 although some of the larger trees measured in the late 18th century were likely to have been planted earlier. The Statistical Account of Scotland records that the 9th Earl planted the hillsides of Dun Na Cuaiche with oak, Scots pine, ash, beech and plane. The triangle of woodland to the north of the castle known as the Duchess Louise Wood is bordered on two sides by the River Aray and is likely to have been first planted in the late 17th or early 18th century. In the present landscape, mature hardwood mixed woodland, particularly on the lower lying slopes of Dun Na Cuaiche and around Strone Point, provide colour and texture, acting as a framing device for Inveraray Castle. In 1746 Duke Archibald planted Leachan Mor and several farms at Inveraray with woodland. Further woodland was planted in 1771 and between 1805 and 1808, predominantly oak, beech, lime, larch, fir, horse chestnut and sweet chestnut. More was planted by the 6th Duke and the lists of trees planted in this period are given in the Statistical Account of 1845. The Statistical Account notes that between 1832 and 1837, the 7th Duke planted over 400,000 trees including 170 000 oak, 10 000 plane and 5 000 laburnum. Between 1853 and 1883 more than two million oak, larch, Scotch fir and spruce were planted. In 1888 Ballantyre Wood was planted with exotic conifers including Douglas fir and giant fir. This was the first forestry plantation of these species in Scotland. Exotic conifers and other ornamental trees were planted around the skating pond and near the kiln house in Brackley Wood. Around 1950, much of the woods were replanted with conifers as a commercial crop. Today, the balance has shifted further with conversion to the spruce monoculture typical of commercial forestry. Several exotic examples remain and the spiky canopy protrudes above the younger conifers. The 4,305 acre (1,742ha) extent of the woodlands and plantations has remained largely unchanged since the mid-19th century.

The Gardens

The present formal garden features an arrangement of six parterres established between 1840 and 1870 on the southwest axis of the castle. There are two roundels, with paths and bedding forming the pattern of the St Andrew's Cross. It also contains a sundial with an octagonal pedestal and a range of fragments of marble statuary. In the less formal area to the south, exotic trees and various varieties of fruit trees, herbaceous plants and shrubs including rhododendrons, azaleas, magnolias and heathers were planted from 1900 onwards. Two wrought iron guns, retrieved from the Spanish Armada galleon sunk in Tobermory harbour in 1740, border the path extending to the south. In 1982 over 38 trees were measured within the garden grounds including old examples of cedar, yew and a larch dating from 1746. More recently the rose garden has been renovated and replanted with colourful shrub roses.

The A83 runs along the shore of the loch while the A819 cuts through the landscape along Glen Aray to the north of the castle. Strone Point, two kilometres east of the town, is also within the boundary of the designed landscape. Strone Point is recognised by Scottish Natural Heritage as a Site of Special Scientific Interest (see references) for its national geological interest due to its position close to the centre of the Dalradian Supergroup fold complex, one of the most interesting geological folds in the British Isles and responsible for the rugged topography surrounding Inveraray. The castle itself is built from local green chlorite schist.

Viewpoints include the introductory view of the town from the Garron Bridge at the mouth of Glen Shira and the view of the town and castle simultaneously from the Aray Bridge. Key views across the designed landscape are from the watchtower at the summit of Dun Na Cuaiche. Significant long range views include the hills of Strachur and Cruach-nan-Capull and the A815 road along the opposite side of Loch Fyne. The annual rainfall is high with an average of 2,300mm and the soils are slightly acid. The low-lying coastal areas are influenced by the Gulf Stream and associated maritime weather conditions.