Walled Garden, Castle Dobbs, Dobbsland, Carrickfergus, Co Antrim, BT38 9BU

A walled garden built circa 1840, located within the demesne to the west of Castle Dobbs. This is a fine example of an estate walled garden, retaining its original form and layout, and remains intact and maintained by the current owner.

The garden is rectangular on plan with a mono-pitched glasshouse positioned at the south-west corner. Single-storey potting sheds abut the south wall internally. The walling is constructed of coursed rubble basalt over a projecting plinth, with rounded rubble coping. A single rendered corbelled chimneystack stands at the south-east corner.

The principal elevation faces west. At the left, a red brick projecting bay with flat concrete coping contains a segmental-headed entrance to the garden, finished with brick voussoirs. Double-leaf vertically sheeted timber doors with a pass door occupy this opening. To the right, curved walling continues around the north and east elevations, with cast-iron wall-ties at the base. The east elevation comprises continuous rubble walling at the left, with a brick bay at the right containing a vertically sheeted timber door. The south elevation is ruled-and-lined rendered. The glasshouse abuts this elevation at the right, built on a rubble plinth with timber casement openings to the base and red brick surrounds; a square-headed timber vertically sheeted door opens to the east. Recesses at high level on the south elevation reveal rubble structure behind, indicating evidence of a previous structure.

The garden is set within a mature estate landscape to the west of Castle Dobbs, with a gardener's cottage and the ruin of the ancient Castle Dobbs—including remains of an archway and tower—located to the west; Castle Dobbs itself lies to the east.

The demesne of Castle Dobbs was established in the sixteenth century, with the present house dating to circa 1730. This walled garden was a later addition to the demesne, likely built around 1840 in tandem with the neighbouring gardener's cottage. The garden first appears in the Griffith's Valuation of 1859, listed as a house, office, gate lodge and land, initially valued at £45 and later revised to £12 5s. An accompanying note records that "the old farm lot & offices have been pulled down & the new ones built…the amount in the old book to be altered". Valuation Revisions from the 1870s record the occupier as Conway Dobbs, held in fee, with the valuation set at £120, revised in 1878 to £128. By 1886 the occupier had changed to Montague Dobbs. In 1904 the gate lodge entry was crossed out and changed to a house designation; at this time a 'gardeners house' was entered in the description, with a note stating 'gate lodge deducted in 1904'. A smaller house was also annexed from the main estate valuation, occupied by Jacob Johnston and leased from M.W. Dobbs, valued at £2 10s, though it is unclear which building this refers to. By 1914 the entry for Castle Dobbs listed a house, office, steward's house, gardener's house and land, with a building valuation of £125. The gate lodge was recorded as occupied by Johanna Holt and subsequently by John Bowes in 1915.

The walled garden retains group value with the main house and the other listed buildings of the Castle Dobbs estate.