Walled Garden, Gartmore House

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

Approximately rectangular, mid 18th century walled garden situated on a sloping site to the NE of Gartmore House. It was constructed using material from Gartartan Castle, a late 16th century or early 17th century ruinous Z-plan tower house and Scheduled Ancient Monument, which is located on the NW side of the garden. The garden dates from the period when the Graham family of Gartmore were carrying out improvements to their house and grounds, and laying out the planned estate village of Gartmore. It is a good surviving example of relatively unaltered walled garden, which incorporates much older fabric from Gartartan Castle.

Approximately 12 foot high random rubble walls with flat stone copes. Round-arched ashlar SW gateway with keystone and timber gate. SE gate with pediment above with C within, a reused fragment from Gartartan Castle, which according to the previous list description is dated 1686 (date not visible at time of resurvey, 2004). Broad, segmentally arched NW gate is obscured by ivy; a fine armorial panel above it which was extant in 1971 was not seen in 2004.

Another random rubble wall slices the garden in half along a SW-NE axis. Early 20th century postcards show that there was once an extensive series of glasshouses situated along S face of this wall. Of these, only the brick foundations survive. To the N of this wall are a series of lean-to brick buildings with corrugated iron roofs, which accommodated the heating system for the glasshouses, as well as potting sheds and gardeners' room. 1 chimney stack still survives.

At time of resurvey (2004) the S half of the garden was occupied by pigs, geese and beehives. The N section, which is currently overgrown, has 1 glasshouse (probably not in its original location) which is in a perilous condition.