Early Scottish gardens : a writer's odyssey / Sheila Mackay.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Mackay, Sheila.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gardens--Scotland--History.

Gardens.

History.

Scotland.

Physical Description:

v, 216 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations, map ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Edinburgh : Polygon at Edinburgh, [2001]

Summary:

What did early Scottish gardens look like? How did these gardens relate to the house and how did passing time affect their development? Where did the plant stock come from: herbs, shrubs, annuals and perennials, from the thistle to the rose? Did the gardens match the richly embellished interiors of Scots aristocrats and merchants, particularly after the Reformation? Evocative and tantalising remains of 'missing gardens' such as earthworks, stone walls, doocots, date stones, terracing, traceries of paths, sundials, a few ancient yews, and gardens themselves -- Culross, Edzell, Pitmedden, Kinross -- fire the imagination as the author guides the reader on a personal tour of 16th-, 17th- and 18th-century gardens of Scotland.

Contrary to popular belief within British garden history, designed landscapes have played a vital role in the lives of aspiring Scots from the 16th century, with paintings from the time depicting elaborate gardens to match houses and interiors that reflected status, wealth and a sense of self-esteem. In her exploration of these designed landscapes -- from Royal Gardens around 1500 to The Hermitage in 1750 -- Sheila Mackay reveals the dramatic developments that occurred during this period.

This is a history peopled with the characters of the time, and includes extracts from poems, paintings and drawings of gardens throughout the period. Imaginative reconstructions of gardens for the people of the time -- a 16th-century garden for the calligrapher Esther Inglis and a 17th-century landscape for the portrait painter George Jamesone -- and the creative re-design of the ground of the Pleasaunce at Edzell Castle in light of contemporary European developments enhance the sense of the inspired designs of the time.

An evocative picture is painted of these gardens and it is hoped that this will inspire the reader to make their own distinctive maps and undertake their own explorations of the gardens of Scotland.

Contents:

1. Arthur's Seat and the Royal Park 7

2. Hidden Gardens 17

3. The Pleasaunce at Edzell 33

4. Royal Gardens in the Landscape 43

5. 'Gentimenis Places and Gret Palices' 61

6. 'A Delictible Time of Peax' 71

7. Gardens for Delight's Sake 95

8. 'Paradisi in Sole' 117

9. 'Furor Hortensis' 155

10. 'Improvement' 187

Appendix I Notes on the Art of Memory 202

Appendix II List of plants growing at St Mary's Pleasance, Haddington 205.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

0748662545

OCLC:

47824485