Dunimarle Castle

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

Type of Site

An 1840s picturesque-style, seaside castle-villa.

Location and Setting

Dunimarle Castle is situated north of the B9037 to the west of Culross, and south of the A985 Dunfermline-Kincardine road.

Dunimarle Castle occupies a spectacular setting in a highly elevated position overlooking the Firth of Forth. It is a 'most conspicuous object, when seen from the shores of the Forth' (Todd, 1873). The elaborate gothic ornamentation of the Castle and castellated garden walls were built to be appreciated from a distance and rely on an extensive landscape setting. Panoramic views of the Forth are gained from the East Terrace and from the Castle Terrace. Fine views of the Castle are gained from the foreshore. The contrived, long view from the North Avenue is aligned on the entrance gateway with views through to the Firth of Forth and beyond.

The landscape design aims at contrasting picturesque effects. This is provided by a formal, stately approach to the Castle from the landward side and, on the seaboard side, views of the Castle directly set against the Forth, with a wide panoramic backdrop of the Lothian coast.

The North Avenue and perimeter woodland belt enclosing the south side of the policies are depicted on an estate plan of 1839. The extent of the policies, recorded as being 56 acres (The New Statistical Account of Scotland, 1845; 1859-61, OS 6"), has changed little since.

Landscape Components

Architectural Features

Dunimarle Castle, a picturesque castellated castle of 1840, incorporates an earlier small 18th-century house. On the north-east façade of the castle is the gothic chapel-like 4-bay apsed Orangery, converted to domestic use. Its wall is skilfully designed to conceal the gardener working inside! Ruins thought to relate to the medieval Dunimarle Castle survive, incorporated into a west wall with a ruinous vaulted tower, integrated with the 19th-century Dunimarle Castle. A vaulted structure in the north-west end of the castle garden is thought to be either the remains of an Ice-house or the ground floor of a Tower (Gifford 1992, p.197). Downhill from the Castle is St Serf's Chapel, designed by Rowand Anderson c 1872 and the interiors finished in 1876. Some details derive from Culross Abbey Church.

The North Lodge, built c 1840 at the end of the north avenue, has an infilled, round-arched pend. A Castellated Gothic Gateway, with massive iron gates, leads from the forecourt terrace to the North Avenue. Many of the ancillary buildings in the service yard to the north of the castle have been taken down. South-east and south-west of the house is the Bastion Garden and Castle Terrace, contemporary with the picturesque castle.

The south-west side of the Kitchen Garden has a Castellated Screen Wall with towers at regular intervals terminating in a larger round tower at its south-western end. These towers served as stokeholes for a heated fruit wall, and form part of a Terrace Walk, supported on a rubble retaining wall. At the beginning of the terrace walk, a Lean-to Glasshouse with lancet windows, is the only one to survive from a range. The foundations of others lie at the southern end of the walled garden.

The ruins of West Church, reached by a track along the north drive, are medieval but extensively rebuilt.

Drives and Approaches

Today, the main approach lies from the south along a steep drive, bordered by mixed deciduous planting, with a burn to the west. Limes (Tilia x europaea) give the drive an air of formality. The north drive, traditionally the major entrance, about three-quarters of a mile in length, provides the most dramatic approach to Dunimarle, with the Firth of Forth slowly coming into view. It is planted with a mix of monkey puzzle (Araucaria araucana) and Wellingtonias (Sequoiadendron giganteum). Most of the trees in the northern section are dead and there are big gaps in the lower half. Contemporary sources indicate that this avenue was formally planted with a double row of Wellingtonias, alternating with Araucaria (Todd 1873). Views from the drive extend out to Culross Abbey and the ruins of St Mary's chapel.

Parkland

The parkland lies on the landward side and consists of square parks disposed to east and west of the North Drive. There is a small area of parkland with specimen trees at the base of the escarpment, alongside St Serf's Chapel.

Woodland

The majority of the woodland lies on the southern, seaboard, perimeter of the policies, planted to shelter the Castle, and consists of mixed deciduous trees including lime. There is also some woodland along the Dean Burn, to the east of the Walled Garden, and sheltering the garden from the south.

The Gardens

The gardens are confined to the Castle terraces and the Bastion Garden. The latter has a central, sunken Rose Garden. A major feature on the south front is the Castle Terrace, which leads to the Terrace Walk planted with Irish yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'), along the south front of the Walled Garden. Steps lead down from the east end of the walk to lower ornamental walks, now planted with rhododendrons. An early 20th-century postcard shows evergreen shrub planting on the steeper part of these slopes, likely to be Cherry laurel (Prunus laurocerasus) and Portuguese laurel (Prunus lusitanica). Walks lead along the wooded slopes below the Bastion Garden and the Terrace Walk and eastwards along the Dean Burn. Paths to the east along the Dean Burn are now unmanaged and overgrown.

Walled Garden

Orchards, probably those described in the 1841 account (Gardener's Magazine 1841) were sited to the south-east of the kitchen garden on the far side of the Dean Burn. These survived as orchards until the late 19th century (1896, OS 2").

The castellated screen wall of the Kitchen Garden lies perpendicular to the Castle Terrace. A holly (Ilex aquifolium) hedge forms other boundaries of the Kitchen Garden that is now down to grass. Only the bases and one chimney of the glasshouses remain.