Listed Building

The only legal part of the listing under the Planning (Listing Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997 is the address/name of site. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing – see 'About Listed Buildings' below for more information. The further details below the 'Address/Name of Site' are provided for information purposes only.

Address/Name of Site

BENMORE BOTANIC GARDEN, BENMORE HOUSE, FERNERYLB6436

Status: Designated

Documents

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Summary

Category
B
Group Category Details
100000020 - See Notes
Date Added
19/06/1992
Supplementary Information Updated
04/06/2021
Local Authority
Argyll And Bute
Planning Authority
Argyll And Bute
Parish
Dunoon And Kilmun
National Park
Loch Lomond And The Trossachs
NGR
NS 13539 85160
Coordinates
213539, 685160

Description

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

The fernery at Benmore is a rare survival of this type of building. Few ferneries survive in any condition in Scotland. This example, although it is ruinous, retains its walls and internal features. It is a rare structure and important as an integral part of the gardens at Benmore.

The fernery, which is built into a steep-sided cleft using rubble, is rectangular in plan with semicircular gables. The entrance is to the S and supports a stone arch, with steps to either side. The interior consists of high walls with occasional built-in ledges for ferns. Only a few iron hoops for a barrel roof survive. It appears from the shape of the gables that there was a lantern running the length of the roof. The interior of the fernery also contains a quartz grotto with steps to either side. To the NW, on the exterior is a small lean-to structure ' probably the original heating plant for the fernery.

Statement of Special Interest

Ferneries became popular in British gardens from the 1850s, the result of a new interest in more exotic plants and the fashion for fern collecting and continued to be built until after 1900.

In 1870 the Benmore estate was acquired by James Duncan, a Greenock Sugar Refiner. Duncan carried out many improvements to the estate, including extending the house and building a number of worker's cottages. Duncan was also largely responsible for the garden layout which survives today. The fernery belongs to this period.

Benmore Estate is perhaps best known as the setting for Benmore Botanic Garden, run by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. The garden and designed landscape is notable for the collection of coniferous trees, planted by successive owners since c1820.

Part of B-Group including Benmore House, the Steading, North Lodge and Gates, the Golden Gates, 'Puck's Hut', Walled garden and the cottages to the E of it (see separate listings).

Within Benmore-Younger Botanic Garden Designed Landscape.

References

Bibliography

Ordnance Survey 1st edition (c1863) and 2nd edition (c1898); Inglis' Guide to Dunoon and Environs (1883); Land Use Consultants, An Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes, Vol 2, 1987; Walker, F A and Sinclair, F, North Clyde Estuary: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (1992), 132; Walker, F A, Buildings of Scotland: Argyll and Bute (2000), 144-6; Walker, F A, Argyll and The Islands: An Illustrated Architectural Guide (2003), 23-4.

About Listed Buildings

Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating sites and places at the national level. These designations are Scheduled monuments, Listed buildings, Inventory of gardens and designed landscapes and Inventory of historic battlefields.

We make recommendations to the Scottish Government about historic marine protected areas, and the Scottish Ministers decide whether to designate.

Listing is the process that identifies, designates and provides statutory protection for buildings of special architectural or historic interest as set out in the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) (Scotland) Act 1997.

We list buildings which are found to be of special architectural or historic interest using the selection guidance published in Designation Policy and Selection Guidance (2019)

Listed building records provide an indication of the special architectural or historic interest of the listed building which has been identified by its statutory address. The description and additional information provided are supplementary and have no legal weight.

These records are not definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the building(s). If part of a building is not described it does not mean it is not listed. The format of the listed building record has changed over time. Earlier records may be brief and some information will not have been recorded.

The legal part of the listing is the address/name of site which is known as the statutory address. Other than the name or address of a listed building, further details are provided for information purposes only. Historic Environment Scotland does not accept any liability for any loss or damage suffered as a consequence of inaccuracies in the information provided. Addresses and building names may have changed since the date of listing. Even if a number or name is missing from a listing address it will still be listed. Listing covers both the exterior and the interior and any object or structure fixed to the building. Listing also applies to buildings or structures not physically attached but which are part of the curtilage (or land) of the listed building as long as they were erected before 1 July 1948.

While Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designating listed buildings, the planning authority is responsible for determining what is covered by the listing, including what is listed through curtilage. However, for listed buildings designated or for listings amended from 1 October 2015, legal exclusions to the listing may apply.

If part of a building is not listed, it will say that it is excluded in the statutory address and in the statement of special interest in the listed building record. The statement will use the word 'excluding' and quote the relevant section of the 1997 Act. Some earlier listed building records may use the word 'excluding', but if the Act is not quoted, the record has not been revised to reflect subsequent legislation.

Listed building consent is required for changes to a listed building which affect its character as a building of special architectural or historic interest. The relevant planning authority is the point of contact for applications for listed building consent.

Find out more about listing and our other designations at www.historicenvironment.scot/advice-and-support. You can contact us on 0131 668 8914 or at designations@hes.scot.

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Printed: 29/03/2024 15:56