Initially established as an asylum, Crichton Gardens became a hub of discovery at the height of the British Empire. Today, it provides the perfect place “to breathe”.
GARY McCormick – who heads a team of four gardeners employed to manage an 85-acre expanse of Dumfries town’s superb Crichton Hospital grounds – explained the locale’s history. In 1825 a local philanthropist, Elizabeth Crichton, wanted to use a bequest of £100,000 to found a university. When several well-established Scottish further education facilities opposed the idea she decided to build an asylum instead. Her politics based on humanitarian principles, Elizabeth was determined that the hospital become the foremost of its kind in Europe.
With its name said to originate from the Scottish Gaelic Dún Phris (Fort of the Thicket), Dumfries’ sloping outskirts offered an extensive rural setting for an institution designed to promote the enlightened treatment of its mentally impaired inmates. Furthermore, the Crichton Hospital’s first superintendent, Dr W. Browne, was an exponent of outdoor activity who encouraged many of his patients to aid their recovery and develop new skills by assisting in the kitchen gardens and with landscaping tasks.
The appearance of the hospital grounds was important to both Elizabeth Crichton and Dr Browne. Both are believed to have contributed to the creation of an initial planting scheme and overseen its gradual implementation. However, as the nineteenth century drew to a close, the arrival of Dr George Watt – a Scottish botanist with professional links to India – was to bring about considerable change. Plant hunting was of great interest to Watt, and Crichton Hospital’s spacious grounds and suitable growing conditions were to enable him to nurture his passion.
His garden improvement scheme included the addition of a large rock garden, constructed from locally sourced stone. This included a secluded water feature ‘natural’ in design. Meanwhile, persons involved in the asylum’s management agreed to donate contributions from their own plant collections to the project. Glasshouses custom-built to Watt’s requirements were also erected. What’s more, an arboretum was to be established.
Cooperating with experts based at Edinburgh’s prestigious Royal Botanic Gardens, Watt began to amass a collection of species of southern Asian origin with which to adorn the Rock Garden. The 100-acre area is now a major feature of the Crichton Tree Trail. Representing North and South America, China and Japan, its trees were, Gary pointed out, identified by forester Mike Caughlin: “Mike did try to organise a tree identification visit but Covid intervened.”
The Tree Trail includes the Crichton’s lone Monterey pine (Pinus radiata). Judging by its impressive form, the conifer is flourishing in Dumfries and Galloway. Considered a rare native of coastal California, Monterey pine was one of the many discoveries credited to the nineteenth-century plant hunter, David Douglas.
The Chilean pine (Araucaria araucana) is designated a National Monument in Chile. However, although this gives it some protection from issues including logging, it is regarded as threatened in its native environment. Seed collected in Chile was, therefore, grown at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, and the saplings planted in the Tay Forest Park. The trees form part of the Perthshire Conifer Conservation Programme.
The handkerchief tree (Davidia involucrata) is aptly named. In spring, light winds agitate its white-flower bracts. Nut-like fruits – which contain between 6–10 seeds – ripen to purple and are retained by the tree until winter’s end; but argument exists as to whether they are edible. The names ‘Dove’ and ‘Ghost’ are also applied to this distinctive, highly ornamental tree.
Western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) is native to the Pacific regions of north-west America where it experiences damp growing conditions. It was introduced into Britain in the mid-1800s by John Jeffrey. Fast growing and quick to regenerate, the tree has become a regular component of British woodlands and forests even if its timber-producing potential has been underutilised.
The Rock Garden, which was completed by the mid-1920s, had, to the best of Gary McCormick’s knowledge, survived unharmed until 25–27 November 2021 when the extra-tropical cyclone Storm Arwen produced a mini tornado that damaged five trees in one area.
Gary pointed out: “My main responsibility is to ensure that trees are safe. Of course, there are people who want trees left as long as possible, but the organisation prefers to focus on health and safety. If there’s tree work to be done my team can handle the smaller issues but contractors are brought in to deal with the bigger problems.”
The Victorian era was a time of looking beyond its shores for Great Britain, a period characterised by Empire building, optimism and creativity in most spheres. Entrepreneurs with an eye to future markets risked considerable sums of money as they invested in explorations targeting many relatively unknown parts of the world. Young, opportunistic fellows with a yen for adventurous new experiences rose to the challenge of locating hitherto unidentified commodities that might not only increase trade and boost international understanding, but enhance the prestige of their ambitious patrons.
Dumfriesshire’s Captain Frank Kingdon-Ward ventured to the Himalayan region in search of plants on behalf of Edinburgh’s Royal Botanic Gardens. An intrepid adventurer, he also caused serious issues when he entered then prohibited Tibet. Difficulties overcome, he succeeded in introducing several hundred plants to Britain.
George Francis Scott-Elliot was a botanist based in Kirkcudbrightshire, south-west Scotland. He had experience of South Africa, Mauritius and Madagascar. He was also familiar with Libya and Egypt and Sierra Leone. Scottellia klaineana is a West and Central African tree species, the timber of which is used in building.
When it came to expanding the range of plants and trees available to an affluent and novelty conscious clientele, a nursery’s choice of plant hunter required shrewd judgement. William Lobb, who was appointed by Veitch Nurseries, Exeter, is described as being “… quick of observation, ready in resources and practical in their application and well-versed in botany. Steady and industrious he would make a reliable collector”.
Lobb did, indeed, fulfil his role conscientiously, notably with regard to North American conifer species. Copious quantities of various seeds were returned to the Devonshire-based nursery, propagated and the seedlings marketed to those seeking to adorn their acres with newly acclaimed tree species displaying the ‘wow’ factor.
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Many exotic species contribute interest and beauty to Elizabeth Crichton’s showpiece Dumfriesshire undertaking; among them the remarkable North American species discovered by Lobb, Sequoiadendron giganteum. A giant sequoia known locally as ‘Billy the Big Yin’ is thought to be the Crichton’s tallest tree. Billy Marshall – King of the Galloway Tinkers and the larger than life subject of local folklore – was a very long-lived gipsy claimed by some to be the last of the Pictish kings.
It has been said that William Lobb gave gardeners some of the world’s loveliest plants. One of his discoveries – the opulent Chilean firebush (Embothrium coccineum) – proved this when a glimpse of its flamboyant orange tendrils stopped me in my tracks. And my admiration of the Crichton’s mature array of rhododendrons caused Gary to comment: “They’re of particular interest to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh, where researchers are attempting to identify old varieties.” Home to one of the world’s foremost rhododendron collections, RBGE has been a major centre for rhododendron research for over a century.
In 2010 Queen Elizabeth II visited the Crichton where she planted a maple now known as ‘The Queen’s Tree’. Twelve silver birches planted in the shape of a crown also commemorate the former monarch.
Gary commented: “Three of the saplings were lost due to warm, dryish summers. We tried to keep them going but it just proved too hard.” Judging by appearances their replacements are faring better. A beech sapling planted in the vicinity of the birches celebrates the Coronation of King Charles III.
The Covid Memorial Forest is part of Scotland’s ‘Remembering Together’ initiative. Gary explained: “It’s a dispersed forest so we’ve planted 15 trees in four places at the Crichton. We aim to plant a tree for each local person who died of the virus.
Trees representing different kinds of loss – such as that of a child – are also being planted, while others symbolise community engagement during the outbreak. The Crichton’s long-term landscaping plan focuses on planting more trees and increased biodiversity.”
Over time, Elizabeth Crichton’s vision for the asylum was realised; the Crichton Royal Hospital became an internationally recognised Centre of Excellence in mental health care and research.
The asylum closed in the 1980s but in maturity its outstanding setting continues to benefit health. 21st-century Doonhamers and visitors alike are free to roam mature, well-maintained parkland aptly described as “a place to breathe”.
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