Corsock Gardens

The lands of Corsock, lying beside the River Urr, belonged to the Neilson family from the 12th to 18th century.   The best known member of this family was that much respected Covenanter John Neilson.   He was the first Laird to join the Covenanters and it was at Corsock, under his hospitality, that the first Field-Meeting, or Conventicle, took place.   Finally as an old man he was hung in Edinburgh in December 1666 for his part in the Pentland Rising.

The house has, on the East side, a Marriage Plaque carefully incorporated into the Victorian additions.   It bears the date 1589, with the initials and Arms of John Neilson and his wife – probably the Covenanter’s parents.   The earliest visible part of the present house (see plan) is late Georgian and built a century after what became known as the “killing times”.  

The next family to leave their mark on Corsock were the Murray-Dunlops who acquired Corsock in the mid 19th century.  Alexander Murray-Dunlop was the leading lawyer involved in the Disruption in the Kirk and became a founder member of the Free Church of Scotland, which re-joined the Kirk (Church of Scotland) in 1929.   Alexander commissioned the well known Scottish architect, David Bryce, to add to the East end of the house in 1851 in the turreted “Scottish Baronial” style.   It was Alexander who began planting the magnificent mature trees that now surround Corsock.

His son, Henry, added more turrets at the West end of the house at the beginning of the 20th century and made many “modern” improvements including creating his own hydro electric scheme to bring electricity to the house.   He was the first man to own a motor car in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright and his number plate was “S W 1”! 

Henry died in 1919 and the property was bought by General Douglas McEwan who, with his daughter Veronica, (the granddaughter of J.E Millais the painter)  laid out the original rhododendron and water gardens.   They are known for a collection of specie rhododendrons, many of them raised from seed collected by George Forrest on Himalayan expeditions in the 1930s to which McEwan subscribed.   He died in 1941.

Peter Ingall bought Corsock House in 1951.   He took on a typical post-war ruin of a garden: many of the great trees had been felled, others were threatened and Rhododendron ponticum had gone its own thuggish way.  In his care, and most notably that of his son Micky, who died in 2009, the garden has been restored, extended and embellished with architectural features. 

The Trellis Temple was the first of Micky’s creations in the restored Water Garden, soon followed by the Ornamental Bridge over the spillway of the Mill Pond inspired by that at Kenwood House in London.   Across the burn is the Ionic Temple.   It’s pillars came from a Victorian porch demolished when Cornbury Park, Oxfordshire, was restored in the 1960s.   A door below its base leads to an old Ice House, which inspires the amusing mis-quotation within the temple’s dome:  

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan
A stately pleasure dome decree
A miracle of rare device
This pleasure dome on caves of ice                             

The latest 21st century creation in the old walled garden, the last  Micky Ingall built himself, is a Doric Temple with cast iron pillars reflected in a canal leading up to it.   There are two water sculpture fountains beside it by the Raynors and  two side gates by Adam Booth and the sculpture benches topped with eagles on the mounds are by Clare Bigger.   A formal garden with shrubs outlined with Yew hedges is “a work in progress”.

Micky’s son and his family now continue the care and evolution of Corsock House and it’s gardens, in 2008 adding the “Wedding Wood” across the burn with trees as wedding presents.               

In 2012 a further turret with an Adam Booth finial was added at the West end of the house when the Old Laundry was converted into an annex by Micky's widow, Jane. The finial combines a three dimensional interpretation of the Ingall  family crest with a cross. This represents the fact that the Ingall family, like the Neilsons and Murray-Dunlops before them are followers of Jesus and believe they are stewards for God in this lovely corner of His creation.

Corsock is known for the collection of specie rhododendrons, in particular R. Lacteum and R. Sutchuenense. They provide a wonderful display of flowers from April, if the frosts are kind, until  June.   The woodland walk up to the loch takes you past temples, ponds, beside the burn, across bridges and through glades of fine trees. The changing vistas surprise and delight, clothed with rhododendrons, azaleas and shrubs (many with beautiful autumn colours), and carpeted with snowdrops, daffodils, primulas and bluebells in season. The terraced lawns afford a magnificent view down the valley of the River Urr.

 A circular garden walk is marked on this map and with arrows in the garden.

The Gardens are usually open for Scotland's Garden Scheme  from 2-5pm on the Sunday preceding the End of May Bank holiday and from April to June by arrangement. Details can be found here: https://scotlandsgardens.org/corsock-house/