Annex 3: The inventory of gardens and designed landscapes

1. We assess gardens and designed landscapes for designation on the Inventory under Section 32A of the Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Areas Act 1979 (the 1979 Act).

2. There are thousands of gardens and designed landscapes in Scotland. To be included on the Inventory, a site must meet the definition of a garden and designed landscape and the criterion of national importance as set out in the 1979 Act.

3. The purpose of the Inventory is to identify sites of national importance and to provide information about them to aid their understanding, protection and sustainable management through the planning system, and in other relevant contexts such as landscape and land-use management.

4. When a garden and designed landscape is included on the Inventory, it becomes a material consideration in the planning process. This means that planning authorities should take gardens and designed landscapes into account when preparing local development plans and making decisions on planning applications.

5. Gardens and designed landscapes are defined in the 1979 Act as grounds which have been laid out for artistic effect, including any buildings, land or water that are on, adjacent or contiguous to such grounds. They can include country estate landscapes, botanic garden collections, urban public parks and even some cemeteries or golf courses.

6. Parts of some Inventory gardens and designed landscapes may have additional legal recognition through other designations such as scheduling, listing or conservation area designation. Scottish Natural Heritage may also recognise areas of scientific or nature conservation value within inventory sites.

7. Inventory records explain why a garden and designed landscape is of national importance. They also describe its location, history and individual components. Inventory records are not intended to be definitive historical accounts or a complete description of the garden and designed landscape.

 8. All inventory records have a map that shows the geographical area covered by the designation. Most will also have photographs.

9. We designate gardens and designed landscapes on the Inventory that are found to be of national importance. The selection guidance below provides a framework for assessing gardens and designed landscapes. We assess sites on their own merits and individual decisions are made in each case.

10. We consider the degree to which a site survives when assessing it for the Inventory. A garden and designed landscape must have enough integrity to be included on the Inventory. By integrity we mean the site’s wholeness and/or coherence. We consider the survival and condition of the garden or designed landscape’s main components and a site’s overall coherence.

11. To decide if a garden and designed landscape is nationally important, we examine its cultural significance under seven headings.

• Artistic interest

• Historical interest

• Horticultural interest

• Architectural interest

• Archaeological interest

• Scenic interest

• Nature conservation interest

For each of these, we decide whether a site has outstanding, high, some, little or no interest. Sites that demonstrate more outstanding and high areas of interest are likely to be nationally important. Exceptionally, a site may be of national importance with only one outstanding area of interest.

Artistic interest

This refers to the design of a garden and designed landscape as is currently evident. It covers:

• appreciation of the site as a work of art in its own right, in terms of aesthetics and any other experiential qualities - we consider evidence for this appreciation from inception up until the time of assessment

• the quality and survival of any planned visual relationships (such as vistas or sightlines) from within the designed landscape towards landscape features beyond its boundaries (either built or naturally occurring)

• the degree to which the design set the trend for later gardens and designed landscapes, or marked a shift in landscape design history

• whether it was designed by an important garden or landscape designer – it might have value for its rarity if the designer executed few schemes, or it might be a particularly representative, intact or important work

Historical interest

This refers to the garden and designed landscape within a historical context, the survival of evidence for its development and the relationship of the site with people, both past and present. It covers:

• the amount and quality of associated documentary or other evidence for the history of the site, including maps, plans, written accounts, tree surveys, research reports, excavation reports, photographs, film, letters and any other kind of record

• the degree to which the site as a whole represents a particular period in the history of garden or landscape design

• the degree to which one or more of its components form an outstanding example of a particular period or style, or sequence of styles over time

• its relationship with historic individuals, communities, events, traditions and/or historic and social movements – associations with significant persons or events should be well documented, and be reflected in the physical elements of the garden or designed landscape

• evidence of the role that the garden and designed landscape plays for communities in connecting people with the past – this can be reflected through access and recreation, interpretation and education, or other forms of engagement

Horticultural interest

This refers to the plants, trees, shrubs and woodlands in a garden and designed landscape. It covers any important associations with the history of horticulture, arboriculture (the cultivation of trees and shrubs) or silviculture (the cultivation of forest trees, or forestry). It covers:

• the presence of horticultural or arboricultural collections which are in good condition and being renewed, and which contain a wide range of species and/or unusual species or rarities

• the presence of individual trees recognised for their age, significant cultural associations or ‘champion’ status

• the presence of scientific collections which are in good condition, documented, propagated and made available to others

• the site’s overall place in the history of horticulture, arboriculture or silviculture

Architectural interest

This refers to the built features within a garden and designed landscape. It covers:

• the presence of buildings and structures that are listed in recognition of their special architectural and historic interest

• the degree to which the buildings or structures within the designed landscape contribute to the character of the site, either through their own intrinsic interest, through their interest as a group or through their relationship with other aspects of the site

Archaeological interest

This refers to archaeological features contained within the garden and designed landscape. It covers:

• evidence of the survival of an early form of designed landscape

• the research potential and/or contribution of archaeological evidence to our understanding of the development and history of the garden and designed landscape

• other known archaeological sites or monuments which contribute to the character of the site either by virtue of their own intrinsic interest, or through their relationship with other aspects of the garden and designed landscape

Scenic interest

This refers to the special contribution that the garden and designed landscape makes to the quality of the surrounding landscape. As viewed from outside of its boundaries, a garden and designed landscape may contribute to the visual, aesthetic interest of the wider landscape through its:

• size, location and/or overall character, including any combination of its built, landscaped, planted, water or natural components

• rarity and contrast with the surrounding landscape

Nature conservation interest

This refers to the quality and diversity of the environments and habitats within the garden and designed landscape. It covers:

• the presence of sites recognised at an international, national or local level for their flora (plants), fauna (animals), geology (rock types and forms), geomorphology (landforms) or a combination of these features

• the degree to which it contains a range of different habitats, or one or more habitats, which appear at the time of assessment to be managed to support nature conservation principles, or to support protected species