Lathockar Water Tower Restored !

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

BWTAS was recently contacted by Martin Tomlinson, who kindly provided information and images of the Lathockar water tower — a tower until then, unknown to BWTAS. Martin had supplied St Andrews in focus magazine, with an article back in July 2013, when the tower was surrounded by trees. An extract that is reproduced here:

The water tower was built over 100 years ago and was erected to provide water to the Lathockar Estate when the manor house existed. The water was provided by a hydraulic ram from Cameron Burn behind Cameron Village Hall, which is still there. Prior to the water tower being built, water was taken manually from Cameron Burn to the manor house. The lady, named Christy Scott, who provided the water lived in a now derelict cottage named Hazelden Cotton in the woods behind Cameron Village Hall.

The water tower and the manor house can clearly be seen on a map from 1894. During WWII a Prisoner of War camp was constructed to the south of the tower, the buildings are still there. The article continues:

After the war, one of the ex prisoners, of the prisoner of war camp behind the tower, from eastern Europe returned to Fife and searched for the tower. Johnny Paul saw this man twice on the roads at Dunino and at Balone. The man also spoke to the foresters wife at Cameron and asked for directions to the tower. A forester used to check the water level periodically in the water tower and on the same day went into the tower and noticed a man there. He spoke to the man who didn’t answer. The forester noticed that the man’s feet were not on the floor. The man had committed suicide by hanging himself in the tower. Apparently the man had travelled from eastern Europe for this sole purpose.

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

Now the tower is a marvellous feature on the skyline, restored to its original glory by Nivens — the developer who is building 13 houses on the site. "Well done" we say, for understanding the heritage of the tower. Prior to this intervention, the tower was in very poor shape with trees encroaching, some fallen on to it and threatened with demolition! This is despite the water tower being registered as an Ancient and Historical Monument — see here.

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

© Photograph Copyright Martin Tomlinson

Click on pictures for a larger image… The tower is located at NO 48927 10889.

Ferrers

Bucknell, Oxfordshire (1909)

Information Request…

© Copyright Anthony Parkes and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

The above water tower is a Grade II listed building. Built in 1909 by Major Philip Hunloke to serve the Bucknell Manor estate and the village of Bucknell. It was used until the 1950s when mains water was installed. The tower, often referred to as Trow Pool water tower, is very prominent on the M40 between junctions 9 and 10 at SP 54860 24800.

BWTAS member James Clark is writing a book on motorway landmarks and would be very appreciative of any additional information regarding this tower. If you can help James, please email BWTAS: bwtas@hotmail.co.uk

Ferrers

© Copyright Alan Murray-Rust and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence

BWTAS Elveden Visit

A lucky few BWTAS members mustered outside the estate manager's office on Wednesday 12th October 2011 for a rare opportunity of a view inside the Elveden Estate's 1895 water tower. Set besides the magnificent hall, which is even more inaccessible to the public, this was a chance to examine one of the water tower crown jewels in its strong-room and velvet cushion of 23,000 acres of private estate. Whilst the interior rooms and architectural and engineering details were photographed, it was a condition of this visit that we didn't publish any of them.

The present owner of Elveden, the 4th Earl of Iveagh - Ned to his friends - is a descendant of the Guinness brewing family who inherited Elveden at the age of 21. The first house here was built in the 1760s by Admiral Keppel. But it was the Maharajah Duleep Singh who in the 1860s created a palace to pay homage to his Indian homeland and satisfy his passion for shooting. The maharajah's house was designed by John Norton. Singh had been deposed from the Punjab by the British and he gave, he said forever afterwards it was swindled from him, the Koh-i-Noor diamond, as collateral for the Sikh War. In recompense, Singh was granted a pension and he bought Elveden in 1863.

Duleep Singh left England in 1886 and died in Paris in 1893. Elveden was sold to meet his debts and it was bought by the 1st Earl of Iveagh in 1896. The vibrant colours in the hall were later whitewashed over as he used his Guinness fortune to remodel the hall and the estate. Father and son architects William and Clyde Young were commissioned to double the size of the hall, and Caspar Purdon Clarke – the director of the Victoria and Albert Museum and an expert in Indian decoration – designed the Indian Hall to link the old and the new.



At the same time, the First Earl modernized the estate, building servant blocks, laying out gardens and building the water tower and stable complex. The Elveden shooting parties were legendary and graced by royalty. After he died in Paris, on the orders of the Indian Office, Duleep Singh was buried next to his wife and son in the Elveden churchyard, now a place of pilgrimage for Sikhs.

The estate manager taking us round informed us the tower was built to both supply the estate grounds and the village; this is confirmed by its size. The homes that still receive water from the tower do so free of charge to this day. It was not deemed safe to go into the cupola over the tank but there is a ladder to reach it if you are agile enough to duck under the tank and prepared to encounter bird droppings. The square main tank is as usual constructed of flanged iron panels, bolted and bitumen sealed and has two compartments divided down the centre. Supporting ironwork (and no reason not to think the tank as well) was produced by Dorman Long of Middlesbrough who also built the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

Beneath the tank room is a large room finished with architraves and mouldings as a drawing room with large sash windows framing views in each direction with balconies with now fragile balustrades. This delightful space has been used for shoot lunches and a lucky bride’s wedding reception. Beneath this room is a double height room of bare masonry sitting mid-way up the tower which contains a substantial chain hoist affixed beside stable doors opening to the outside. Without any evidence of machinery apparent, it would indicate that the room’s purpose is some kind of stores. During WWII the contents of the Iveagh Bequest at Kenwood House was moved to Elveden. Contemporary reports say the priceless paintings by Vermeer, Gainsborough and Landseer were moved into the basement of the hall but evidently some were also stored in the cool dark of the water tower. Surprisingly, very few water towers in the UK suffered from enemy action; their usefulness for enemy navigation outweighed the impact of directly attacking them.


The two floors below the stores level contains two apartments with Victorian wallpaper still extant. These rooms are above the ground floor pump room (or a former pump room) which was inaccessible by virtue of our guide not having the right keys. The first five levels are all accessed by a windowed internal stairway of stone steps. Beside the tower there are some outbuildings forming a courtyard which were apparently a workshop, foundry and fuel store for the pumps. The chain hoist to the storeroom floor (corresponding with the ashlar bands on the exterior) would have been loaded from here.

The borehole that supplies this tower is 1.2 miles to the south, where a pump house and Braithwaite style water tower is located now at TL 82302 77685. We could not determine if that is the original borehole but it seems unlikely. Boreholes can dry up and it’s easier to move a borehole than a tower.

The tower is still used to distribute water by electric pumps located within the tower but the tanks are no longer used to provide storage and head. The tanks were decommissioned sometime in the last ten years due to algae being found in the water.

There was speculation in the party that the tower could be built of Elveden bricks, but we found the Elveden brick works producing the distinctively stamped red bricks that are used in the construction of the estate cottages was established in 1901, after the tower was constructed.

While the hall has been seen on the silver screen in a starring role in Kubrick's Eyes Wide Shut and the action adventure Tomb Raider and the Bond movie The Living Daylights; the tower, not to be outdone, also has had a brief career on the idiot's lantern. The tower was the objective of the rival platoons during a war game in the classic BBC comedy Dad's Army in its Christmas Special: The Battle of the Giants.

National Register

TL 87 NW ELVEDEN ELVEDEN PARK 2/18 Water tower, 200 metres - south west of Elveden Hall - II* Water-tower, 1895 on plaque. About 20 metres high, square on plan. Eclectic in style, but with mainly Baroque details. Red brick, with limestone dressings at the upper levels. Battered base and 4 further stages, of which the 4th is dominant. The 3rd stage has flush horizontal bands of limestone ashlar, and the 4th stage has dressings strongly expressed in limestone. Windows in the Baroque manner; limestone architraves with keystones and moulded cornices. At the 4th stage is a large central window on each face, with a balustraded balcony on stone brackets; flanking flat pilasters support a moulded cornice and arcaded parapets with central Flemish gables. The doorway at the base has a semi-circular brick arch of several orders, with deeply recessed framed and boarded doors. Copper-covered cupola roof with weather-vane finial. Included as Grade II* because an exceptionally elaborate and imposing example of a Victorian estate water-tower.

The estate has over 10,000 acres under cultivation producing great quantities of grain, onions and potatoes. It is said that a quarter of Walkers' Crisps come from here and many of McDonalds’ potatoes and carrots. Other Elveden businesses include Christmas trees and team of six gamekeepers for looking after shoots and encouraging wildlife such as the stone curlews who nest in the onion fields.

The hall is opened rarely, usually for NSPCC balls and for events for the causes the Iveaghs support. The restoration is slow and painstaking and is being done without public grants.

The American Air Force requisitioned the hall in World War II to use as a headquarters – their stencilled office numbers and directions are still visible on the doors of some buildings. Other evidence of wartime ‘occupation’ is perhaps more unusual and interesting. On the estate (location withheld for their protection) is a grove of mature beech trees which contain WWII arborglyphs. These poignant reminders can also be found in the woods on Salisbury Plain and have been the subject of doctoral study. The most visible is the name (indistinct) Schultz Hollywood Calif April 20 1944. Naturally with many thousands of young men and women billeted at Elveden in wartime, some would choose to leave behind a permanent mark in case they never came back. 

Archaeologists of modern history are starting to study these arborglyphs more intensely because they can give a wide range of information about the individual who created them and their environment. This has led to a discussion about the importance arborglyphs are in both a military and non-military context. Arborglyphs are carvings that record poetry, names, dates and places, creating a record of human interaction with the landscape. Therefore military arborglyphs can reveal much about modern man in warfare from the material culture he leaves behind. 

Enquiries in California by BWTAS have determined that there were 44 males named Schultz living in Hollywood of military age in 1941 and it’s likely there are descendants or relatives still living there but it is not possible to narrow that down without access to US military records.

CAMP BLAINEY, E1veden Hall, Suffolk
RAF Station No: 116
Location: Four miles southwest of Thetford on A11
3d Bombardment Division (BAF), 13 Sep 43 to 27 Oct 45. Moved to Hanington, Oct 45. Re designated 3d Air Division, Dec 44.
Wings: 65th, 66th, 67th Fighter; 4th, 13th, 14th, 20th, 45th, 92d, 93d Bombardment
4th Bombardment Wing (8AF), Jun to 13 Sep 43. Moved from Marks Hall; moved to Bury St Edmunds, Sep 43.
Groups: 94th, 95th, 96th, lOOth, 385th, 388th, 390th, 447th
13th Bombardment Wing (8AF), 13 Jun to 13 Sep 43. Moved from Marks Hall; moved to Horham, Sep 43.
Groups assigned Sep 43
92d Bombardment Wing (8AF), 12 Dec 43 to 2 Mar 44. Moved from Polebrook; moved to Sudbury,
Mar 44.
Groups: 351st, 401st, 486th, 487th

For the visitor interested in military history, nearby is the Elveden Memorial, a grand 113-foot Corinthian column designed by Clyde Young and erected in 1921 and dedicated to the memory of local soldiers from the three parishes of Elveden, Eriswell and Icklingham who died in action in the First World War. Their names are inscribed on the base and a shorter list was added after the Second World War. Inside 148 steps lead to the top which is crowned by a mighty stone urn. Accessibility to the inside is unknown.


The future for the tower looks promising but by no means is assured. There is enormous potential in it. The Elveden Estate is passed by millions of vehicles annually travelling along the A11 which after years of consultation and deferment will eventually become a dual carriageway. Nearby are the attractions of Thetford Forest and Centre Parcs. The Elveden Estate run a range of quality shops and a coffee shop and restaurant stocked with their own produce that will rejuvenate the visitor. It is a short walk across the road from them to the church but the tower itself stands on private property.


www.elveden.com

Some Lytes relief...

© Mr Michael Perry

Water tower disguised as dovecote. Circa 1907-1940 OS Map Ref ST 53438 26628

Lytes Cary is a manor house with associated chapel and gardens near Charlton Mackrell and Somerton in Somerset, England. The property is now owned by the National Trust, has parts dating to the 14th century, with other sections dating to the 15th, 16th, 18th, and 20th centuries. "Yet all parts blend to perfection with one another and with the gentle sunny landscape that surrounds them," comments Nikolaus Pevsner. The House is listed as Grade I by English Heritage. At the end of the formal 'Apostles' garden sits a dovecote which is in fact a disguised water tower built by the Jenners family in imitation of the dovecote at Avebury Manor as not to detract from the house.

360 views

Sir Walter Jenner (1860-1948) was the eldest son of Sir William Jenner, who was physician to Queen Victoria and, as a fashionable London consultant, had become very wealthy. Sir Walter bought Lytes Cary in a dilapidated state from the Dickinson’s of nearby Kingweston and began a major restoration. Perhaps inspired by the work of his brother, Leopold, who purchased Avebury Manor at much the same time, Sir Walter was a champion of the English Arts & Crafts movement and also collected appropriate antique furniture and tapestries to adorn the house and also did much in the garden and grounds. In 1940 he bequeathed the house and the 365 acre estate to the National Trust.

National Register

ST52NW CHARLTON MACKRELL CP ILCHESTER ROAD (East side) LYTES CARY 5/34 Dovecote about 120 metres north east of Lytes Cary - GV II Dovecote. Possibly C18. Local lias stone cut and squared; stone slate conical roof, with timber and stone roof upstand for birds; horse weathervane. Circular plan; plinth, four offset buttresses to near full height, eaves course: east side boarded and studded door and 3-light casement with ornate leaded-lights, both set in voussoired segmental arched openings. Interior not seen.

Dovecotes from Photographers Resource.

For centuries pigeons and doves were an important food source and were kept for their eggs, meat, dung and feathers. Their down and feathers were used to fill pillows and feather beds and a common superstition was that those who slept on pigeon feathers would live to a ripe old age. Their dung was also highly rated and had a number of uses, not only being used as a fertilizer, but was also used in the tanning industry to soften leather, and in the early 17th century it was a major source of salpetre used in the manufacture of gunpowder. However it was for their flesh and eggs, especially in winter when other meat was scarce, that they were particularly valued. In 1600 Oliver de Serres wrote in his book on agriculture that ‘no man need ever have an ill-provisioned house if there be but attached to it a dovecot, a warren and a fishpond wherein meat may be found as readily at hand as if it were stored in a larder.’

Herringswell Manor and Water Tower - update

Ballance family at play

When clearing out the BWTAS cupboard (alright, it was a hard drive) I came across some notes I had meant to use to update the prior posting for Herringswell Water Tower near Bury St. Edmunds in Suffolk.

View Larger Map 

Herringswell Manor is a large mock Tudor house built as a private home in 1901 on the site of the old manor. It was owned by Arthur Ballance [1851-1927] who made his fortune as the stockbroker Marnham & Co. while his wife's maiden name was Frean, as in Peek Frean biscuits. Their son Leslie Arthur was killed in the Somme in 1916.

Whilst by this time municipal water towers were commonplace in towns, in rural areas estates such as Benacre, Sandringham, Orwell Park, Kilverstone Hall, Elveden and Thornham Hall needed towers to supply the house and the home farm; typically from a borehole by a diesel or electric pump housed underneath. The upper stories and space below the tank could house staff or would be used for wine or root storage and in the case of Elveden; the priceless paintings from Kenwood House (the Iveagh Bequest) during WWII. Sometimes a room was created, naturally with a view, for game keepers to keep an eye out for poachers or to host shooting lunches. While the windows on the tank level might be dummy (we wish we could have a look inside) the cupola above and windows below the tank shows the Herringwell water tower follows this pattern. The shape of the tower is also reflected in the estate's gatehouse.

From about 1930 to 1948 Herringswell Manor was then owned by the Gosling family

Around 1948 the estate was sold to Miss Keyser of Aldermarston

In February 1956 R J Upton bought half the estate but not the manor house or the water tower.

In 1981 the manor and 14 acres was bought by followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh and 200 orange robed sannyasin lived there as the Ashram Medina.

These new residents raised the population requiring, for the first time, the establishment of a Parish Council. After the Baghwan died the commune was wound up in 1985.

Then the house was bought by the Shi Tennoji school, a Japanese Buddhist boarding school which closed in 2001 because of falling numbers.

The manor house and ancillary buildings have been converted into luxury apartments which became available for sale in the summer of 2006.

Around 1959 the other half of the Herringswell Manor Estate was bought by Mr Weston-Evans, including the water tower.

About 1960 Mr Weston-Evans renovated Herringswell Manor.

About 1961 the water tower was completely refurbished.

In 1965 R J Upton bought the rest of the Herringswell Estate including the manor and water tower.

In 1966 R J Upton realised that all the horse boxes were too small for the modern horse and decided to install a pig unit within the water tower complex instead. The water tower itself was closed off and not used except for the ground floor area.

On 16th October 1984 the Herringswell Water Tower was listed Grade II, NGR: TL7194170997

In 2008 a complete refurbishment and conversion to 2 to 3 bedroom dwellings was completed.

 

The present agents for the water tower are Upton Suffolk Farms, Herringswell IP28 6SR and the owner of the business is Hugo Upton.

Elveden Visit

update 2/9/2011: visit now fully booked

Lord Iveagh has kindly granted permission for BWTAS to visit the Elveden Water Tower, a Grade II listed structure from 1895 and one of the most ornate and imposing examples of a Victorian estate tower in the UK.

Wednesday 12th October, 11.00am. Meet at the Estate Offices, London Rd, Elveden, Thetford IP24 3TQ.

Anyone planning to attend MUST let Wil Harvey know before on 01502 478248 or harveys@care4free.net ASAP, as the estate must have names beforehand. There will be no admission otherwise.

Booking priority is given to BWTAS members, then to the public. Space is very limited. We'll announce any changes and further information here and on twitter @bwtas. Non-members can join the society on the day.

Please note all the usual disclaimers apply: this is a industrial building not normally open to the public, it is not suitable for young children, there is no disabled access and the visit is at the visitor's own risk and subject to the directions of the Elveden estate.


For companions not interested in water towers, there is a shop and restaurant on the estate www.elveden.com

Rosalind Stoddart: Open Gallery and Sale

Rosalind Stoddart, Independent Cultural Engineer and Artist, has announced an open gallery and sale at her Northamptonshire water tower  on Saturday 17 and Sunday 18 September 2011 showing her work ranging back many years with everything for sale.

Cakes and tea will be sold too.

Profits go towards the art projects she will be running next year:  BB and his world.

Opening times 11am to 4pm both days.



The Water Tower
Benefield Road
Brigstock
Kettering
NN14 3JA
United Kingdom


Tel: +44(0)1536 370108
Email: ros@rosalindstoddart.co.uk



Those with an interest in the cultural value of water towers, please note the text bolded (by me) below from the website of Fermynwoods Contemporary Art

FCA was founded by artist Rosalind Stoddart and architect Patrick Duerden towards the end of 1998 as an art gallery exhibiting paintings, sculpture and artists prints for sale. Their motivation was their own abiding passion for contemporary visual art, primarily non figurative work in the tradition of British modernism. Alongside this abiding interest, Rosalind perceived that there was no exhibition space for the most exciting and forward looking of artists in Northamptonshire, nor anywhere in the County to see the work of nationally and internationally important contemporary artists. Rosalind’s vision was to promote the work of the best up and coming artists by showing their work alongside that of established practitioners. She received early encouragement and support from David Holmes, who for many years had run a gallery in his own house in Peterborough before relocating to Cornwall in the mid 90s.

When Rosalind bought the Water Tower from the Fermyn Woods estate in 1994, it was as much for the opportunity to create a large artists studio as it was to realise its potential for domestic use. With FCA’s first exhibition, it was apparent that the building was also eminently suited to use as a gallery, and that alongside the art, the building itself helped to draw visitors to the venue. The garden that was created around Rosalind’s site specific sculpture Enclose completed the profile of the Water Tower as a visitor attraction.



Rosalind once described her practise to the BBC:



"My work encompasses painting sculpture and printmaking. It is often colourful and bold and on all scales from very small to very large.


I seek to emphasise the relationships of abstract form, colour, line and the balance and rhythm of these elements in composition.


My work often is autobiographical because the shapes are arrived at intuitively. Looking inwardly in this way is central to my artistic practice. My work is often site specific.


I trained as a painter at The Byam Shaw School of Painting and Drawing and at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts.


In 2000, I had a solo exhibition of large sculptures at Lyveden New Bield - the National Trust property near Oundle, Northamptonshire. This was part of a Year of the Artist residency.


I live and work in East Northamptonshire from where I also run a gallery, Fermyn Woods Contemporary Art."

Look down on your landlord...

From the Scotsman

Victorian water tower for rent - owners will live in the garden

Published Date: 
09 November 2010

By DAVID McCANN

IT'S one of the more unusual tenancies on the Edinburgh property market and has earned real estate plaudits from Britain to America.

Now a B-listed Victorian water tower in Dalkeith - thought to be the oldest of its kind in Scotland - is to become one of the most sought-after rental homes in the Lothians.

Standing 110ft tall, the landmark two-bedroom conversion boasts panoramic
 views of the city, Forth Valley, the Pentlands and Lammermuir hills.

It has scooped a clutch of coveted accolades since renovations were completed in 1990, among them the Sunday Times "Best conversion of an industrial building" and heritage award for "Best architectural conversion", as well as the National Trust's "Best conversion" award. It has also earned notable air time in Britain and America on TV shows such as 80 Best Extreme Homes of the World and Lloyd Grossman's Through The Keyhole.

In the 1950s, 70 years after it was built, (in 1879) the tower was deemed unable to meet the demands of water supply and closed. The passion project of architect and restaurateur Gerry Goldmyre, the property is divided over eight floors connected by a wrought iron spiral staircase, with the top floors opening out into a spacious studio with pitched ceiling.

The property can be leased for £1000 per month, and the only possible drawback is that the landlords, who say they would be choosy about who will take over their dream home, have set up home in the shadow of the landmark.

"It's far more important to get the right person - someone who appreciates what it is," said Mr Goldmyre, twice winner of BBC's Masterchef competition.

"A suitable tenant would be someone who enjoys peace, quiet, and excellent neighbours. No-one else lives within earshot apart from my wife and I. It would also be suited to someone who works from home as the spaces are conducive to architects or computer consultants among other professions - someone who cherishes living in a quirky piece of history and a grade B listed building."

Asked if it was a wrench to leave a property he had poured his heart and soul into, he replied: "It's massive. If we weren't moving to accommodation in our garden it would have been impossible."

Mr Goldmyre and his wife Susan lived in the water tower for two decades but in May moved into a £200,000 eco-conscious "safari lodge" in the garden of the structure. 

--

Scotland's register of historic places has it listed as Esbank Road Water Tower, Grid Ref NT 32735 66996  a polychrome brick octagonal tower built 1879 for the Dalkeith Town Council by James Leslie, engineer of the Edinburgh Water Company.

Cammo Tower

Thanks to Stuart Goudie for contacting BWTAS about the Cammo Estate water tower near Edinburgh. The abandoned estate and its ruined 17th Century buildings are popular with walkers and a source of inspiration for many photographers, including a lovely atmospheric image by Chris Brown.

Stuart tells us he has heard there are plans to develop the area around the estate. He doesn't know of anything about the later 19th Century tower and wondered if BWTAS can help.

There isn't any mention of this tower in Barry Barton's book (although its listings focus on the public supply) and the tower is often described as a folly although it was fully functional. It housed a lead lined wooden tank and there is photographic evidence that a windmill adorned the top that drove the pumps to supply Cammo House. One source puts the date of the tower at 1871 but this may be based on the stables nearby built by one of the estate's later owners James Watson.

Scotland's historic register doesn't give a build date but says:

Early 19th century. Circular water tower. 4 stages; string course demarcates each stage; crenallated crown. 4 blocked openings to each stage; ground floor opening to SW doorway.

The water tower supplied water to the main house. It was powered by wind and an early photo shows the tower with its sails (NMRS ED/5576/3). Along with its practical function it is likely that the Water Tower also served an aesthetic purpose: it closes the vista along the path past the stables. The water tower was part of an extensive building project undertaken by James Watson during the early 19th century. He also built the stables to the N of the tower and made alterations to the main house including the addition of a rear wing and a crenellated parapet.

References:

J Gifford, C McWilliam & D Walker THE BUILDINGS OF SCOTLAND. EDINBURGH (1984), p589-590; D Gray THE EVOLUTION OF POLICY AND PLEASURE GROUND WITH REFERENCE TO THE CAMMO ESTATE, 1993 Dissertation held at NMRS.

The anonymous blogger "Kaska" on Qype says:

I’ve met very few people that are aware of the odd tale of Edinburgh’s Cammo Estate. Cammo House existed for hundreds of years until its almost complete destruction in 1975.

Creative writers and filmmakers out there will be inspired by Cammo. It requires imagination, because fragments are all that remain of a formerly glamorous country mansion. Aside from all the history though, you can simply enjoy a walk in the fresh air. There are some lovely trees (including Edinburgh’s oldest Ash Tree) and everywhere you go you’ll discover intriguing features, such as the former horse stables, a walled garden and a water tower built in the style of a folly.

Getting to Cammo is fairly straightforward; Take a bus from the West End of Princess Street along Queensferry Road. Get off at Barnton Junction, carry along Queensferry Road and turn left into Cammo Road. The road leads to a path that takes you into the estate.

Cammo House was built by John Menzies in 1693. Each subsequent owner made additions, such as the re-designed grounds and the water canal outside the remains of the house (possibly designed by Robert Adams).

Cammo is now almost completely reclaimed by nature. An organisation called the Friends of Cammo would like to see the estate restored to its former glory, architects and city planners are still debating its future.

It would be good to know what plans there are for the area around the estate. Edinburgh's urban suburbs have slowly encroached the original park but it is a wonderful amenity for them. A planning application for a block of flats adjacent to the park was rejected in 2003 but developers tend to be persistent. Maybe there's a new one afoot?

Contact details

Countryside Ranger Service (Hermitage)

Hermitage of Braid
Edinburgh

EH10 6JF

Telephone: 0131 447 7145

Fax: 0131 447 9441

E-mail: countrysiderangers@edinburgh.gov.uk

Opening Hours: Monday to Friday: 9.00am - 5.00pm.

Stuart's travels recently took him to Mannhiem Germany where he also admired the water tower there.