Victorian fernery to be reborn in £11m redevelopment

Once captured, tropical ferns took pride of place in enthusiasts’ specially built ferneries, constantly warmed by a roaring coal fire, encased under a glass roof and lovingly tended by armies of gardeners.

While indoors, fern-inspired décor emerged on everything from plates to curtains, clothes, carpets and even biscuits. 

However, like most Victorian crazes, the passion for ferns would eventually wither and die. And once impressive ferneries where tropical species thrived despite the inclement Scottish weather, were forgotten, abandoned and left to crumble. 

Now the only fernery of its type remaining on Scotland’s east coast is to be tenderly reborn as part of an £11m redevelopment of a 19th century Arts and Craft house and gardens. 

Currently in a state of near ruin, with its glass roof long gone, collapsed stones and with the only remaining ferns growing wild through cracks in the walls and sprouting from the ground, the B-listed fernery at Hospitalfield art centre near Arbroath will form a key part of an ambitious garden project which aims to recall the site’s 800 years of horticultural history. 

Plans include the restoration of the original 12th century monastery gardens, originally tended by Benedictine monks who grew medicinal herbs to create soothing tinctures and tonics for the sick. 

Along with a reborn fernery, will emerge new orchards, wildflower meadows, possibly beehives, fish pond, reglazed glass houses and a contemporary twist towards sustainable planting with the aim of using less water and fertilisers.

The new garden is part of a five-year programme that will see the 19th century house revitalised to include a new gallery to house Pieter Brueghel the Younger paintings currently on display at Arbroath Library, visitor centre, accommodation, and the creation of what’s described as a “world class and fascinating destination” for visitors and facility for artists. 

The first phase has just started, with an army of garden volunteers who weeks ago were lavishing care on Hospitalfield’s flower beds, returning to find them removed by diggers in preparation for new planting work to begin. 

In the past weeks, more than 700 new plants have been placed in position.

“It was a nice garden, and I shed many tears when it was cleared away,” says Hospitalfield Director Lucy Byatt. “But it had been planted in the early 1970s and followed the fashion of the time. There were big island beds, herbaceous borders, lots of fir trees. 

“While it was telling a great story of garden design in the 1970s, it was not telling the story of 19th century Hospitalfield or looking back to its monastic period.”

Hospitalfield, nestled in rural Angus, 15 miles north of Dundee, emerged from the site of a 12th century Tironensian Benedictine hospital and monastery, built to provide comfort and care for pilgrims travelling to their new abbey at Arbroath. 

After the reformation it became privately owned and was eventually inherited in the mid-19th century by Elizabeth Fraser and her artist husband Patrick Allan. 

The couple created the Scottish baronial red sandstone manor, with its collection of conical turrets and crow-stepped gables, and double walled gardens to protect plants from the sea air.
As a result of the couple’s close affiliation with art colleges in Dundee, Glasgow, Edinburgh and Aberdeen, Hospitalfield went on to become a residential art school and meeting point for generations of artists, teachers and art students. 

Now run by a charitable trust, it hosts a respected residency programme, art workshops, a Free Drawing School and has developed its own art collection. 

The new plans will see a campus created around the 19th century building, with new gardens designed by Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medal winner Nigel Dunnett, who has previously designed a garden at Buckingham Palace. 

It’s hoped the reconstructed grotto-like fernery will house some of the delicate tree ferns which would originally have taken centre stage in Victorian times. 

“They are very fragile,” adds Ms Byatt.

 “But we want to be able to tell the story of the 19th century passion for ferns, of the ladies who collected specimens, pressed them in books and sent postcards to people telling them of how they found this particular fern. 

“We want people to come away with a great knowledge of that collective passion for ferns and how important they were.”

Fern mania began in 1829, when Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward, a surgeon and explorer, produced the Wardian case, a glass sealed terrarium-style container which provided ideal conditions for ferns to thrive. 

The invention unleashed a rush to gather exotic plants which would otherwise have failed to survive the highly polluted air of Victorian cities. 

Dealers sourced the ferns from around the world, with some of the more expensive varieties imported from New Zealand fetching the equivalent of £1,000 per plant. 

The construction of large hothouses fuelled the craze further, while the publication of dozens of books on ferns opened collectors’ eyes to what they might be able to grow at home.

Eager Victorians formed fern-searching parties to explore the British countryside for new specimens, and there was even a spate of fern-related crimes, as thieves targeted rich households in search of rare specimens.

The Victorian fascination for ferns touched almost every element of their lives, adds Lucy. 

“They produced textiles which featured ferns and even today custard creams still have the fern design imprinted on the top of the biscuit,” adds Lucy. 

“The fascination for ferns was extraordinary.”

RIBA Stirling Prize Winning Architects Caruso St John, whose work has included Newport Street Gallery which houses the private art collection of Damien Hirst, have been appointed to work on the fernery restoration, a new glass house café and other new buildings. 

Peter St John said: “This is our first project in Scotland, and it has been an interesting challenge working with the materials and details of the Arts and Crafts architecture, to make additions that feel like a renewal, and more than a restoration. 

“The first part of the project includes the rebuilding of the fernery in the corner of the garden, with a new glass roof above the old stone walls, with their grottoes and galleries.

It is a small but spectacular building that will add something really distinctive to the site.”

Planting is now underway to create the monastery-style garden and other garden features with a view to opening to visitors next spring. 

“Planting an ambitious new garden like this now and caring for it over the winter so people can enjoy it next spring and summer feels like a very positive thing right now,” adds Lucy. 

“Because when all is feeling very uncertain, we know what we plant now will come up next year, regardless of our own experiences. 

“Next year will come and we look forward to providing a place where people can feel calm and inspired.”