This thesis offers a history of ornamental garden buildings in Scotland. It is based on a comprehensive inventory of the country's garden structures, compiled from primary sources,
secondary sources and site visits. The thesis is divided into an introduction and six chapters. The
introduction outlines past research into the subject of garden buildings generally and those in
Scotland particularly, and sets out the need for historical revision. The first two chapters treat of
the period between the 12th century and the Restoration, and focus upon the architecture and
iconography of ornamental structures at Linlithgow Palace, Pinkie House and Dundas Castle.
The third chapter examines developments up to the Union of Parliaments and evaluates the
oeuvre and influence of Sir William Bruce. The fourth chapter covers the period up to the last
Jacobite rebellion and draws attention to the role of garden buildings in focusing views upon
ruined towers and `sublime' natural features. It is suggested that such features were emblematic
of Scotland's lost nationhood. The fifth chapter analyses mid -18th- century garden buildings and
is structured around John Dalrymple's contemporary text, An Essay on Landscape Gardening,
which, it is suggested, articulated commonly -held Scottish attitudes to landscape design. The style
and distribution of garden buildings are offered as evidence in support of this assertion. Attention
is also drawn to the allegorical significance of the Hermitage at Dunkeld. The final chapter
chronicles the demise in popularity of garden buildings in the years between 1780 and 1840, and
looks at those most commonly built during this time - the tower and the mausoleum. The thesis
concludes that the study of garden buildings in their proper context can contribute appreciably to
our understanding of Scotland's intellectual, architectural and garden history
