Provand’s Lordship Knot Garden, Glasgow

 Introduction

 This evening, I am posting information on the St. Nicholas Garden at Provand’s Lordship, Glasgow.

Information on the Knot Garden

Provand’s Lordship dates from the 15th century and ranks second only to the nearby Glasgow Cathedral in terms of antiquity. The building is now a museum and is popular with the thousands of tourists who visit the city each year.

However, behind Provand’s Lordship has been established a knot garden which is open to the public and affords a small sanctuary of tranquility, just a few metres away from the heavy traffic of the nearby roads and bustle of the city.

The garden was opened in 1995 with two facets, viz:

  1. Around the outside edge is a physic garden containing many varieties of herbs and plants, typical of those used for medicinal and other purposes in medieval times. This aspect is pertinent because of the perceived historic link between Provand’s Lordship and the nearby St. Nicholas Hospital.
  2. At the heart of the garden is a knot parterre, based on a celtic design, to illustrate the development of formal gardens which occurred during the Renaissance period (14th to 17th centuries).

Around the garden are medieval type cloisters which contain an intriguing collection of carved heads which are collectively known as the Tontine Heads. These carvings date from 1737 and originally formed the arch keystones of the Tontine Hotel piazza in Glasgow’s Trongate. 

Provand’s Lordship Knot Garden

More information for the visitor

More information on Glasgow, Scottish history, architecture, culture, etc., can be found in the Visitors’ Guide to Scotland, ISBN 978-1-9161332-0-4. This publication is also available via Kindle.

When visiting this property visitors could also consider sites in close proximity which are: Glasgow Cathedral, Glasgow Necropolis and the St. Mungo Museum of religious Life and Art.

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