New Puck at Benmore gardens
An ornamental imp created by a leading crafter of the early 20th century in tribute to one of the greatest environmentalists of the era has found a successor to sit aloft Puck’s Hut at one of Scotland’s most outstanding botanic gardens.
After a gap of two years, visitors to Benmore, near Dunoon in Argyll, can enjoy all the sights including full resplendence of a memorial to the great Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour.
Recognising before many that forest conservation and tree planting on a global scale is necessary to combat the long term effects of climate change, Isaac Bayley Balfour (18531922) was the ninth Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) and is recalled and celebrated as ‘a most eminent botanist of any age.’
Last year RBGE with support from the Younger (Benmore) Trust published of a 56-page book, Cherished Plan – The
Story of Puck’s Hut at Benmore. The book explains the intriguing backstory to the memorial and celebrates the arrival of RBGE at Benmore.
After his death, Puck’s Hut was designed by leading Scottish architect Robert Lorimer as a memorial to Bayley Balfour.
Sitting in the Walled Garden, Puck’s Hut is tiled with western red cedar and panelled with wood representing the timbers of Benmore, the first Regional Garden of RBGE and identified by Bayley Balfour as an important West Coast site to accommodate the vast number of new plants being brought into the country. Phyllis Bone, a prolific animal sculptor at the time, was invited to design Puck to sit on top of the hut and overlook the glen.
After Puck suffered long term damage due to continuous exposure to the elements, he was in much need of a replacement. On this occasion, Guy Elder, an experienced green oak farmer and wood carver, took on the challenge of making a replica of the original Puck.
Elder used a laminate of three slabs of air dried oak with opposite grains and no centre crown to help counter the problem of weathering, making the figure more stable and less likely to split over time.