The Pineapple

Sometimes referred to as ‘the most bizarre building in Scotland’, the Pineapple is located in Dunmore Park, Falkirk.

The roof was intricately designed to match the tropical fruit and the segment carvings consists of individual leaves, cantilevered out from coursed masonry. Its last spiky leaf sits 45 ft above ground level.

The Pineapple was built as birthday present for the Earl of Dunmore’s wife, Susan, daughter of the 9th Duke of Hamilton. The central roof attraction is the focus of a six-acre brick walled garden and pavilion, completed in 1761. These are set on a sloping site against the middle of a retaining wall between flanking greenhouses.

The estate was sold in lots in 1970, whereby the Countess of Perth acquired the ‘Pineapple Lot’, consisting of the folly, large walled garden, woodlands and a small lake. In 1974, she gave it to the National Trust of Scotland, and in turn, it leased the lot to the Landmark Trust.

Today, the gardeners’ quarters and the estate’s summerhouse can be rented out as a holiday home.