This little blog about Castledykes Park walled garden portraits finishes the photo story (Part 1 and Part 2) about my Urban Portraits Dumfries project session with Kayleigh and Louise.
The sunken or quarry gardens are the gardens created in the old quarry that provided red sandstone for the town, as well as for Dumfries landmark Midsteeple building in 1707. The garden “walls” are moss covered sides of the quarry.
The south wall is decorated with three badly weathered murals by John McKay proudly celebrating the historical significance of Castledykes Park site for Scotland.
The first one portrays King William the Lion granting Dumfries a Royal Borough charter at Castledykes fortress in 1186. The second mural refers to Bruce slaying the Red Comyn in Greyfriars monastery in 1306 that urged him to expedite his contest for the Scottish crown to escape punishment (a.k.a fighting for Scotland’s freedom, right?). The third mural depicts Robert the Bruce parading his Royal standard just after capturing Dumfries Castle.
I placed Kayleigh in front of the wall of the John McKay murals to relate the location tighter with Dumfries and its history. Then we made some portraits new the walls of the old quarry near the quarry wall and played with the yellow autumn foliage in the garden as the sun was rapidly setting down.
