Glasgow
-Botanic Gardens
-Kibble Palace

The Scotland Guide
www.scotland-guide.co.uk
© David Williams

139

1865, James Boucher and James Cousland

The Kibble Palace is a wonderful glasshouse which was originally built in 1865 at the Coulport home of John Kibble (1818-94). It was re-erected here in 1873 and is slightly bigger that the original Coulport structure; the main dome is 45m (146 feet) in diameter and 13m (43 feet) high and this is connected by a glazed passageway to a smaller dome 15m (50 feet) in diameter and 10m (34 feet) high.

For a few years it was used for promenade concerts - the advert for the first concert proclaimed that it could hold upwards of 6,000 persons - and events such as Glasgow University`s rectorial addresses by Benjamin Disraeli and William Ewart Gladstone. In 1881 it was converted from being `The Kibble Crystal Art Palace and Royal Conservatory` into a Plant House and is now one of the few remaining world-class nineteenth-century glasshouses. The palace now houses a collection of plants from the Temperate areas of the world and further interest comes from eight marble statues. The building houses the National Collection of Tree Ferns.

This article is based on the guidebook "The Glasgow Guide".

The Kibble Palace was originally sited in Coulport which is on Loch Long. After dismantling it was brought here along the Forth and Clyde Canal.

More information on the Kibble Palace`s plants and statues.
List of Botanic Gardens articles:
Botanic Gardens

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