Portal to the Past

Arthurlie House, Barrhead

Gavin Ralston, owner of the ‘Arthurly’ estate, built Arthurlee House in 1780. Henry Dunlop, millmaster of the Levern Mill, acquired the estate in 1818 and enlarged the mansion house. The Dunlop Crest, a double-headed eagle, is featured over the entrance to the house. Around 1930, the estate was bought by Barrhead Town Council who used some of the grounds for housing. The mansion itself became a community centre and today the building is still used by the local council.

Balgray House, Mearns

Balgray House in Newton Mearns, thought to have been built in the late 19^th Century, is now a category ‘B’ listed building. It was one of the last of the Mearns “big houses”, still standing in farmland on the western edge of the parish.

The house and lands of Balgray was an ancient inheritance of a family called Park. In 1603, Alexander Park alienated these lands to David Pollock of Lee. In 1684, James Pollock was the owner of Balgray and he was fined for supporting the covenanters. Eventually Balgray was sold to Thomas Pollock who was a wealthy merchant from Glasgow and of a branch of the Pollock family descended from a younger brother of the family from the reign of Queen Mary. In 1818, Thomas Pollock owned the lands and it is known that at this time a small bleachfield was in business in Balgray, employing twenty people. However, by the early 1850s the business had closed. In 1831, the house was unoccupied and had been so for some time, it is not clear if this is the same house that stands today. In 1905, it was the property of James C Ferguson Pollock of Pollock Castle (Upper Pollock).

Busby House (1)

There were two completely separate Busby Houses, one designed by Greek Thomson, which is discussed later, and the other at the top of the village built for the owners of Busby Mills.

The Busby House of this picture was owned by James Crum, who at one time was owner of the Busby cotton mills. It later became Dr. Moore's Home for Convalescent Nurses and was demolished in the 1960s (now River Court Flats).

Busby House (2)

This particular Busby House was completely remodelled by famous Glasgow architect Alexander Greek Thomson (1817 – 1875) in 1858 from an original building of 1796. Thomson designed a magnificent extension in honey coloured sandstone (possibly from the nearby Giffnock Quarries), linking the house to an existing 2-storey building at the rear. The most impressive features were the library with its full-length window, reminiscent of a small, circular temple and the ornamental plasterwork suggesting day in the dining room and night in the drawing room.

The house was possibly commissioned by the owners of the adjoining printfield, Inglis & Wakefield, or by the local landowner and benefactor, Durham Kippen.

Greek Thomson’s Busby House was, sadly, demolished in 1969.

Caldwell House, Uplawmoor

In 1773 Baron Mure of Caldwell commissioned Robert Adam to design a grand home for him. He was M.P. for Renfrewshire, Baron of Exchequer in Scotland and had been Lord Rector of Glasgow University. Baron Mure was an “improving landlord” and was responsible for planting many trees in the area.

In 1920 the House was sold to Glasgow Corporation and became a hospital for mentally handicapped children until 1985. In spite of being a Grade A listed building, it is now empty and has sadly been neglected and allowed to decay.

Capelrig House, Mearns

Capelrig, “the church on the hill”, dates back to the 12th century when the Knights Templar became established there. The present Georgian mansion was built in 1769 when Robert Barclay, a Glasgow lawyer, demolished the old building and erected a new one comparable in quality to those of Robert Adam. The building was described as “a neat, handsome house, 3 stories high, rustic cornered, with eleven steps of a stone stair up to the front door”. His friend, the famous General Wolfe of Quebec was a guest at Capelrig.

After the Templars, the house was acquired by Sir James Sandilands, preceptor to Mary, Queen of Scots, and then by the Mure family of Caldwell. During the bloody, Covenanting era the Mures temporarily lost Capelrig to King Charles’s general in Renfrewshire, Sir Tam Dalziel of Binns. In 1962 Capelrig passed to Renfrew County and after internal refurbishment became an Arts Centre and latterly, Council Offices.

Croyland, Mearns

In 1874 towards the end of his career, ”Greek” Thomson designed a villa, which was originally called Rysland but is now known as Croyland on Ayr Road. The house was built for his friend John Shields.

Externally the house is austere with little decoration; internally the rooms are carefully proportioned and this is perhaps the best, in terms of interior proportions, of any of Thomson’s villas. Decorations are confined to simple, plaster motifs of Greek derivation.

Thomson formed a long, horizontal garden wall to relate the villa more closely to the landscape. This strikingly handsome house is made of Giffnock stone, which Thomson used in many of his villas.

Eastwood House, Giffnock

This 19th century mansion house set in Eastwood Park is in the former estate of Lord Weir, previously that of the Earls of Eglinton. In 1845 Thomas Smith bought the land and the house was built some time after that. In 1864 the estate passed to Joseph Wakefield of Inglis & Wakefield, who had taken over the Busby Printworks.

In the 1880's and 90's the owner was David Tod of Tod & McGregor Engineering, who had the house enlarged in 1893 with the introduction of bow windows and a new entrance.

Glanderston House, Barrhead

Glanderston Estate, associated with the Stewart Kings of Scotland, passed from the de Croc family to the Earls of Lennox and thence to John Mure of Caldwell who was recorded as living in Glanderston House in 1560.

A new house was built in 1697 and the estate sold by the Mures to Speirs of Elderslie, a Glasgow tobacco baron. In 1856 the house was occupied by the gamekeeper and some time later the building was let out.

The Renfrewshire artist, E.A.Walton, 1860 - 1922, was born here. Walton trained at Glasgow School of Art and specialised in watercolour landscapes and portraiture. The Waltons were the last family to live in Glanderston; by 1909 it was a ruin and it has now, unfortunately, been demolished.

Greenbank House, Clarkston

The Greenbank Estate in Clarkston was established in the 1760's by "local boy made good" Robert Allason, a merchant whose family had been farmers in Mearns for generations. Robert, initially a Glasgow baker, moved to Port Glasgow and made his fortune in overseas trade. He acquired sections of land, which became his country estate where by 1765 he had built the very elegant, 16-room Greenbank House.

Due to trading losses Robert Allason had lost the estate by 1784. After a succession of different owners it came into the hands of the Hamilton family of East Kilbride in 1797, the last of whom was James Barclay Murdoch Young, sheriff of Paisley, who died in 1957.

The last owner of Greenbank was William P. Blyth, a very keen gardener who gifted the estate to the National Trust for Scotland in 1976. Today it is a Headquarters for the National Trust and its walled garden attracts many visitors throughout the year.

Kirkhill House, Mearns

Kirkhill House, built in 1873, was one of many “big houses” built in Newton Mearns at the time, reflecting the growth of the area as a place to live and work. The population had gradually built up to 900 inhabitants by 1881. The large households of houses like Kirkhill, Rysland (now Croyland) and Pollok Castle provided employment for many domestic servants and gardeners.

Rhuallan House, Giffnock

Rhuallan was one of the first mansion houses to be built on the right-hand side of Fenwick Road from Giffnock sandstone. The plot of ground was first feued in 1880; in 1892 it was acquired by William Brown, a coal merchant, who appears to have had the house built on it. It remained in this family’s possession until 1940 when it passed into the hands of the British Legion.

After World War II it was used as a club for ex-servicemen. The Legion donated it to the First District Council of Renfrew in 1956. From July 1957 until August 1982 it housed Giffnock Branch Library. More recently it has been used as a community centre, housing various clinics, educational classes, and is hired out for various functions.

South Arthurlie House

South Arthurlie House was the home of Zechariah Heys who moved here in 1842. The house gave him easy access to his South Arthurlie Calico Printworks, which he bought in 1841. More information on the house and printworks on the Barrhead Heritage Trail website.

Southfield House, Mearns

In the late 13th century, Southfield was a Templar estate associated with Sir James Sandilands, head of the Knights of St. John and preceptor of Torpichen Priory. In 1307, most of the Templar property in Scotland was transferred to the Knights Hospitallers.

Southfield was sold in 1691 by Sir Archibald Stewart of Blackhall to Robert Urie of Millbrae and in 1771 was acquired by Alexander Hutchison, a Jamaican merchant. It remained in the Hutchison family until 1902.

In 1913 the land was bought by the Corporation of Glasgow from the trustees of the late Lady Cunninghame and became the site of Mearnskirk Hospital for children, which was eventually opened on 9 May 1930, dealing mainly with the many cases of tuberculosis from the City of Glasgow.

Southfield House was demolished in the years following the First World War.  

Thornliebank House ( Rouken Glen Mansion House)

Thornliebank House, also at one time known as the Mansion House Tea Rooms or the Rouken Glen Mansion House, stood near the village of Thornliebank, on the southern boundary of Eastwood Parish.

The original name of Rouken Glen was Birkenshaw, the birch wood, and in 1829 the owner of the estate was Dugald Bannatyne, Postmaster of Glasgow. John Smith, a builder, purchased the estate in 1839 and it may have been his architect son, James, who first enlarged the mansion.

Following the trial of Smith’s daughter Madeleine in 1857, the estate was acquired by Walter Crum, a Glasgow bleacher and dyer in Glasgow who set up extensive textile works in the Thornliebank area. His son, Alexander, made many alterations to the building and changed the name to Thornliebank House in 1879.

In 1906 Cameron Corbett, M.P. gifted the estate to the City of Glasgow. During the Second World War, the house was used as a military base but deteriorated so much in later years that it was demolished in 1963.

Todhill House, Mearns

Todhill House is a grand mansion house in Capelrig Road, built about 1710 and the former residence of Sir John Mactaggart, the Glasgow builder whose son, Jack, and Andrew Mickel formed the Mactaggart and Mickel company.

The Mickel/Mactaggart connection went back to 1880 and, at the turn of the century, Robert Mickel's firm was responsible for the construction of many Glasgow buildings and some prefabricated buildings supplied in sections. The Company was responsible for the first major Glasgow Corporation housing scheme at Mosspark but is perhaps best known in East Renfrewshire for the stylish bungalows and individually designed houses in "striking modern architecture" of the Broom estate, Newton Mearns.

Williamwood House, Netherlee

In 1725, when John Maxwell of Williamwood and John Maxwell of Blawarthill (Later Lord of Nether Pollok) became joint owners of Cathcart, the family abandoned the mansion house at Williamwood and moved to Cathcart Castle. A new mansion house was built in 1750 near old Williamwood House.

In 1926, trustees of Mrs Elizabeth Stewart of Williamwood House wished to sell the property, but the Williamwood Golf Club was not in a position to buy. As a result the mansion house was demolished in the late 1920’s. The present Williamwood House, built in 1930 and designed by Glasgow architect Charles McNair, overlooks the orchard of the old house. It was built for George Urie Scott, a wealthy cinema proprietor. After the death of Elizabeth Scott, Williamwood House was bequeathed to the Church of Scotland who now runs it as a care home.

Caldwell Hall, Uplawmoor

In 1715 William Mure, advocate, built a hall house on the Caldwell Estate about half a mile south-west of his ancestral home, the old Castle of Caldwell. Called Hall of Caldwell, this remained in the Mure family until the 1930’s. The last of the line to live there was Colonel William Mure, with his wife Georgiana and their children William (b.1898) and Marjorie Janet (b.1896). On the Colonel’s return from the Boer War in 1902 he developed and extended the Hall, as well as carrying out extensive tree-planting across the parish.

The Colonel lived at the Hall until his death, aged 42, of appendicitis in 1912, and was survived by his wife and two children. Having been divided into two residences, Hall of Caldwell is still occupied. The arched gateway from the old Castle of Caldwell has been built into the garden wall of the Hall and can be seen facing the crossroads of the B775 and B776.

Carlibar House, Barrhead

Carlibar House, originally belonged to James Dunlop and Sons, who owned a number of cotton mills including Levern and Gateside. The house was eventually sold to farmer Robert Glen and his wife Margaret Pollock Glen in 1871; unfortunately Robert Glen died before they could move in and sadly Margaret Glen lived there on her own for almost 50 years.

Later she inherited a vast fortune from her uncle Robert Craig, "Rhoosan" or Russian Rab who owned large thread mills on the River Neva near Leningrad. She used the money for many charities in the town including building a district nurses home in Arthurlie Street, the Glen Halls in Neilston, the gold chain for the provost of Barrhead, and many other causes.

After she died in 1911, her relative Major Pollock, the Bisley shooting champion, stayed there. After his death the house was acquired by the local council and converted to a community centre until its demolition. A new community centre was built on the same site and still serves the local people.

Whitecraigs House

Built in 1898 by architect H. E. Clifford. Possibly the name “Whitecraigs” came from an old 17^th century limestone quarry across the road. In a certain light it seemed to show “white crags”.