
Castlemilk House was a
country house
An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhouse (Great Britain), town house. This allowed them to spend time in the country and in the cit ...
located in what is now the
Castlemilk district of
Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...
,
Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...
. The house was the ancestral home of the Stirling-Stuart family and was built around the 15th-century Cassiltoun Tower during the 18th and 19th centuries. The house and Castlemilk Estate were purchased by
Glasgow Corporation
The politics of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city by population, are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of Glasgow City Council, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament.
Local government
As one of ...
in 1938, with the house serving as a children's home until it was closed in 1969 and demolished that year.
History

The lands of Cassiltoun of Carmunnock, located on high ground south of Glasgow between the hills of the
Cathkin Braes and the burgh of
Rutherglen near the
River Clyde
The River Clyde ( gd, Abhainn Chluaidh, , sco, Clyde Watter, or ) is a river that flows into the Firth of Clyde in Scotland. It is the ninth-longest river in the United Kingdom, and the third-longest in Scotland. It runs through the major cit ...
, were acquired by the
Stuarts of Castlemilk in
Dumfriesshire
Dumfriesshire or the County of Dumfries or Shire of Dumfries (''Siorrachd Dhùn Phris'' in Gaelic) is a historic county and registration county in southern Scotland. The Dumfries lieutenancy area covers a similar area to the historic county.
...
(an estate near
Lockerbie which still exists also featuring a grand mansion) in the 13th century. In the 16th century, they renamed the Cassiltoun estate Castlemilk.
[History]
Cassiltoun Trust Five generations of the
Stuart family formed a dynastic
baronetcy
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...
from the 1660s to the 1790s.
[
]
In 1937 the 445 hectare (1100 acre) Estate of Castlemilk were acquired by Glasgow Corporation
The politics of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city by population, are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of Glasgow City Council, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament.
Local government
As one of ...
for housing.[ The estate was acquired under a compulsory purchase order as William Stirling-Stuart, the Laird of Castlemilk, had misgivings over the land being used for high-density housing so far from locations of industry.] The outbreak of the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
delayed building work on the Castlemilk housing scheme, which was constructed in the 1950s, and soon modern tenements surrounded the house's grounds on all sides.[Castlemilk from Cathkin Braes (Glasgow City Archives, Department of Architectural and Civic Design, 1957)]
The Glasgow Story
Castlemilk House was acquired by Glasgow Corporation
The politics of Glasgow, Scotland's largest city by population, are expressed in the deliberations and decisions of Glasgow City Council, in elections to the council, the Scottish Parliament and the UK Parliament.
Local government
As one of ...
in 1939, and was used to accommodate evacuees from the city until the end of the war. It was then used as a children's home from 1948 until the expense of maintaining the house forced it to close in January 1969. Castlemilk House was demolished by 1972;[Stable place to be]
Evening Times, 12 September 2008 a children's play area now occupies the site. In the 21st century the many green areas between the clusters of housing, including the remaining features of the rural estate, are managed as Castlemilk Park and Woodlands, an award-winning project aimed to benefit the community.
Castlemilk Stables
Other than a small park featuring the landscaped fish pond and a stone bridge (1833, Category B listed
This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom.
For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland.
Key
The organization of the lists in th ...
)[ which once formed the driveway to the mansion, and the entrance gateways which are sited to the north-east on the edge of Rutherglen, the accompanying stables block (built 1794, designed by David Hamilton, also Category B listed) is the main surviving legacy of the grand estate.][ After being damaged by a fire in 1994 and left abandoned,][ it was restored in 2007 (with the project winning awards) and now contains the local housing offices, community facilities and a nursery.]
See also
* Calderglen Country Park (East Kilbride
East Kilbride (; gd, Cille Bhrìghde an Ear ) is the largest town in South Lanarkshire in Scotland and the country's sixth-largest locality by population. It was also designated Scotland's first new town on 6 May 1947. The area lies on a raise ...
): built around Torrance House estate, owned by the same family
References
*Sp Coll, Dougan Add. 73. Glasgow University Library
Glasgow University Library in Scotland is one of the oldest and largest university libraries in Europe. At the turn of the 21st century, the main library building itself held 1,347,000 catalogued print books, and 53,300 journals. In total, the ...
, Special Collections.
External links
Castlemilk House
at Canmore Canmore may refer to:
* Canmore (database), a Scottish national online database of ancient monuments;
*Canmore, Alberta, a town in Canada;
*the House of Dunkeld, a royal house that ruled Scotland in the 11th, 12th and 13th centuries, including
**Mal ...
()
Painting of view from Cathkin Braes showing Castlemilk House and stables
by T. Williams, hosted at Art UK
Art UK is a cultural, education charity in the United Kingdom, previously known as the Public Catalogue Foundation. Since 2003, it has digitised more than 220,000 paintings by more than 40,000 artists and is now expanding the digital collection t ...
(work itself held at Hamilton Low Parks Museum
The Low Parks Museum is located in Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland and traces the local history of South Lanarkshire through numerous exhibits on provincial industries and events of local historical importance.
History
The Low Parks Museum ...
)
Video footage of the Stables, Bridge and Glen
{{coord, 55.809, N, 4.220, W, region:GB, display=title
Former buildings and structures in Scotland
Houses completed in the 16th century
Buildings and structures demolished in 1972
Houses completed in 1794
House of Stuart
Country houses in Glasgow
Category B listed buildings in Glasgow