Craigend Castle
Craigend Castle is the ruin of a country house north of Milngavie in the Scottish administrative division of East Dunbartonshire .
The Craigend lands belonged to the Mugdock Barony in the Middle Ages , but the property was sold to the Smith family in the mid-17th century . John Smith (1724–1812) was born in Craigend, became a merchant and in 1751 founded the bookselling company John Smith & Son . John Smith had a simple house built on the property, but a few years after his death in 1816 his son James had the old house converted into a much nicer country house. It was designed in neo-Gothic style by architect Alexander Ramsay .
In 1851 the house was sold to Sir Andrew Buchanan , the former British ambassador to the Habsburg court in Vienna . James Outram , former owner of the Glasgow Herald , leased the mansion from the Buchanan family in the early 20th century.
In between, the judge and art collector Archibald McLellan from Glasgow leased the country house. After he moved there in 1835, he lived there until his death in 1854.
In 1920 Sir Harold E. Yarrow , chairman and general manager of Yarrow Shipbuilders , leased Craigend Castle. He had previously lived at the Fairlawn on Ralston Road in Bearsden . Glasgow businessman Andrew Wilson and his son William , the zoologist , bought part of the Craigend estate from the Buchanan family and opened a zoo in the country house's stables in 1949, with a variety of exotic animals. However, they could not attract enough visitors and therefore had to close the zoo again in 1954.
The stables and grounds of the zoo became part of Mugdock Country Park , but the country house fell into ruin. The stable block north of the house now serves as the park's visitor center. The adjacent Craigend property is now privately owned and operated as a cattle and sheep ranch. Historic Scotland has listed the ruins as a Category C Historic Building.
Gallery images
Another look at the ruins
The former stables
Individual evidence
Web links and sources
- Craigend Castle . The Glasgow Story.
- XXVI. Craigend Castle . The old country houses of the old Glasgow gentry.
- '#Famous Mugdock Residents' #. Built heritage.
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 58 ′ 12.5 ″ N , 4 ° 20 ′ 0.1 ″ W.