Johnstone Castle
Johnstone Castle is the ruin of a country house in the town of Johnstone in the Scottish county of Renfrewshire .
history
The 18th century house belonged to the Houstouns of Milliken , who purchased the estate from Easter Cochrane in 1773. The original building was enlarged in 1771 and again on behalf of George Houstoun in 1812. During the last renovation, the house was provided with battlements and a tourelle on the left side of the front facade, probably designed by the architect James Gillespie Graham .
Among the most notable details were the rooms on the first floor, which had barrel vaulted ceilings. In addition to the battlements, the building had a decorative stone layer in the form of a rope under the roof edge. Even if the country house and its property were considered to be partly picturesque, the growth of the town of Johnstone meant that the property was steadily reduced and almost completely disappeared at the beginning of the 20th century. Most of the house was demolished in 1950, and in 1956 the city bought most of the remaining land for housing development.
Today only the central tower with a square floor plan is preserved, which has an older stepped gable with a crowd watchtower . This tower was in ruins until it was bought in 2001 and converted into a private residence. Historic Scotland has listed it as a Category B Historic Building.
Frédéric Chopin
The most famous event in the history of Johnstone Castle is the visit of the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin in 1848. He was invited by Anne Houstoun , the wife of the then Laird Ludovic , when he was on a tour of Scotland. Anne's sister, Jane Stirling , was a student and long-time friend of Chopin and had arranged the tour. Chopin was initially charmed by the property and described his stay in a letter: “I am staying in Mrs. Houstoun's house. The country house is very pretty and opulent; you lead your life on a grand scale. "
Unfortunately the weather got worse and he wrote to his friend Wojciech Grzymała : “The weather has changed, it's terrible outside. I feel sick and depressed and everyone gets on my nerves with their excessive attention. "
To make matters worse, he was also involved in an accident that could have cost him his life: he drove out in a two-horse carriage and one of the horses reared up and tore itself off the harness while Chopin was still in the carriage. The car crashed into a tree and fell to pieces. But the composer was able to get out of the wreck.
Individual evidence
- ^ Frank Arneil Walker: The South Clyde Estuary . RIAS, 1986.
- ^ Charles A. Scott: Burgh of Johnstone in Moisley et altera: The Third Statistical Account of Scotland - The County of Renfrew . Collins, 1962.
- ↑ Listed Building - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ↑ Audrey Evelyn Bone: Jane Wilhelmina Stirling 1804-1859 . Self-published, 1960, p. 72.
- ↑ a b Iwo Zaluski, Pamela Zaluski: The Scottish Autumn of Frederick Chopin . John Donald, 1993.
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 49 ′ 41 " N , 4 ° 30 ′ 28" W.