Mearns Castle
| Mearns Castle | |
|
Renfrewshire | |
|---|---|
 Mearns Castle | |
| Type: | Tower house |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | NS552553 |
| Location: | 55°46’11"N, 4°18’34"W |
| Village: | Newton Mearns |
| History | |
| Built 15th century | |
| Information | |
| Owned by: | Church of Scotland |
Mearns Castle is a fifteenth-century tower house at the eastern edge of Newton Mearns in Renfrewshire. Once fallen into ruin, as have so many castles, it has been restored and is now part of the Maxwell Mearns Castle Church. The castle also gives its name to nearby Mearns Castle High School.
Today Mearns Castle is a Category A listed building.[1]
History
Meanrs Castle was built by Herbert, Lord Maxwell, under a royal warrant issued in 1449, and remained with the family until the fifth Lord was required by King James VI to deliver it up to the crown.[2] It was sold to Sir George Maxwell of Nether Mearns in the middle of the seventeenth century, and later passed to the Shaw-Stewart family.[2]
In 1971 the remaining stories of the tower were converted to a link between two Church of Scotland buildings.[2]
Description
The castle was originally a four-storey rectangular tower, and parts of the original corbelling remain. There is a vaulted basement room, approached from the main entrance. The first-floor hall, which is also vaulted, is approached by a straight mural stair; it has stone window seats, and once had a minstrels' gallery. The original arched entrance is now walled up.[2]
Outside links
References
- ↑ "Newton Mearns, Waterfoot Road, Mearns Castle, Listed Building Report". Historic Scotland. http://data.historic-scotland.gov.uk/pls/htmldb/f?p=2200:15:0::::BUILDING:18536. Retrieved 2010-05-20.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 Lindsay, p.352
- Lindsay, Maurice (1994) The Castles of Scotland. Constable. ISBN 0-09-473430-5