Haggs Castle

Haggs Castle

3 reception rooms, master bedroom with en-suite dressing area and bathroom, 5 further bedrooms (3 of which are en-suite), breakfasting kitchen, laundry, WC.

Haggs Castle dates from 1585 and is Glasgow's oldest inhabited secular building. It was commissioned by Sir John Maxwell, 12th of Pollock, after a family feud which saw him ousted from the Castle of Pollok and the Pollok Estate.

The Castle and the land upon which it stood took their names from the boggy marshes or haggs that stretched to the east. The date of construction of Haggs Castle is determined by an inscription over the door of the castle:

1585 NIDOMINO ® DES-STRVXE RIT-FRUSTRA-STRVIS SR JHON MAXWELL-OF-POLLOK KNY GHT-AND D.MARGARET-CONYNGHN HIS-WIFE-BEGGET-THIS-HOWS.

The Latin inscription is not grammatically correct but appears to be a corruption of Psalm 127:1: "Except the Lord build the house, they labour in vain that build it."

For some 10 years after its construction, Haggs Castle seems to have been the main residence of the family, but the death of Sir John Maxwell, 12th of Pollok, in a skirmish at Lockerbie in 1595 threw the family's affairs into turmoil.

It was fought over fiercely as it passed through successive generations of Maxwells but by the middle of the 18th Century, its small rooms and narrow stairs had become an unsuitable home for the family. In 1747, Sir John Maxwell, 3rd Baronet, began building a new house in Pollok Park and completed it in 1752, the year of his death. When the family moved into their new home, Pollok House, Haggs Castle was allowed to fall into disrepair. By 1840 the castle was in ruins and the lower floor had been turned into a smithy to service the local coal pit about a quarter mile south of the old castle.

In the 1850s work begun to consolidate the building and by 1860, Sir John Maxwell, 9th Baronet had fully restored the Castle for the use of his estate factor who occupied it until his death in 1899.

By May 1900, Sir John Stirling-Maxwell had enlarged the castle by adding a drawing room and billiard room on the north side and a new entrance and circular staircase on the south side. These additions considerably altered the original plan of the castle. In 1943, it was requisitioned for military purposes and after the war, the building was divided into 4 flats. Toilets, bathrooms and kitchens were created for each flat. These flats were rented out until July 1972, when the castle was bought by Glasgow Corporation for use as a museum.

Conversion into a museum involved taking out all the flats, re-roofing the building, complete rewiring and modernisation to comply with regulations for a building to be used for public access. Haggs Castle Children's Museum was open by John Craven of BBC's Newsround Programme in 1976.

It was sold to its present owner who in 1997 returned it to a magnificent residential dwelling of considerable character.

Mileage: Glasgow City Centre 5km (3 miles) Edinburgh 80km (50 miles)
(All mileages are approximate)

The Hall

Drawing Room

Kitchen

Double Bedroom

House for Sale in Glasgow .