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Balfour House
Balfour House sat among elegant pleasure grounds for four hundred years, but its crumbling ruins are now surrounded by farmland. Originally a 16th century tower house, home to one of Mary Queen of Scots' ladies in waiting, later extensions in the 17th and 19th centuries created the house seen in this engraving. The house appears to have been abandoned in the 1930s, and has steadily collapsed until now little rises more than a few feet. The near corner vanished long ago and appears to have been a Bryce addition.
Image credit: Fife, Pictorial and Historical, Alexander Hastie Millar, 1895.
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Balmacaan House
Once a modest thatched house, in 1851 the Victorian mansion was built for Lord Redhaven, the Earl of Seafield. In the late 19th century it was rented each year to Bradley Martin, an American industrialist whose house guests included Grand Duke Michael of Russia. From the 1920s, family fortunes declined, and after wartime use by evacuees, the house was left to deteriorate until its demolition in 1972. Forestry has taken over the site near Drumnadrochit, which is publicly accessible including a superb view of Loch Ness.
Image credit: Vintage postcard, collection of the author.
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Barochan House
There is still a house called Barochan on this site, but none of the building pictured survives. The late 16th century parts replaced a house accidentally destroyed by fire, but were much "improved" in the 18th and 19th centuries. In 1896 Charles Johnston added a wing to the right and Baronialised the top of the tower. Circa 1951, all but the Johnston wing was demolished due to "general decay and dry rot". More recently a large modern wing has been added in an unsuccessful blend of styles. The fine Classical stable block survives.
Image credit: The Castles and Mansions of Renfrewshire, Alexander Hastie Millar, 1888.
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Biel House
The central portion (an 18th century expansion of a tower house) survives, but William Atkinson's "vast monastic Gothic additions", and RR Anderson's conversion of the conservatory to an episcopal chapel, were all swept away in 1952. The splendid setting remains, along with a grand but more sensibly-sized house.
Image credit: Vintage postcard, collection of the author.
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Blythswood House
Blythswood stood near the confluence of the Black Cart and the Clyde near Renfrew. Originally known as Ranfield (or Renfield), this large new house was built to the designs of James Gillespie Graham in 1820-2. The house was renamed after the area of western Glasgow which the family developed, making their fortune. An avenue of trees led down to the smaller river, and the house was famous first for an experimental physics laboratory from 1892, then for an exclusive private golf course in 1920. Following several Lord Blythswoods in fairly rapid succession, the title died out in 1940, but not before the mansion had been demolished in 1935.
Renfrew Golf Course moved onto the site around 1970, obliterating any remaining traces of the mansion's formal gardens and other buildings. On the other hand, this has restored the park to a well-maintained green landscape, and its setting can be enjoyed by many. Old Renfield House, "nearer the river" was likely begun soon after 1568 by Andrew Hay, granted the lands from James, Earl of Moray, but being demolished around 1821 has not survived to be photographed, and no drawings are presently known.
Image credit: The Castles and Mansions of Renfrewshire, Alexander Hastie Millar, 1888.
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Blythswood House
One curious feature, possibly due to the site near the Clyde, is the inclusion of glazed panels to the sides of the main portico.
Image credit: Vintage postcard, collection of the author.
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Brisbane House
Built 1636, the C19 wings had stables (L) and a service wing (R). Eight bedrooms on the top floors shared one toilet, the bathroom was in the right-hand wing. De-roofed 1938 and soon demolished.
Image credit: The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire, Alexander Hastie Millar, 1885. Courtesy of East Ayrshire Archives.
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Broadfield House
Description coming soon.
Image credit: The Castles and Mansions of Renfrewshire, Alexander Hastie Millar, 1888.