1910 Calderwood Castle. Photo by David Ritchie. Shared by Alex Bowie
Photographed by David Ritchie in 1910, these 3 photos of Calderwood Castle are previously unseen online. Calderwood Castle sat on the Parish Boundary, just slightly into the Kilbride side. Photographed here from the River Calder on the Blantyre side, the castle is seen in all its finery. It was real tourist attraction too.
People would have stopped by train at Crossbasket at Calderwood Halt station and entered the estate via the road at the Lodge at Stoneymeadow Road, walking the scenic route through the glen up to the castle.
In these fine photos, people can be seen on balconies and at the windows. Shown to Calderwood historian, Chris Ladds, he told me recently, “I have to say Paul I am astounded at the detail in the these photos. Despite having seen many photos they were rage prints and postcards. Very few I have seen in this quality. In the first picture the course retaining wall where it begins to slope down to the right you can make out a decorative carved support stone. That stone is still perfectly intact today along with the walls.
In the second image I’m sure you can make out the tower of Craigneith between the trees. I see no reason to doubt 1910 as a date although the same sites photographed from 1900 up until 1930s remained relatively unchanged. The last two were taken from the footbridge near Calderwood linn, however one seems to be lower viewpoint as if taken from the river. In the first photo I can also confirm that Irish yew is still there today and you can see where the 1849s gothic revival extension abuts onto the 1750’s ‘tenemental’-like extension to the old tower which collapsed in 1793.“
Thanks to Alex Bowie for sharing.