Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire
Photo © Elliot Simpson, 9 December 2008
Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire
Photo © Iain Thompson, 27 December 2005
Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire Photo © Elliot Simpson, 9 December 2008 |
Crossbasket Castle, South Lanarkshire Photo © Iain Thompson, 27 December 2005 |
The oldest part of Crossbasket Castle is the 16th century tower. Other
parts of the building were added in the 19th century. The house has served as
a nursery and a missionary centre in recent years
CROSSBASKET AND CALDERWOOD CASTLES, LANARKSHIRE.
Of the two keeps only the first is now in existence, the other having fallen in January 1773. Crossbasket and Calderwood adjoin each other at a distance of two or three miles from Blantyre Railway Station. They are situated on the wild precipitous banks of the Calder, a stream which pursues its course in a deep and narrow rocky gorge clothed with thick woods.
Crossbasket is a simple keep, measuring about 38 feet long by 22 feet broad. There is a large modern mansion, attached to its east end, as shown by Sketch. The interior of the keep has been greatly altered to suit modern circumstances. The exterior, however, is mostly old work, but the embrasures on the staircase turret are modern, as is also the enlarging of the windows (except the dormers, which are old).
The tower is three stories high, with attics, and has a walk round the battlements. Crossbasket was a jointure house of the Lindsays of Mains, whose Castle of Mains is described in this volume, and there has been some resemblance between the two structures.
Calderwood was a much more massive keep than either of its neighbours just mentioned, having been 69 feet long by 40 feet wide, and 87 feet 6 inches high. Some later buildings had been attached to it, which are still standing. These are of no interest, and still form part of a large modern house, which was built after the fall of the old castle.
The Maxwells of Calderwood are descended from the Pollock branch of the family. Sir Robert Maxwell of Calderwood, the ancestor of this branch, died in 1363. There does not appear to be any account of the building of the castle, but it may have belonged to an early period.
THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND THOMAS ROSS, 1889