A walk through Darnley

How to get there: By train from Glasgow Central Station to Priesthill and Darnley railway station or by the first bus 56/56A and 57/57A. Please always check before leaving. In 1968, the City of Glasgow approved the construction of 2,048 flats in Darnley. This plan was to occupy an area north of Nitshill Road covered by Leggatston Farm. A total of 1,336 apartment blocks from two to seven storeys with roof access were built. Two elementary schools and a community center were also included. A social club and bowling alley, a church, a small shopping mall, and a library were added throughout the 1970s.

(1) Priesthill and Darnley Railway Station

This station was opened by British Rail on April 23, 1990. The line was originally called the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston District Railway from 1845 to 1851, when the company was taken over by the Caledonian Railway. This station is located between Nitshill railway station and Kennishead railway station. At the time of the Glasgow, Barrhead and Neilston District Railway and the Caledonian Railway, no station existed here.

Looking across the track towards Priesthill, a mill called Victoria Mill was located here in the 1840s.

(2) Rock Burn

Brock Burn tours Darnley and Pollok.

(3) Original Kennishead Road location

Kennishead Road originally ran from Nitshill Road outside Darnley Mill diagonally to where the M77 now crosses Kennishead Road at Kenniholm Avenue. The road was realigned in the 1970s due to the construction of the Darnley Estate.

(4) Leggatston Farm

This was a well known farm in the area. Demolished due to the construction of the Darnley Estate.

(5) Darnley Sycamore

Mary Queen of Scots is said to have nursed her ailing husband, Henry Stuart, the Earl of Darnley, under this Sycamore. This tree would have had to have existed in the 1560s when Darnley died in 1567.

(6) Toll point

Located just west of Darnley Sycamore

(7) Darnley Hospital

Darnley Hospital operated from 1897 to 1992. It was originally an infectious disease hospital and was later used for tuberculosis patients. The hospital became a geriatric hospital until its closure. The site is now a private nursing home.

Glasgow Herald, December 6, 1937

(8) Darnley Fire Station

Darnley Fire Station Memoirs

(9) Darnley Mill

Canmore Record

Glasgow history page

Maps by Pont (1583-96), Blaeu (1654), and Moll (1745) show Darnley (or Darly) and Roy’s (1747-55) map. It is John Ainslie’s Map of Renfrew County (1800) that shows for the first time the location and presence of Darnley (or Darnlie) Mill.

In the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1858-64), the mill is specifically mentioned as a corn mill. Currently the mill is a restaurant.

(10) Darnley Lime and Fireclay Works

Originally noted on the Ordnance Survey Second Edition (First Revision) map (1896-1899) as Darnley Lime Works. The works were located just south of Darnley Mill.

(11) gun battery

Located approximately on Langford Drive. There are no remains in sight as the area is now a housing estate.

(12) Old mine shaft

More remains of the mining and quarrying that took place at Darnley. This area is fenced due to sinking.

(13) Darnley House/Bleachfield Darnley

On Thomas Richardson’s 1795 map the site is labeled “Darnley Bleachfield, Mr. Tennant”. It was at his bleaching plant in Darnley that Charles Tennant (1768-1838) produced the chemical combination of chlorine and lime powder that led to the development of bleaching powder. It seems likely that he obtained the lime he used in this process from local quarries. When the first edition Ordnance Survey maps were produced, Darnley Bleachfield is simply referred to as Darnley House. Examining the land around here closely, you’ll see some marks of a residence here, such as the way the trees were planted.

(14) Curling Pond

It is all that remains of Darnley House.

(15) Ruined House

This two-story building has been around for 150 years, but has kept its history to itself. No one knows for sure who or what used the house: Charles Tennant or part of the bleaching fields? The house is now in ruins and care must be taken when walking around it. Stay away from the walls and don’t go in!

(16) Remains of firing range

Within the forest are two trenches that were part of the Patterton Rifle Range and the Darnley Rifle Ranges. The area is heavily overgrown and care should be taken when entering the area due to undergrowth and deep trenches.

(17) Gravitational hydraulic works buildings of Gorbals

Beginning in 1845, the Gorbals Gravitational Water Company was established to provide clean water to the Gorbals area of ​​Glasgow. At the top of Waulkmill Glen, before you reach the first reservoir, you’ll notice a stone-lined waterfall. The red sandstone arches contain gates set in the dam. The small structure in front of this is also related to the control of water flow.

(18) Pollok Castle

The castle appears to appear on Pont’s map (1583-96), as a castle named ‘Pook’. It also appears on the 1654 Blaeu map. (Pook is mentioned as a name for Pollokshaws on the Blaeu map “Pook Shaws”). Originally a simple tower house, the castle was rebuilt between 1686 and 1694 by Sir Robert Pollock. The south and east walls of the previous tower house were removed and what remained of the structure was incorporated into a wing extending to the east. The first edition of the Ordnance Survey map (1858-64) shows the castle and grounds in detail. The house was destroyed by fire in 1880, but photographs of the building before and after the fire survive. The house was rebuilt in 1886 in the Scottish manor style, incorporating some of the surviving elements of the earlier structure.

The castle was requisitioned by the British Army in 1939, but the Pollock family occupied a wing of the house during the war. The estate was apparently used as an ammunition depot during this period. The house continued to be inhabited until 1944, when Miss Ferguson Pollock moved in and was eventually abandoned. The poor condition of the building forced its demolition less than ten years later, in 1952. Most of the stone from the castle was sold and used as hard core for an airstrip. A number of prefabricated houses are later believed to have been built on the site to form one large structure, but this was removed in the late 1970s. Today there is no visible trace of Pollock’s castle and the grounds contain private residences.

(19) Darnley Mains Site

Located roughly where B&Q is today, this was a major farm that operated in the area. If you continue towards the dams you will get some amazing views and see some wildlife (and not the full range of criminals!)

You can find a map to accompany this walk here: http://awalkaround.wordpress.com/a-walk-around-darnley/