Yes

The Big House, the Yew tree and bridge over the Gryfe, the formal gardens (croquet lawn, tennis courts and stabl block & yes the \'tunnel\'

Looking for information on the old theatre in the stable blocks

Linwood

Although we occasionally went out to the old ford to paddle and swim in the Gryfe when we were young I first visited Craigends in the early 1960\'s. Like other locals only starting to visit the grounds when the last Lady Cunninghame died and the estate started to be run down. My father however had been a fairly regular visitor, as the local electrician, and knew the house quite well and would occasionally talk about what he had seen there. It was sad to see the old formal gardens fall into disrepair but the large yew in the grounds in front of the mansion was always a great draw as was the \'tunnel\' running along the back wall once we found it. Once vandals had broken into the building a whole ne worl opened up and we started to explore. The old conservatory still had the remains of ferns and possibly a banana plant while there was an access to the roof from the main staircase. Fortunately or unfortunately the old walkway along the roof had fallen into disrepair by the time we found it so it was unsafe to try walking along it.
One of my fondest memories was the day we found the theatre which was located within the old stable block to the south west of the main building. The Grecian dancers along the walls although already badly faded were very finely drawn and very elegant with their diaphanous drapery. Years later when I asked my father about them he said the local rumour was that Italian or German POWs had drawn them but from memory they could have easily dated from the 1920s or earlier..
My biggest regret was that when I tried to go back to photograph then the stable block had already been demolished and then most of the big house was also demolished even though there was a preservation order on the building. I believe that the preservation order led to court action and was why the tower was left in an increasingly perilous state until it too was eventually demolished

Research family History

Suffolk England

nope

Does anyone know where Robertyard was I think it\'s not there anymore or Chapel farm or has any old photos of Chapel farm ........... Gx5 grandfather lived at Chapel Farm Robert Whyte

Jan

No

Nothing

Seaching my family history.

Edmonton, Alberta Canada

Well researching my family history i discover that James Doig of Dunrobin would of been my Eight great grandfather, My Grand father was Walter Thomas (Ralph) Doig

Not yet

WW1 research

Ayr in Scotland UK

Hello,
I am a Brownies Leader from Alloway, Ayr in Scotland UK. My Brownies are researching the names of the men on our village War Memorial - each Brownie has one name to remember each Remembrance Sunday. Major William John Cuninghame appears on our War Memorial.
He was the eldest son of William Cuninghame, 15th Laird of Craigends, who sold the estate and title to his Uncle before moving to Belmont, Ayr, where William John was later born.
If anyone has any information about William John Cuninghame, or a photo of him, please get in touch.
Thanks.

yes

omgoodness :) as children we used to love going walks to Craigends up that winding road past the gatehouse and im sure i remember what was probably a playhouse but built of stone ?

i searched internet

Houston now Sydney Australia

unfortunately no

I have so many wonderful memories of that beautiful house and its so sad that it was pulled down . To not even have kept the fountain or archway is just tragic and such a beautiful part of our history shame on whoever had the say in what happened to it all :(

manytimes

the curved entrance road leading to the ruins. The tranquility of the area when there were cattle and sheep grazing either side of the entrance roadway,and the Locher burn flowing through the estate.

Googled Craigends House

The original Linwood village, now retired and living in the Caribbean.

Sorry none

I believe some of the stone from the demolition can be seen in the Houston Inn pub, Houston. The stone work was cleaned and used in the pub remodeling when it was owned by Willie Stuart the builder from Bridge of Weir, and bulit by Robert Kelly, bricklayer from Bridge of Weir.

Yes, many times.

I first discovered the estate as a small boy in the mid 60\'s when it was still intact and being patrolled by, what appeared to be, military personnel in landrovers.

By accident.

Originally Glasgow but I lived in Linwood from 63 to 71.

No

When we first discovered the estate, it was out of bounds to the public but as security appeared to be very thin on the ground, we used to sneak into the grounds and go exploring.
It was a fabulous building, like something out of a fairy story, and it was open so it was possible to wander around the entire complex. It was evident, from signs on various doors, that the building had been used in a military capacity. The stables indicated that it had possibly been used as as some form of POW camp. An entertainment stage had been constructed in one room and the walls had been decorated with, what could be classed as, nymphs. All beautifully done. There were also lots of German signatures written on the walls, together with dates from 1944/45. In other rooms in the stables, steel rings were were fastened around the walls, approximately one bed width apart. I understand from friends at the time that there were also air raid shelters in the grounds and that various items of army equipment, badges, helmets, etc. had been discovered in them.
There were amazing tunnels under the house which we used to explore with torches. It was an incredible place!
Soon after we discovered the house, the security patrols stopped and anyone could wander into and around the building. Progressively, through a process of vandalism and weather damage the property deteriorated until one day, we visited the house to find that someone started a fire inside the house that had destroyed the main roof.
As I recall, the last time that I visited the property, many, many years ago, they had started on a housing development there and only part of the fron wall was standing.
A very sad end to a very beautiful building that I have very fond memories of!

No

Google search

Grand Blanc, Michigan

No

I found this site when I was searching the name on a very beautiful old bookplate in a 1718 French book I own. The bookplate reads as follows, "So Folk Foward" at the top in a banner, then a family crest, then at the bottom, "Alexander Cuninghame of Craigends Esquire". Further more, on the title page of this volume, it's signed "Alex Cuninghame, 24 May 1775, Paris". Not knowing who he was, I googled him. And to my surprise, I found a wealth of information on this family and a small bit on him. It appears he was the 11th Laird of Craigends, the old house. If I'm incorrect, please someone set me straight. Even though there doesn't seem to be much information about the earlier house he would have known, this site and the information and photos of the rebuilt Craigends was very interesting. The house was beautiful, I wish l could have seen it. Such a shame to think all that remains is private housing. I like knowing I have a small book that had a home there at one time.

yes,many times

the ruins, the liom,the greenhouses

googled it

brookfield

no

i remember the wonderful grounds,and taking our dogs for walks there in the 60's- 70's, and remember being devastated when the old house was pulled down

yes

paying in the ruined building and exporing the estate for days on end

searched internet

linwood

no just memories

swimming and fishing in the river playing in the ruins and tunnels catching frogs and newts in the pond /fountain climbing the trees waking the whole estate with my parents picking brambles to make jam collecting chestnuts in autum and finding old walled garden and greenhouse remains and catching good size trout and grayling from the locher burn sadly al of this is just memories as i am sure my daughter age 9 would just love spending days exploring the place like i did and have picnics on the lush lawn at the back of where the house stood .

many times

We used to play in the ruined 'manor' and the grounds.

chance

currently yorkshire, but I lived in Linwood at the time

I have very clear memories of the House interior. I remember some stories about it being occupied by canadian(?) officers during WW2. I do remember in the cellars there were some remains that would back up that it had been used by military personnel. I remember too the 'Stables' and the theatre that had been made there with the fresco paintings of greek type nymphs and the like all around the walls. I too remember the tunnels and went through them many times. There was only one significant tunnel and it went the length of the back of the house starting near the conservatory and it followed the main wall of the house. I think it was for ventilation of the foundations or it may have been for inspections, but it was part of the house and nothing sinister. The other tunnels were for similar purposes. Going through them was quite a dare though when we were kids. We used to spend most of the school holidays in the estate.

No

n/a

Mrs C Campbell

Blantyre

no

Loved looking at your photos, find historical buildings interesting and facinating, been reading all the comments, Hope you manage to get more stuff to add

Yes

I remember going for walks there when I was about 12/13 in the early eighties. The front of the house and the lion especially! The skeleton of what looked like a greenhouse, overgrown. The Yew tree.

Searching online for information on the house, as I have always remembered it, but knew virtually nothing about its history.

Originally Glasgow, but now living in Kent.

No, but would appreciate more information myself.

I would like to know if any of the artefacts from the house are still available to be seen ie. the lion, if there are any left. Also, why, when it was demolished in 1961, did they decide to leave the front part of the house? I think it is such a shame that there is now nothing left of what was once an extremely grand and palatial piece of history, especially as, at the time, we were fortunate enough to have it so nearby. When you are young, you don't appreciate it as much, but it will always be a part of my childhood memories.

no

just found out about it now

googling my gggrandparents the gillespies

newzealand

no

my gg grandfather brother Andrew gillespie and his wife and 4 kids lived at craigends in 1881 and 1891. Andrew was the butler, and they lived in the butlers house in the 91 census, I think it's marvellous to find out this through this site. Andrews brother John came to nz about 1867 and was his younger brother to Andrew.

Yes

The house was a beautiful work of art , and should have been preserved

niternet

Johnstone

no

I am a joiner and worked with Williamson's of Johnstone . In the early fiftys we had the task of keeping the house and estate building in good repair , unfortunatly there was a lot of dryrot . any work we did had to be in keeping with the origanal. To bad it did not last .

Yes many times

Everything

Search Engine

Linwood now living in Perthshire

I spent many a happy summer playing in the Craigends Estate I can remember many things about the estate which over the years sadly disappeared. I think it was very wrong what happend to it.

Just what's left of it now, sadly!

A Google search for the house

Crosslee, Houston

Having recently been spending a lot of time going on Summer Walks down to the river and then over the bridge into the woods.The river area seems to be coming alive this Summer with lots of kids coming to fish or jump into the water! I love it there.
I find the stories now fascinating and I can't believe that a beautiful historic building like that was demolished. What a fantastic website and great interesting stories from others.

no

n/a

research

UK

no

I noticed from your genealogy table that you do not appear to include Boyd Alexander, fourth son of John, 13th Laird, and was curious as to why this is?

Kind regards

Sean

Yes

It was in ruins but as children we used to imagine how it would have been in its glory

My mum stumbled upon it

Linwood

Sadly not

How sad it was to see this grand house the way it was and then to see it lying in ruins. How could this have been allowed to happen!!! My mum and I talked about the estate for ages today and she told me that my grandmother as a young child took eggs and milk from her relatives shop in Crosslee and walked to the house to hand them into the cook. As a young child my friends and I used to walk up the Manor Road (as it was called) and vist the area where the house once stood we had fabulous times pretending we were children from the past although we never new what the house looked like I got a shock when I saw it on the website as it was just how I imagined it in my mind while playing there as a child.

No

Given to me by Mr Jim Campbell

Stelling Hall, Northumberland

Regret no.

Looks great - I will try to visit and I do hope that it can be maintained indefinitely.