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Publication Account
Date 1985
Event ID 1016561
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1016561
Now overlooked by a modern housing estate, Provan Hall is an example of a late medieval rural manor house which was probably intended to serve as a hunting lodge. By the beginning of this century it was semi-derelict, but in 1935 it was bought by a group of private individuals who restored the fabric and subsequently gave it to the National Trust for Scotland.
Although an earlier building may have stood on the site, the present house was probably erected in the later 16th century for Sir William Baillie, who acquired the land from Glasgow Cathedral following the Reformation. Originally, it comprised a house set on the north side of a walled courtyard which was entered through an arched gateway on the east. The house was rectangular on plan, with a circular stair tower projecting from the north-east angle; at a later date, an external stair rising from the courtyard was added to give direct access to the principal rooms on the first floor. An unusual feature of the gateway is the flight of steps leading from the courtyard to a look-out platform above the arch. In the 18th century the south side of the courtyard was filled in by a second house which, instead of fronting on to the courtyard, had its principal facade on the south, overlooking the valley of the Clyde.
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: The Clyde Estuary and Central Region’, (1985).
