Mearns, Castle Farm

An extensive surveying programme has been undertaken in the parish of Mearns by members of ACFA. All the buildings and land were surveyed using a Garmin GPS12 XL.

Castle Farm The buildings of Castle Farm (NS 55540 55492) including the two-storey farmhouse with courtyard to the rear were surveyed and photographed in the spring of 2017. The buildings on the S side of the courtyard at one time included a five-horse stable, latterly a piggery, a threshing mill which was once attached to the covered horse gin mill, the partial remains of which can be seen today on the external wall, and a cart shed. The N side of the courtyard at one time contained the dairy and a second external horse gin mill (no evidence of which survives today), a smithy, a pump house for the dairy, and a byre with stalls still in situ. The buildings facing the courtyard and shown on the 2nd Edition OS map, are stables with the remains of a bothy on the S end. The N gable has three sets of dovecot holes and perches arranged in a triangle, now blocked. Also photographed and measured was the hay barn to the NE, a ruinous byre lying opposite the hay barn which contained an older stable and toilet and to the W the possible kale yard, dung heap and slurry pit.

To the SE of the farm buildings the remains of the six stack-stand bases (NS 55573 55449), each 2.5m in diameter, were recorded in a very small field. A bank which may have enclosed the bases was noted at NS 55573 55449, but it could be an old track. The farm is now surrounded by residential housing apart from three very small fields, which surround the farm.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

The Smithy at Waterfoot (NS 56895 55321) dating from 1871 (Mrs Milligan pers. com.) was surveyed and photographed in the summer of 2017. Many of the original artefacts used in the smithy still lie within the building and its grounds. Today, this is a private house.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

Burnside Farm The dilapidated building lying NE/SW on the Mearns Road was Burnside Farm (NS 55836 56908). Other buildings to the rear lying in a NW/S–SE direction are ruinous. The farmhouse and farm buildings, plus a small wash-house to the SW, were surveyed and photographed. The two fields to the NE, between Burnside Farm and Cathcart Castle Golf Course, were fieldwalked. Gardens (NS 5607 5616, NS 5570 5663, NS 5599 5601 and NS 5621 5660) were fieldwalked. Eight fields formerly part of Burnside Farm and the fields to the E and S of Greenbank Gardens (NS 5585 5692, NS 5584 5709, NS 5699 5703 and NS 5613 5708), were fieldwalked in the spring of 2016. Various features were recorded including rig and furrow, quarrying activities, turf and stony field banks and dykes, culverts, tracks and sandstone gate posts.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

Mainshouse The remains of Mainshouse (NS 56360 55663) were surveyed at 1:200 in the spring of 2017. The current building is L-shaped and measures 39 x 31m internally, facing NW/SE. The remains of a later byre lie at the NE end. The building was substantially built with good dressed

sandstone; however, the remains particularly at the S end are ruinous. It was speculated that the five compartments at the S end of the building may be the oldest part of Mainshouse due to the construction and condition of the walling. It seems that Mainshouse was not always a farm; this is borne out by the genealogy records.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

King Henry’s Knowe (also known as Alton East) Facing the modern renovated buildings of King Henry’s Knowe to the E is a building (NS 55774 55316), which retains some of its original older features. The building was surveyed and photographed in the summer of 2017.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

Waterfoot Farm (NS 56954 55366) has been renovated into a private dwelling. The basic structure of the farmhouse is still intact. The house was surveyed and photographed in the summer of 2017. A window now removed from the E side of the building has a scratched signature of the writer Neil Munro. Attached to the S side of the farmhouse is a

renovated building, which was once a piggery and the byreman’s house. The rest of the farm buildings are no longer in existence.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

Housefield (later renamed Ravenswood) The building (NS 57109 56064), which was surveyed and photographed in the summer of 2017, gives the impression that its current height is not original. Up to a height of 2.42m the stonework is rougher and more random in its composition; this is also

borne out in its S gable end.

It is thought that the field to N of the property was once an orchard, with a chicken farm situated to the rear of the property with an entrance from the back of the building.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)

Housecraigs Farm The farmhouse of Housecraigs (NS 57087 55852) with its courtyard facing the Eaglesham Road was renovated in 2000. Above the door is a lintel with the inscription AR 1794 (Arthur Renwick). The presence of supporting lintels below the string course indicates that the main farm building was raised when the upper floor was installed. All the buildings were surveyed and photographed in the spring of 2017, including the dairy, byre/barn, byres, piggery with yard, louping stone, cattle troughs, protruding stone perch and a repositioned sandstone lintel bearing a date

of 1765. Housecraigs and the adjoining renovated buildings to the W were at one time part of the farm, these are now private dwellings. The land surrounding these buildings today is farmed by Flenders Farm. Canmore ID: 263847.

Report: To HES in an ACFA Occasional Paper and to WoSAS (intended)

Susan Hunter – Association of Certificated Archaeologists

(Source: DES, Volume 18)