Thorntonhall Station

NS 57612 53734–NS 59571 53937 Following on from the survey of the limekilns in the Edwardian garden of Bishops Gate Flats formerly the grounds of Thorntonhall House, Thorntonhall, (DES Volume 20, 2019, 190. Canmore ID: 43952), survey and photographic work continued in February and May 2022. The further features recorded included some original walling; a recess in the walling off the path (NS 59193 54916); two banks lined with old yew trees leading down to the Thorntonhall Burn (NS 59200 54888 to NS 59188 54891 and NS 59122 54949 to NS 59132 54966); and weirs (NS 59142 54912, NS 59136 54930, NS 59119 54948, NS 59127 54939 and NS 59096 54951).

Also recorded were the remains of stone bridge footings on the sides of the Thorntonhall Burn NS 59157 54862; thirteen pre- cast concrete slabs 4 x 1m wide within the Thorntonhall Burn (NS 59203 54779); and a dressed sandstone culvert under the Glasgow to East Kilbride railway line allowing the Thorntonhall Burn to pass underneath NS 59185 54736. Stone with some metal features was noted on the E side of the Thorntonhall burn at NS 59149 54915. Steps were recorded up the side of the N buttress of the limekilns recorded in 2019 (NS 59142 54986 to NS 59133 54971). The area where a floodlit curling rink/ tennis court centred on NS 59169 54901 was identified and some remaining features connected with this feature was identified along the E bank of the Thorntonhall Burn.

NS 59209 54761 a ruinous structure consisting of sandstone blocks on a sandstone base measuring 2.8m2 embedded into the ground was noted beside the burn.

NS 59115 54940–NS 59121 54948 An almost vertical moss- covered rockery garden feature, with flowing water over the stones and an internal miniature waterwheel, is built into the slope. At the top of the rockery a circular cement feature may be classed as a header tank that controls the flow of the water through the rockery. To the left running up the side of the rockery is a series of curving steps. A second garden/rockery area below Bishop’s Gate Flats was recorded centred on NS 59168 54941.

NS 59093 54988 an entrance into Thorntonhall Policies is built into the SE facing boundary wall of the garden on the W side of the burn.

NS 59075 54959 on the E side of the burn a stone-built upright is all that remains of another entrance.

NS 59191 54810 A bridge, now collapsed, crossed the Thorntonhall Burn. Today the Thorntonhall Burn bypasses the bridge and follows a new course to the E of the bridge. The bank on the E side of the burn has collapsed, presumably leading to the collapse of the bridge, exacerbated by fallen trees.

NS 59064 55095–NS 59064 55095 A walkover survey was conducted in February 2022 on the original carriageway to Thorntonhall House shown on the XV1.3 Lanarkshire of 1859 map. The track is metalled in places and 3.3m wide, today it runs along the W side of Thorntonhall Tennis Club. On the E side of the old carriageway is a pointed dressed sandstone post. Two dressed sandstone gateposts are seen on the W side of the carriageway, at NS 59058 55175. At the opposite end of the carriageway there is an identical dressed sandstone post. A second old carriageway is seen, now tarmacadam, running from Peel Road NS 58895 55170 to NS 59047 55077. Two large circular pillars are seen at the start of the carriageway, one possibly a modern build. These carriageways are shown on the 1895 OS map leading to and from Thorntonhall.

Upstanding building surveys

NS 58871 55109 A photographic and descriptive survey was undertaken in the summer of 2022 of Thorntonhall Station (Canmore ID: 200917) which is shown on the XV1.3 1897 map. Extensions to the station are shown by the different heights, widths, walling materials, quoins and skew putts. Blocked up openings and doorways were recorded. Thorntonhall Station serves the community of Thorntonhall with trains running from Glasgow Central Station to East Kilbride. It has a single platform with a multi-period set of buildings on the N side of the line and the original stone single storey station building still stands today. The buildings have been extended over the years to the NW. The line was originally opened in 1866 to carry sandstone from quarries in Giffnock and textiles from the Busby Cotton Mill. It was later extended in September 1868 to East Kilbride via Thorntonhall (originally called Eaglesham Road) and carried passengers. Internally the fabric of the original building has been lost to modernisation.

NS 59571 53937 A photographic and upstanding survey was carried out in March 2022 of possible surviving dressed stone walling originally at Bogton Farm (Canmore ID: 43945; now demolished), including a dressed sandstone pillar at NS 59571 53937 and a blocked-up entrance at NS 59526 53953 at the corner of Peel Road and Thornton Road. The walling continues along Thornton Road to the NE at NS 59551 54033.

NS 57669 55407 A photographic and building survey was carried out April 2022 at Meikle Dripps cottage seen on the 1st and 2nd Edition OS. maps of 1856 and 1897 to the N of Waterfoot Road and NNW of Meikle Dripps steading, no name is shown for the building on these maps. This would have been part of the fermtoun at Meikle Dripps. Meikle Dripps cottage is in a ruinous roofless condition and may date from the 18th century. It is constructed of random rubble with quoins at its corners.

NS 57763 55327 A photographic survey was undertaken of Ashgrove cottage in May 2022 seen on the 1st and 2nd Edition OS maps of 1856 and 1897, no name is shown for the building on these maps. The original E side of the cottage is still extant within a modern extension. Internally reused quoins etc from the demolished farm buildings of North Hill of Dripps form part of the new kitchen walling.

NS 57681 55171 A photographic and descriptive survey was carried out in June 2022 at Townhead of Dripps (central internal area between house and modern wall) steading seen on the 1st Edition and 2nd Edition Lanarkshire XV1.2 OS Map of 1859 and 1897 as four buildings to the S of Meikle Dripps steading. A stone bearing the year 1815 is seen in a modern wall. Among the buildings was a washhouse with a triangular set three-holed doo cot and ledge within the centre of the apex of the E gable. The building has two door openings on opposite sides and a window opening.

NS 59246 55789 A photographic and descriptive building survey was undertaken in October 2022 of original L-shaped building of Peel Farm (centrally between the rear, E side of the building) shown on the 1st Edition XV1.3 Lanarkshire OS Map of 1859 and 2nd Edition XV1.3 Lanarkshire OS Map of 1897 on the E side of Peel Road. From local knowledge we were told that the building was derelict during the 1970s to 1980s.

NS 57612 53734 A photographic and descriptive building survey was undertaken of Stoneside Farm in October 2022. The farm is seen on the 1st Edition OS Lanarkshire XV1.6 scale 1:2500 1859 as an L-shaped building, by the later 2nd Edition 1897 map little had changed apart from the addition of two horse gin mills to the NE end and SW ends of the buildings. The pond is no longer in evidence. The building appears also to have been altered and adapted throughout its lifetime with differing stonework courses and old wallheads retained below the roofline. A feature on the NE side of the N single storey building may indicate where one of the 1897 horse gin mills ran into a threshing mill.

NS 59031 55263 An upstanding building survey was undertaken of Gleniffer House in October 2022. The building is seen on the 2nd Edition OS VX1.3 Lanarkshire Map of 1897 and is one of two large houses apart from Thorntonhall House shown on this map. The house, late 19th-century, is set within its own grounds. It is built of smooth blond sandstone ashlar blocks. Gleniffer House is entered from a sharp corner on the SE side of Braehead Road into a driveway with sandstone gateposts topped with capstones with a castellated finish (NS 59006 55275). Within the garden an ornamental lantern is seen at NS 59022 55260. An addition to the original building on the NW end is seen on the Revised 1910 map and the survey showed that the building had been extended to the E directly onto the original building. The building has interesting sandstone architectural features especially to the W and S sides.

NS 59031 55263 Connected to Gleniffer H ouse a nd s hown

on the XV1.3 OS. Revised 1910 Lanarkshire Map was Gleniffer House Stables (Gleniffer Cottage), surveyed in November 2022. It was built within the extended grounds of the house. The stable building, now a private house, built of squared ashlar blocks has been extended on two ends and updated over the years. The original central section has a bolted internal roof. All the windows are later wooden sash and case style of differing sizes in keeping with the original building. Most door and window openings are finished with narrow droven quoins. Three blocked up vents and a blocked up window are seen on the N side of the building using identical stone to the original building some with quoins. The W side of the building shows in the projection of the roof where the building was extended on the W end and S side by 2.22m.

Walkover and photographic survey of Thorntonhall farmlands during January/March 2022

Features extant on the South Lanarkshire Council farmlands to the N and S of Braehead Road and N of the A727 Road were recorded. These included the pre-improved Westerfield Road to Carmunnock, and the remains of two lime kilns at NS59702 55430 (Canmore ID: 361814) mostly submerged in water and NS 59706 55425 (Canmore ID: 361815) where the remains of a brick-lined lime kiln pot and ruinous buttresses emerge from the land-fill. The area had been subject to extensive quarrying and mining of the ‘Hurlet’ limestone, up to 4m thick, indicated on William Forest’s map of Lanarkshire (1816) and the 1859 and 1897 OS maps.

Features recorded on Thornton’s farmlands and around the farm were connected with former extensive lime workings shown on Forrest’s map of Lanarkshire, and on the OS 1859 onwards. Quarrying progressed to mining, and an open air shaft survives at NS 59657 54817 c3.5m diameter. The quarries and mine entrances have been landfilled (Canmore ID 361816 and 361817). Subsidence of landfill shows the quarry face near the main mine entrance at NS 59523 54769 with a c5m drop to the original quarry bed. From entrance, a tramway carried lime beneath Thornton Road, then along a raised embankment up to a brick-built pier NS 59286 54767, connected with the transfer of lime from the ramp to trucks on a siding from the main Glasgow to East Kilbride Railway. The low embankment for the railway siding is shown on the 3rd Edition OS Lanarkshire revised map of 1913 XV1.NE.

Various archaeological features, old tracks and former quarries

were recorded on South Hill 0’ Dripps, Hole, Stoneside and Cartside farmlands and the embankment of a former mineral railway (also reputedly the route of a proposed railway to Eaglesham) at NS 58933 54273.

Archive: NRHE and WoSAS (Intended)

(Source: DES Volume 23)