Craigbarnet
House (17th Century), Moat (Medieval)
Site Name Craigbarnet
Classification House (17th Century), Moat (Medieval)
Canmore ID 44431
Site Number NS57NE 32
NGR NS 5945 7880
Datum OSGB36 - NGR
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/44431
- Council East Dunbartonshire
- Parish Campsie
- Former Region Strathclyde
- Former District Strathkelvin
- Former County Stirlingshire
NS57NE 32 5945 7880.
(NS 595 788) A new mansion at Craigbarnet was built in 1660 by John Striveling, to replace the old house (NS57NE 31). The new site was on the S side of the Strathblane to Campsie turnpike road, and there is a clump of trees existing very near the site. "The new house was a substantial square building, with a pepper-pot turret at each corner. It was surrounded by a wet ditch or moat, and defended by a drawbridge and gateway. The gables may have been corbel steps." Inscribed stones bearing the initials J S and M S and the date 1662 were removed when the house was demolished in 1786, and now surmount the Mains of Craig- barnet, immediately W of the modern house.
J Cameron 1892.
Centred NS 5945 7880. The very probable area of this mansion is on a slightly elevated area covered by a partly cut-down wood, and situated within a marshy field. Many loose stones lie scattered around, but they are mostly undressed. Immediately to the NW is a broad expense of marsh and water. A causeway, some 6.0m broad and 0.5m high, crosses from the road to the site on the E side of the plantation, There is no trace of any building foundations and local enquiries failed to confirm the site. Two inscribed stones, each bearing part of the date '1662' surmound the gable ends of a farm building immediately W of the ruined Craigbarnet mansion.
Visited by OS (J L D) 26 March 1957.
As described by the previots field investigator. There is no evidence of a moat and the causeway leading from the field gate at the road could be modern. This is probably the site of Craigbarnet but no further evidence was obtained.
Visited by OS (W D J) 2 May 1966.
The mansion of Craigbarnet, built in 1786, was being demolished in 1953; the steading of Craigbarnet Mains was made out of its stable buildings. The barn, on the W side of the yard, incorporates various architectural details, some dated 1662 (described by the RCAHMS), said to have come from the older house of Craigbarnet, which was probably built in that year.
RCAHMS 1963, visited 1953.
Field Visit (January 1982)
Craigbarnet NS c. 594 790 NS57NE 31 and 32
The 'tower or castle' of Craigbarnet was replaced by a new house, probably built in 1662, which may have stood about 200m to the SSE on the S side of the A891 road (NS 594 788). The nature of a flat-topped mound at Craibarnet is uncertain.
RCAHMS 1982, visited January 1982
(Roy 1747-55, sheet 5/7; Cameron 1892, 93, 178-80; RCAHMS 1963, pp. 407-8, No. 439)
Field Visit (1996 - 2003)
Russell Coleman managed an Historic Scotland funded project to record medieval moated sites in Scotland. Gazetteers were produced for each regional council area between 1996 and 2002 with an uncompleted overall review in 2002-03. The results of the first year of the project were published in Tayside and Fife Archaeological Journal, Volume 3 (1997).
