Woodhead House

NS67NW 8 60632 78386

(NS 6063 7838) Woodhead House (NR) (Remains of)

OS 6" map, (1958)

See also NS67NW 34.00.

Woodhead was built by John Lennox, 6th of Balcorrach, perhaps soon after he succeeded his brother Duncan in 1572 (Cameron 1892). John Kincaid-Lennox, who succeeded to the property in 1833, then built Lennox Castle, and when this had been done, part of the old Woodhead was pulled down and the remainder preserved as a picturesque ruin; the basement was used unsuccessfully as an ice-house. The surviving structure is much overgrown with trees and shrubs, which, with the accumulated debris, tend to obscure its features. The origingal building was L-shaped on plan, comprising a main block, 41'5" NE-SW by 25'5" and a small stair-tower projecting from its S corner in alignment with the SW gable. It contained three storeys and an attic. The composition agrees with a date in the latter 16th century, though a number of minor alterations were made in the 17th century. The walls are of random rubble roughly brought to courses, and the gables, of which only the NE one survives, have been finished in crow-steps.

J Cameron 1892; RCAHMS 1963, visited 1953.

The remnant of Woodhead House is in a ruinous condition, and the walls are crumbling and ivy-covered. The NE gable stands almost to its original height, but the other walls only to a maximum of 4.0m. There is a ruinous stair tower at the S angle, and a small turret attached to the N angle.

Visited by OS (J L D) 22 March 1957

Woodhead House is still as described and illustrated by the RCAHMS and previous OS field surveyor.

Visited by OS (W D J) 3 May 1966.

This building stands within the policies of Lennox Castle (Hospital), for which see NS67NW 34.00.

Information from RCAHMS (RJCM), 10 June 2010.