Wilsontown

NS95SE 11.06 9502 5512

The slight remains of three rows of buildings survive in waste ground on either side of the Mouse Water and immediately N of the ruins of Wilsontown Ironworks. They are depicted on a map of the Wilsontown Estate (c.1826) (National Library of Scotland, Map Library, ref. no. EMS.P.166), and also appear, roofless, on the 1st edition of the OS 25-inch map (Lanarkshire 1864, sheet xx.2).

The most easterly of the three rows stood to the W of the current footpath at NS 9506 5512 (CSW 1037). The 1st edition map depicts a ten-compartment building, but only fragmentary traces remain. To the W of this, the 1st edition map appears to show a row of ten bridging the Mouse Water (CSW 1031, NS 9502 5512). There is, however, no evidence of a bridge on the steep banks of the burn, nor is one depicted on the 1826 map. On the E bank of the burn only two compartments survive, terraced into the slope, while on the W side a row of three compartments is visible, measuring 14m ENE-WSW by 6m transversely over walls 0.7m thick and 0.5m high. The third row is situated to the W (CSW 1035, NS 9497 5510), and measures 48m N-S by 4.8m over walls which have been reduced and spread. Nine compartments can be identified. At its N end, the early maps show a wing of four compartments projecting to the ENE, but only one compartment survives. To the S of the last row, the early maps show another terrace (CSW 1036, NS 9497 5502), but no trace of this survives: its N end is overlain by the remains of a later building, first depicted on the 2nd edition of the OS map (1897) and a conifer plantation covers the rest of it.

(CSW 1031, 1035-7)

Visited by RCAHMS (SDB) 20 March 1996