Gilbertfield Castle

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Gilbertfield Castle is a ruined 17th-century castle in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located at NS652587, on the north slope of Dechmont Hill, just outside Cambuslang, to the south-east of Glasgow.

The castle is within the former barony of Drumsagard, which was a possession of the Hamiltons.^[1] The castle was built in the early 17th century, and the date 1607 is displayed on a heraldic panel above the door. The castle was later lived in, around the turn of the 18th century, by William Hamilton of Gilbertfield (1665-1751), a retired soldier and writer. A friend of Allan Ramsay, he was responsible for translating Blind Harry's epic poem The Actes and Deidis of the Illustre and Vallyeant Campioun Schir William Wallace.^[1]

Gilbertfield is a well-planned L-plan tower house. The stair tower, which projects to the north, was large enough to accommodate a series of rooms as well as a square turnpike stair.

The basement level was vaulted, and contained cellars and a kitchen, which had a large fireplace and oven. A service stair connected the basement with the hall above. The hall itself had a smaller fireplace, as well as large windows with gunloops in between. Above the hall were two further floors, each with three rooms; two in the main block, and one in the wing. At the highest level, the garret, two round turrets projected at the south-east and north-west corners. There was no parapet.

The castle is now a neglected ruin, the east wall having collapsed in the 1950s. Only the corbelling of the north-west turret remains.which fell down in the late 1960s. It is now deemed extremely dangerous as a lot of the brick work has fallen each year. The turret fell in the 1970s. Gilbertfield Castle is a Scheduled Ancient Monument.^[2]

In March 2017, an application by Persimmon Homes to build over 400 houses in land immediately to the north of Gilbertfield Castle was approved by South Lanarkshire Council's planning committee; this was somewhat controversial as the land had previously been designated Green belt. Various concerns were raised by local residents, community councillors (representing Halfway/Cambuslang East district), the Lowland Reserve Forces and Cadets Association who have a rifle range adjacent to the site,^[3] and Clare Haughey and James Kelly, MSPs for the area, which were presented to the committee along with a 1300-signature petition opposing the development, without success.^[4][5][6][7] Revisions had already been made to the plans after the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency objected to the builder's initial submission in 2016.^[8][9]

A proposal for a further development directly incorporating the castle was publicised in May 2020.^[10]

• Mason, Gordon The Castles of Glasgow and the Clyde, Goblinshead, 2000
• Salter, Mike The Castles of South West Scotland, Folly Publications, 1993
• National Monuments Record of Scotland Site Reference NS65NE 12 [1]

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55°46′36″N 4°08′57″W / 55.77671°N 4.14909°W / 55.77671; -4.14909