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Crossbasket Castle


Crossbasket Castle was built in the early 16th century as a tower house, although a Victorian mansion house has since been added.

The lands of Crossbasket first appear on record as owned by the Hamiltons of Cadzow in the 14th century, and remained in the possession of the Hamiltons until 1440 when they were acquired by Alexander Lindsay. When the first castle was built on the site is not known, but a tower house was built by the Lindsays, probably in the 16th century, and was used as a jointure or dower house while their main residence was at Mains Castle.

The design of the tower is very similar in design to that of Mains Castle, which is thought to have been built in the late 15th or early 16th centuries.

Crossbasket’s tower measures around 11.6m long by 6.7m wide, rising to a height of 16.5m, and consists of a vaulted ground floor level, above which are a further two floors. It originally stood on a mound on top of a rocky crag, although this is no longer obvious as the level of the gardens has been raised. The remains of a courtyard wall can apparently be seen at the western edge of the crag.

On the roof is a parapet walk and a garret. At the south-east corner of the parapet is a square caphouse presumably at the head of the original stairway.

Both Crossbasket and Mains were sold by Alexander Lindsay of Mains and Dunrod in 1619, apparently to pay off large debts he ran up through an extravagant lifestyle.

Crossbasket was next owned by Archibald Stewart of Blackhall, Robert or James Baillie of Park, the lawyer James Kincaid, Margaret Scott and Matthew Cumming, eventually being bought in 1709 by Thomas Peter, the Dean of Guild of Glasgow. Thomas’s son, also Thomas, was responsible for extending the old tower to the east with the addition of a new extension.

The Peter family owned the castle throughout the 18th century, before selling it to Charles Macintosh, the inventor of waterproof fabrics, in 1818. Macintosh in turn sold the property to a businessman, Alexander Downie, who sold it to an insurance agent, John Cabbell. Cabbell sold it to a farmer and landowner, Robert Clark, in 1852 and his son, James Clark, was responsible for extending and modernising the castle early in the second half of the 19th century.

It remained in the Clark family until they sold it to a George Neilson in 1891 who made further additions to the property twice during his tenure. In 1919 he sold it to Thomas Dunlop Findlay of the East India Company, who owned it until 1932 when it was sold to James Little. Around 1945 Little transferred the ownership of Crossbasket to the J. Little Trust and the castle was used as a children’s home.

From 1963 until 1976 it was owned by the Roosevelt Memorial Fund and operated as the James Little College further education centre. Between 1981 and 2004 it was a religious centre before being sold to the property developer Langvale Homes who planned to convert it into apartments but leased it to a children’s nursery while they sought planning permission.

Langavle Homes entered administration in 2008 and the property was marketed for sale by the liquidators, KPMG, until it was bought by Steve and Alison Reid-Timoney in 2011. The Reid-Timoneys set about renovating Crossbasket Castle and converting it into a luxury hotel which is due to open in May 2016.

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Alternative names for Crossbasket Castle

Corsbasket Castle; Crosbasket Castle; Crossbasket House; Kalder

Where is Crossbasket Castle?

Crossbasket Castle is in the parish of East Kilbride and the county of Lanarkshire.

Grid reference:NS 66668 56508

Lat / long:55.783507,-4.127537

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OS Map for Crossbasket Castle

OS map 342
Glasgow (Paisley, Rutherglen & Kirkintilloch)
OS Explorer map 342


Directions to Crossbasket Castle

Enter a starting point

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Weather at Crossbasket Castle

9°C
max 9°C / min 8°C
11km/h SW
1030mb
92%
78%
08:07 16:53

Broken clouds
Weather observed at High Blantyre at 23:45

References (books)

The Castles of Glasgow and the Clyde
Gordon Mason
Musselburgh, 2000
The History of Crossbasket Castle
Paul D Veverka
Blantyre, 2015
The History of Rutherglen and East Kilbride
David Ure
Glasgow, 1793

References (websites)

Canmore
Crossbasket Castle

Castles near Crossbasket Castle

Craigneith Castle

1.3km away

Calderwood Castle (site of)

1.4km away

Blantyre (site of)

1.4km away

Gilbertfield Castle

2.6km away

Drumsargad Castle

3.2km away

Kirk Burn motte

3.4km away

Bothwell Castle

3.5km away

Torrance motte

3.7km away

Comyn's Castle

3.9km away
more castles....
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Ancient sites near Crossbasket Castle

Gowkstone standing stone

13.6km away

Shirva (site of) souterrain

19.1km away

Craigmaddie Muir (possible) standing stones

21.4km away

Craigmaddie Muir cairn, standing stone

21.5km away

Gleniffer Braes standing stones

21.6km away

Law Stone of Mugdock (site of) standing stones

22.7km away

Auchincloich (site of) broch

24.3km away

Broadgate Farm standing stone

24.9km away

Strathblane standing stone

25.0km away
more ancient sites....
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Pictish stones near Crossbasket Castle

Hawkhill Class III cross-slab

43.1km away

Old Kilmadock 2 Class I symbol stone

46.1km away

Old Kilmadock 1 Class II symbol stone

46.1km away

Tullibole Class III cross slab

58.9km away

Blackford Class I symbol stone

59.2km away

Princes Street Gardens Class I symbol stone

60.7km away

Abernethy No. 2 Class III symbol stone

61.4km away

Abernethy No. 4 Class III cross shaft

61.4km away

Fowlis Wester Class II cross-slab

72.4km away
more Pictish stones....

Pictish sites near Crossbasket Castle

Todholes (possible) silver chain

38.6km away

Whitecleugh silver chain

39.3km away

Borland silver chain

40.7km away

Whitlaw silver chain

83.3km away

Haddington silver chain

86.4km away

Norrie's Law hoard

90.2km away

Traprain Law silver chain

93.4km away

Hoardweel silver chain

112.0km away

Dunnicaer fort

177.5km away
more Pictish sites....

Accommodation near Crossbasket Castle

Crossbasket Castle
hotel, restaurantHigh Blantyre
0.0km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East Kilbride (Nerston Toll)
hotel, restaurantEast Kilbride
2.4km away
The Torrance Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantEast Kilbride
3.6km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East Kilbride Central
hotel, restaurantEast Kilbride
4.0km away
The Bruce Hotel, East Kilbride
hotelEast Kilbride
4.0km away
Clydesdale Hotel
hotelHamilton
4.8km away
Macdonald Crutherland House
hotel, restaurant, barEast Kilbride
5.0km away
Dunard Guest House
bed and breakfastCambuslang
5.1km away
Express By Holiday Inn Strathclyde Park
hotelMotherwell
5.3km away
Redstones Hotel
hotelBothwell
5.4km away

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more accommodation....

Cafés, restaurants & bars near Crossbasket Castle

Crossbasket Castle
hotel, restaurantHigh Blantyre
0.0km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East Kilbride (Nerston Toll)
hotel, restaurantEast Kilbride
2.4km away
The Torrance Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantEast Kilbride
3.6km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East Kilbride Central
hotel, restaurantEast Kilbride
4.0km away
Macdonald Crutherland House
hotel, restaurant, barEast Kilbride
5.0km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East Kilbride (Peel Park)
hotel, restaurantEast Kilbride
5.5km away
Alona Hotel
hotel, restaurantMotherwell
5.7km away
Days Inn Hamilton
hotel, caféHamilton
5.8km away
Premier Inn Glasgow East
hotel, restaurantUddingston
6.1km away
Holiday Inn Glasgow East Kilbride
hotel, bar, restaurantEast Kilbride
6.3km away
more food.... / more drink....

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Dunbar harbour and castle
Published on the 24th of July 2010 at 12:15 am. Updated on the 25th of July 2016 at 2:56 pm.

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Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

Stravaiging around Scotland is written, photographed and researched by Andy Sweet.
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