Kinmount

Kinmount House is an early 19th century mansion which was built close to the site of an earlier house on an estate which dates back to the 13th century.

The Kinmount estate was granted to the Carlyle family in the 13th century but the first documented owner was Sir William Douglas who acquired the estate in 1633. He was created the 1st Earl of Queensberry the same year.

When the earliest building was erected at Kinmount is unknown however the tower of Kinmuntwood is marked on Blaeu’s map of 1654 to the south of Kelhead. It has been suggested that Kelhead and Kinmount were the same place however since they are both marked separately on Blaeu’s map this seems unlikely.

Historic Environment Scotland state that Queensberry House, a cottage to the north-west of Kinmount, reused “17th/18th century bolection mouldings and crest from former Kelhead (Kinmount) House”, suggesting perhaps that Kinmount was previously known as Kelhead House.

Kinmount House burnt down in the late 18th century and a new house was built nearby between 1813 and 1820. The site of the old house was later occupied by a cricket pitch. In 1896 Edward Brook, who owned the neighbouring estate of Hoddom, bought Kinmount from the 8th Marquess of Queensberry. Soon after the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939 Kinmount was converted into an auxiliary field hospital. It is now the centrepiece of a complex of holiday accommodation.