skip to main content
Menu
  • Blog
    • Art & design
    • Castles
    • Cycling
    • Edinburgh
    • Edinburgh Festival
    • Food & drink
    • General
    • History
    • Music
    • Sport
    • Walking
    • Whisky
    • Wildlife
  • Castles
    • Glossary
    • Mottes
    • Stay in a castle
    • Castle blog posts
    • Alphabetical list of castles
    • Castles divided by county
    • Photos of castles
    • Castles we've visited
  • History
    • Castles
    • Ancient history
      • barrows
      • brochs
      • cairns
      • caves
      • chambered cairns
      • cists
      • crannogs
      • cursus monuments
      • forts
      • henges
      • rock art
      • sacred sites
      • souterrains
      • standing stones
      • stone circles
    • Pictish history
      • Pictish stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Pictish placenames
    • Clans
      • Surnames
      • Trace your ancestors
      • Tartan
    • Trace your ancestors
  • Culture
    • Music
      • Bands & musicians
      • Music links
    • Film
    • Television
    • Placenames
      • Pictish placenames
  • Eat
  • Drink
    • Scottish beer
    • Scottish gin
    • Scottish vodka
  • Stay
  • Travel guide
    • City guides
    • Car hire
    • Airports
  • Walking
    • Munros
    • West Highland Way
  • Photos
    • ancient sites
      • Dark Age sites
      • megalithic sites
      • other carved stones
      • Pictish sites
      • Roman sites
    • buildings
    • miscellaneous
    • places in Scotland
  • Offers
  • Home
  • history
  • castles

Kinneil House


The present Kinneil House has undergone various stages of development in its history. The land was granted to Walter Fitz Gilbert by Robert the Bruce in 1323, but whether or not he built a castle here is unknown, his main residence being Cadzow Castle.

What is known is that his great-great-great grandson James Hamilton, the 1st Lord Hamilton, built a large tower at Kinneil around 1470, standing atop a ravine through which the Gil Burn flows. It was extended around 1550 by his son, also James, 2nd Lord Hamilton, with further improvements taking place between 1553 and 1555, by which time it was known as the Palace of Kinneil.

In 1570 the tower was partly destroyed by James Douglas, the 4th Earl of Morton, and a replacement L-plan tower house was built slightly to the north east of the original tower. It had a vaulted half-basement, half-ground level storey, and one of the first floor rooms was also vaulted.

Between 1677 and 1688 Anne Douglas-Hamilton, the Duchess of Hamilton, along with her husband William Douglas, the 1st Earl of Selkirk (and later 3rd Duke of Hamilton), rebuilt and remodelled the original tower, building a huge five storey block on the original foundations – the 15th century gun loops can still be seen at the bottom of the back wall to the west.

They added four storey wings either side of the new central block, connecting the north wing to the L-plan tower. A planned range to the south-east – to mirror the L-shaped building – was never built. The Douglas-Hamilton’s also established parkland around the house, relocating the residents of the village of Kinneil to neighbouring Bo’ness. All that now remains of the village is one wall and the foundations of Kinneil Church.

Within a century Kinneil House was no longer occupied by the Hamiltons, who preferred instead Hamilton Palace, and it was rented out. The tenant in the second half of the18th century was Dr John Roebuck, who invited James Watt to stay on the estate and develop a steam engine to pump water out of his coal mines.

The house gradually fell into disrepair, and by 1936 the Hamiltons had sold it to Bo’ness Town Council, who intended to demolish it and build new houses on the site. A house-breaker was brought in to knock down the house and remove what features he wanted.

The 17th century block was completely gutted and the roof removed, but when work started on the demolition of the 16th century L-plan building and old plasterwork was revealed, some of the best preserved 16th and 17th century murals in Scotland came to light.

The demolition work was immediately stopped, and an ornate carved wooden ceiling rescued from a skip. Fragments of sixteenth century painted ceiling boards were recovered from a pile of wood to be burnt, but it was too late for other pieces.

With discoveries of such national importance, Kinneil House was taken into state care and is now in the guardianship of Historic Scotland. The main block has been re-roofed, as has the eastern portion of the L-plan tower housing the paintings. The house is only open on certain days during the year, but the outside can be viewed at any time.

stay in a castle
  • advertisement

Alternative names for Kinneil House

Kinneil Castle; Kynneile; Kynnele; Palace Of Kinneil

Where is Kinneil House?

Kinneil House is in the parish of Bo'ness and Carriden and the county of West Lothian.

Grid reference:NS 98197 80557

Lat / long:56.00711,-3.634238

  • advertisement
Bing Maps | Google Maps | Historic maps (NLS) | OpenStreetMap | Ordnance Survey | PastMap | Streetmap | Wikimapia

OS Map for Kinneil House

OS map 349
Falkirk, Cumbernauld & Livingston (Linlithgow, Bathgate & Kilsyth)
OS Explorer map 349


OS map 367
Dunfermline, Kirkcaldy & Glenrothes South (Methil & Culross)
OS Explorer map 367


Directions to Kinneil House

Enter a starting point

  • advertisement

Weather at Kinneil House

3°C
max 4°C / min -1°C
2km/h NNW
1036mb
81%
75%
08:20 16:32

Broken clouds
Weather observed at Bo'ness at 22:58
  • advertisement

References (websites)

Listed Building record
Canmore
Historic Environment Scotland
Wikipedia
Friends Of Kinneil
Kinneil Diary

Castles near Kinneil House

Castle Lyon (site of)

0.8km away

Grangepans (site of)

2.8km away

Inveravon Castle

2.9km away

Bonhard Castle (site of)

3.3km away

Linlithgow Palace

3.8km away

West Port House

3.8km away

Almond Castle

4.1km away

Carriden House

4.3km away

Crownerland (site of)

4.6km away
more castles....
  • advertisement

Ancient sites near Kinneil House

Gormyre standing stone

7.4km away

Castlethorn standing stones

8.1km away

Castlethorn fort

8.2km away

Tantallen Hill (possible) (site of) souterrain

9.8km away

Hopetoun Wood standing stone

10.2km away

Gala Braes standing stones

10.8km away

Tappoch broch

15.5km away

Easter Moss souterrain

15.7km away

Huly Hill barrow and standing stones

16.2km away
more ancient sites....

Pictish stones near Kinneil House

Hawkhill Class III cross-slab

14.5km away

Tullibole Class III cross slab

21.5km away

Princes Street Gardens Class I symbol stone

27.6km away

Abernethy No. 2 Class III symbol stone

28.5km away

Abernethy No. 4 Class III cross shaft

28.5km away

Blackford Class I symbol stone

29.8km away

Old Kilmadock 1 Class II symbol stone

35.2km away

Old Kilmadock 2 Class I symbol stone

35.2km away

East Lomond Hill Class I symbol stone

36.6km away
more Pictish stones....
  • Avanti travel insurance
  • advertisement
  • advertisement

Pictish sites near Kinneil House

Borland silver chain

35.3km away

Todholes (possible) silver chain

35.4km away

Norrie's Law hoard

50.4km away

Haddington silver chain

53.6km away

Traprain Law silver chain

60.2km away

Whitlaw silver chain

60.8km away

Whitecleugh silver chain

63.0km away

Hoardweel silver chain

82.8km away

Dunnicaer fort

138.1km away
more Pictish sites....

Accommodation near Kinneil House

West Port
hotelLinlithgow
3.7km away
Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa
hotel, restaurant, barPolmont
4.7km away
Leapark Hotel
hotelGrangemouth
5.0km away
Metro Inns Falkirk
hotelPolmont
5.2km away
Premier Inn Falkirk East
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
5.7km away
The Grange Manor
hotelGrangemouth
7.0km away
Elgin Hotel
hotelCharlestown
8.9km away
Hotel Cladhan
hotelFalkirk
9.1km away
Antonine Hotel
hotel, barFalkirk
9.2km away
Premier Inn Falkirk North
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
9.3km away

Accommodation search

(leave blank to view all)
Accommodation type
bed and breakfasts
campsites
castles
holiday parks
hostels
hotels
self-catering apartments
self-catering cottages
self-catering lodges
spas
more accommodation....

Cafés, restaurants & bars near Kinneil House

Macdonald Inchyra Hotel & Spa
hotel, restaurant, barPolmont
4.7km away
Premier Inn Falkirk East
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
5.7km away
Antonine Hotel
hotel, barFalkirk
9.2km away
Premier Inn Falkirk North
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
9.3km away
Best Western Keavil House Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barCrossford
10.0km away
Best Western Park Hotel
hotel, restaurant, barFalkirk
10.1km away
Airth Castle Hotel
hotel, bar, restaurantAirth
10.3km away
Premier Inn Falkirk Central
hotel, restaurantFalkirk
10.7km away
Macdonald Houstoun House
hotel, restaurant, barUphall
11.6km away
Premier Inn Livingston (M8, Jct3)
hotel, restaurantLivingston
12.3km away
more food.... / more drink....

Related pages

Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Dirleton Castle in East Lothian
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Garden of Cosmic Speculation plus castles
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
Inveraray Castle and standing stone
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A doocot, a castle and a beach in East Lothian
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
A pair of castles on the River Tweed
Dunbar harbour and castle
Dunbar harbour and castle
Published on the 14th of May 2010 at 2:00 pm. Updated on the 7th of May 2021 at 6:08 pm.

Leave a comment

back to the top of the page

Connect with us

Like us on Facebook

Receive our newsletter

Follow us on Twitter

Tweets by Stravaig_Aboot

Quick links

Stay in a Scottish castle
Edinburgh Festival accommodation
Hotels in Scotland
Car hire in Scotland
Places to eat and drink in Scotland
Castles in Scotland
Trace your Scottish ancestors
Scottish clans
Standing stones in Scotland
The Picts
Pictish symbol stones
Pictish placenames
Scottish bands and musicians
Scottish films
Scottish TV shows
West Highland Way

About

Andy Sweet above Fast Castle

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

Cookies

To make this site work properly we use cookies to store information on your computer. Click here to read more.
© 2003 - 2023 Andy Sweet / Stravaiging around Scotland. Powered by WordPress. Hosted by Tsohost.