History has little to tell us of the small communities on the lower Levern before the middle of the seventeenth century. The origins of Nitshill are lost in antiquity and it is even uncertain how it got its name. Tradition says it came from a small hazel-nut grove that capped a little hill which was levelled by the bulldozers of the late nineteen-twenties. Some of the oldest inhabitants tell us that for hundreds of years this wood was the favourite haunt of the village children and that they themselves used to pick the nuts in the early days of this century.
Certain facts would seem to lend credence to this theory. In the fifteenth century when the earth was still flat and the sun still drove his fiery chariot daily across the heavens, reference was made in the Paisley Abbey Parish records to Nuttishill. In 1695 the Poll Tax Roll tells us that Robert Miller of Nuttishill had to pay a tax of £1.17s.2d. to King William III. Only a few years ago when the foundations were being cut for the new Bellarmine School the engineers discovered an old bed of the Brock Burn and eight feet down they found dozens of hazel-nuts embedded in the ancient silt.
Incidentally the name of HURLET, now part of Nitshill is thought to have been HARE-LEA, the field where the hares used to play.
Apart for the tales of Crookston Castle and the Barony of Darnley, little seems to have been recorded of the region. Yet a few references are made to the doings of Levern folk. In 1138 for instance, the “Levernani” seems to have been a powerful body of soldiers, recruited from the lower Levern villages among which no doubt were Nitshill and Hurlet. They are known to have fought bravely and to have suffered great losses at the Battle of the Standard under their leader Walter Fitzalan, the founder of Paisley Abbey. Later in 1164 they played a major part in a battle at Renfrew in which Somerled, the Lord of the Isles and his son were slain. For many years these fierce sea-rovers had ravished the Clyde coasts. After this engagement the “Levernani” seem to have disappeared from history.
One other reference to the early history of the region might be mentioned. In 1180 an “old man’s hostel” was founded by Robert de Croc, the builder of Crookston Castle. This is thought to have been one of the earliest hospitals in Scottish history. It was situated somewhere on the Levern, between Crookston and Barrhead. It might well have been in the district now known as Nitshill.
These few glimpses of light serve only to emphasise the darkness of the Middle Ages.
It was not until the seventeenth century that Hurlet and Nitshill began to write their names in the history books.
About this time men began to realise the value of coal and as a result of extensive geological surveys were undertaken in the Hurlet district where coal had been mined in small quantities since 1634. The surveys revealed that Hurlet, Nitshill and Househillmuir stood on valuable deposits of coal iron and limestone.
Enterprising men of wealth poured capital into the region. Mineshafts were sunk, winding gear installed, roads constructed and miners’ cottages built along the banks of the Levern and at Hurlet corner.
Now Nitshill and Hurlet entered on a career of prosperity which was to last for nearly two hundred years. By 1790 ten thousand tons of coal were being mined every year by more than two hundred colliers.
There was considerable competition for employment in the mines. The statistical account for Renfrewshire tells us that miners received from 3s.4d to 4s. per day, together with free houses, fires and gardens. The labourers were not so well off. They earned from 2s. to 2s.3d. per day, without the added emoluments of free houses and coal. These were considered to be reasonable terms for the day.
Before long it was realised that coal was not the sole source of wealth in the mines. As the shafts became more numerous and were driven deeper many interesting strata were revealed. Fossilised marine vegetation was found in the ancient sandstone. An example of a petrified tree stump five feet high and five and a half feet in girth, was found in the sandstone of the Househill Quarry near at hand. This relic can be seen in the public gardens at Househillwood.
The presence of various kinds of seashells gave the name of Roughmussell to the miners’ row on the Levern.
But vastly more important than these curiosities, highly significant though they were to the geologists, was the discovery of layers of “aluminous schists” known locally as “black blaes” lying on the coal seams beneath thick beds of limestone.
This rock was so characteristic of the district that the technical name of “Hurlet Limestone” was given to this rock formation wherever it was found in the West of Scotland. These valuable deposits soon attracted chemical manufacturers of high repute, among whom were Mr Nicolson of Liverpool and Mr Mackintosh the inventor of the raincoat, which bore his name. New chemical works were established first at Nitshill and later at Hurlet, for the manufacture of “Copperas” and “Alum” so important to the numerous bleachfields and printworks of Glasgow and Paisley, Barrhead and Pollokshaws. These substances were made nowhere else in Scotland at the time.
In 1831, Mr Taylor the Author of the famous book “Levern Delineated” wrote “passing from Darnley through Nitshill to Hurlet the beautiful scenery gave way to views of many furnace chimneystacks. limekilns, wooden pumps, engines and railways to say nothing of men wheeling barrows”.
Mr Wilson the owner of the Hurlet Alum Works on hearing the local bings being called “chaff-hills” said he would “not change them for their weight in oatmeal.” From which you may gather that the critic was a miller.
In the latter years of the prosperity of Hurlet when the coal and iron seams began to fail, pits were sunk in the village of Nitshill itself, about a mile further South East. The coal seams in these mines were so thin that, except at considerable depth they had to be worked by open cast mining after the upper strata had been removed. Fortunately there was always a brisk demand for the overlying and intervening layers of sandstone, limestone, ironstone and “black blaes”.
In some places the coal and blaes could be reached by “in goees” or horizontal shafts driven into the hillside. Here and there the remains of these can be seen in the district around Nitshill.
Apart from these minor undertakings a few deep pits were sunk to reach the coal at the lower levels. Much of the district is undermined, some of the galleries running for miles underground. The position of some of these mines can be traced by the remains of their ventilator shafts which can be recognised today.
The most important of these pits was the Victoria Pit and subsidiary the “Free-Trader Pit” which were connected underground by a warren of workings many of which being exhausted, had been abandoned. These pits belonged to Mr Coats of Paisley and were considered to be the most up-to-date and most safety-conscious in the country. Unfortunately many of the colliers would not use the Davy Safety Lamp and this may have contributed the catastrophe which made the pit notorious in 1851. This pit whose massive winding gear and miners’ rows could be seen early in this century left behind great bings of waste which have fed the Nitshill Brick Works for many years. This brickworks stands in what was then known as Peat Road, (now Cleeves Road). This road before the days of coal led to a boggy area where the villagers used to cut peat for their cottage fires. The moderns Peat Road, a major road in its own right, dates only from the nineteen-twenties.
To use a cliché, The Victoria Pit bings did not die in vain for most of the millions of bricks used in building of housing schemes of the Pollok area, including Nitshill and South Nitshill were baked in the local ovens and bore the name of Nitshill.
As can be imagined the volume of the produce of the various mines and chemical factories in the Nitshill-Hurlet area had become so significant in the early part of the nineteenth century, that some special means of transport became imperative. At first it was hoped to cut a canal to connect up with the Glasgow-Paisley Canal at Crookston, but a survey made under the direction of the famous Scots Civil Engineer, Thomas Telford, showed that the cost would have been prohibitive. A mineral railway was built instead, which followed the proposed canal route up Crookston Road and over the Levern to Nitshill by a bridge, the remains of whose piers are visible today.
A corps of more than forty horses was kept to draw the waggons. Loads of coal, ironstone, limestone and alum went north to the canal for distribution to Paisley and Glasgow. On the return journey, ammonia and other chemicals from the Glasgow Gas Works were carried to the factories for the conversion of the black blaes into alum.
All this was in the heyday of the Hurlet-Nitshill industrial boom.
Sad to say by the end of the century the workable seems were almost exhausted and the dependent chemical industries declined. With the loss of employment the population, numbering at times more than a thousand souls had to disperse. Their thatched cottages along the Levern, at Hurlet corner and at the Victoria Pithead were abandoned to the elements, soon to be reduced to mouldering ruins and to merge only too readily into the general background of desolation.
The long honeymoon with prosperity was over. Over the next twenty years the life-blood of Old Nitshill slowly ebbed away until when it was taken over by Glasgow in 1926, it was little more than a quant old village of a few cottages, a chemical works, a brickworks, three public houses and a railway station. A new Nitshill with other traditions and other roots has swallowed the ruins of the old.
And now even the great mounds of chemical waste at Hurlet Corner are gone. Known affectionately for decades as “The Rid Hills” they, significantly, if unlovely, as landmarks to the Glories that are past. _________________ I had a dream today
Great read that and a surprising amount of industrial activity in what was just a small village on the outskirts of Glasgow going back as far as the early part of the 15th century.
Whitriggs Road, 2005. The flat on the bottom left was Jack Jarvis' original flat
in the first episode of 'Still Game.' In the same episode he moves out into the
same towerblock as Victor. The building has since been demolished.
James H _________________ The blinding obvious is what you showed to me.....
Re: suggested location of Freetrader Pit; I think Alex's 2nd photo has it about right; just behind that bus shelter, probably in the back gardens of the houses shown! Very interesting read on the pre-history of Nuttishall, Hare-lea and the Levernani, which sounds like a gang name. I'll post a map showing the alum works when I get a chance.
Re: Whitriggs Road, 2005; you're spot-on, James73. The flat was actually ex-council and was apparently hired out to the production company by the proprietor, who was an acquaintance of my brother. Note that there's still one tenant/proprietor left in the remaining block in Alex's photo, much like the guy in the sole remaining block at Househillwood Road/Glenlora Drive corner; both of them have been holding out for a couple of years now.
I thought this was where you had said it was located. The shot was taken from the bottom of Seamill Street.
Would be good to see where the Alum Works was located. From the maps I have seen I have a general idea but confirmation would be helpful. _________________ I had a dream today
Posted: Sat Nov 10, 2007 11:00 pm Post subject: Crookston Castle
There are two leaflets produced promoting the Castle. The text is reproduced here with a couple of photos not in the leaflets.
Crookston Castle
Friends of Crookston Castle and Grounds
Crookston Castle was built in the 12th century. It was one of the first castles in this area. The huge ditch is all that remains from this early castle.
The stone tower you see dates from the early 1400s. The Stewarts of Darnley lived in it for 100 years. They made their name fighting in France and became Earls of Lennox in Scotland. One of them married Mary, Queen of Scots.
-the last medieval castle in Glasgow
You can see where the castle servants worked in dark cellars and kitchens on the ground floor of the tower. The lord and lady feasted and entertained their guests in the Great Hall. There are traces of the lords’ private rooms and stairways overlooking the Hall.
In 1489 James IV blasted Crookston with the famous cannon Mons Meg. Two later sieges did more damage. The family built a new palace and neglected their old castle. In time people came to appreciate it as a romantic ruin.
History comes to life at Crookston Castle. There are lots of stories to tell, and it’s a great place for a family picnic in the summer. But although people have dug it up and studied its documents, the ancient castle keeps some of its mystery.
THE FRIENDS
Historic Scotland looks after the castle for the National Trust for Scotland. But local people have done a lot for the castle too. In recent years it has played host to gala days, ceilidhs, concerts, storytelling events, guided tours, educational visits and civic receptions. In 2006 5,000 people came to events at Crookston.
We have set up the Friends of Crookston Castle and Grounds with three main aims.
1. To ensure that the castle remains a centre for education, fun and family events.
2. To promote Crookston Castle to the widest possible audience, including the people of Glasgow and visitors to the city.
3. To raise awareness of the castle as an important part of our local and national heritage.
Historic Scotland
Crookston Castle
The last medieval castle in Glasgow
The castle hill at Crookston is a magical place. If you’re looking for a castle, you’ll find two at Crookston – one inside the other. You will also find the best view in the city. It’s a great place for picnics and outings. If you pick the right day – or evening – you can also get a guided tour, some storytelling, or even a ceilidh.
Explore the ruin and you will get a pretty good idea of life in a medieval castle. Explore the history and you will find the Stewarts of Darnley, who made their mark on Scotland and France in the days of Joan of Arc and Mary, Queen of Scots.
The first castle
The magnificent ring-shaped ditch which encloses the top of the hill dates back to about 1145. It is probably one of the oldest castles in the West of Scotland.
The name ‘Crookston’ comes from a family of huntsmen. Sir Richard Croc, laird of Cowglen in the 12th century, was proud to carry three forester’s crooks on his shield.
Eventually, the Croc family lost their lands and, in the 14th century most of the Levern valley was acquired by a branch of the Stewarts.
The Lion & the Lily
Sir John Stewart completed the castle on the hill near Crookston just after he inherited the lands of Darnley in 1404.
The Stewarts of Darnley were a tough lot. During the Hundred Years War Sir John made the warcry ‘A Darnley’ famous on the battlefields of France. He defeated English armies four times in a row. His troops became the famous Scots Guards – the personal bodyguard of the King of France. In 1429 Sir John was killed in an ambush while trying to liberate some salted herrings from the enemy.
Sir John’s rich estates in France were the home of a new branch of the family, the Stuarts of Aubigny in the Loire Valley. The French Stuarts produced Lord Bernard Stuart d’Aubigny, known as The Father of Chivalry. He led French contingents against Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. Sir John and Lord Bernard are national heroes in France and were buried in Orléans Cathedral.
If you’ve ever wondered how the French royal fleur-de-lys got into the Stewart coat of arms, or where the spelling of Stuart comes from, or why the French town of Aubigny celebrates Bastille Day with a Scottish pipe band – well, now you know.
Living in Style
More than sixty feet high, with a bright coating of limewash, Sir John Stewart’s castle must have dominated the whole of the Levern valley. Inside, every inch of space was utilised to support the lifestyle of the Stewarts of Darnley.
The Stewarts had their private stairways and apartments at the east end of the castle, where the two towers have survived.
The stone platform outside the main entrance may have been the spot where the Lords Darnley passed judgement on the peasants.
Behind it, in the base of the north-east tower, a trapdoor led to ‘the pit’. This was a dungeon with no lighting, heating, or toilet. When Sir John Stewart invited you to drop in, sometimes he meant it!
The ground floor was a cellar, used for storage, supplies, and sleeping – and it included the all-important well-room.
A door linked the cellar to the tiny kitchen on the ground floor of the NW tower. Food was ‘boiled in a bag’ over the kitchen fire, then pulled up through the wall in a ‘dumbwaiter’. Servants carved it up and served it out from behind screens at the west end of the Great Hall.
The Great Hall was the room where the Stewarts of Darnley presented themselves as they wanted to be seen: wealthy, secure, and powerful.
The stone to the left of the fireplace in the Hall carries the outlines of two triangular shields. These must have been the coats of arms of Sir John Stewart of Darnley and his wife, Elizabeth, daughter of the Earl of Lennox.
The castle was built in several stages –
It began with a plain square tower, with the Hall over a vaulted cellar, and a private room on the top floor.
Four corner towers were added to provide private accommodation. A large chamber was inserted in the upper half of the Hall.
There may have been a set of battlements above the central core. If so, they were very thin – just for show!
Attack & defence
The castle was designed to keep out small armies of lightly-armed men. The limewashed walls were too high to climb. The windows were heavily shuttered. The main entrance was barred by a forehouse, two doors, and a portcullis. If an enemy managed to sneak through the doors, there were further defences inside the castle.
The corner towers may look as though they were designed as firing platforms, but their real purpose was to provide private rooms, stairways, and toilets for the Stewarts and their guest.
Five of the lairds of Crookston Castle died by violence [two in battle, three murdered] – but at least they had slept safely while they were at home.
In 1489 the young King James IV brought the cannon now known as Mons Meg to Crookston Castle and knocked down the southwest tower. With the family castle spoiled, the Earls of Lennox moved to a fine, modern palace in Inchinnan.
The End?
Crookston Castle saw two more sieges but it was wind, water and neglect which turned it into a ruin. Eventually there came a time when people liked ruins, and the castle hill became a famous beauty spot.
Even now, surrounded by housing, it had held on to its unique atmosphere. It has fine parklands with memorable views. It’s a centre for local events, educational outings, and storytelling. Crookston Castle is a great place to visit – and it’s your castle – enjoy it!
Alex set a date for a 'Wander Around Nitshill' although there's no rush at the moment due to Xmas looming Etc. but this is worhty of a great day out sometime in the New Year.
I think I have enough sites for a good day out. Will work on a route that I think will be the most interesting. I am also trying to get some information about a couple of areas that may make the difference between a good day and a great day.
The biggest problem is that there nothing old apart from Crookston Castle. Some guys did a visit there last New Year and had a great day. I think that it may be an idea to split the day into two with the morning at Crookston and the afternoon walking from there to Nitshill, though Houshill Park to see the fossils. After that it is finding locations that do not have any indication of what was previously there.
If anyone is interested I will happily arrange it. _________________ I had a dream today
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