Bardowie Castle

Bardowie Castle is a privately occupied mansion built around an old tower house of the century. It occupies low lying land which overlooks Bardowie Loch to the south. To the north is an area of low-lying and boggy land, whilst the loch is actually within a bowl with hills on the other three sides. The loch drains into the River Kelvin eventually.

The lands of Bardowie were held by the Galbraith family from the earl of Lennox in the 1230s, and passed by marriage to the Hamilton family of Cadzow at some point in the 14th century. They were part of a wider estate called Buthernock, held from the earls of Lennox, John Hamilton of Cadzow had been granted the lands of Buthernock upon the resignation of his eldest brother, and in about 1390 he was referred to as “of Bardowie”. The lands passed down in 1526 to James Hamilton of Finnart, having reverted to the crown upon the deaths of John Hamilton and his son John, murdered at Barskeith in that year, as John Stirling of Keir is named the king’s immediate tenant there. In 1528, Finnart granted Bardowie to Allan Hamilton, a younger son ((killed in a feud 1529)In 1532, Stiring was regranted Bardowie with the “tower, fortalice and lake” which shows that the tower house predates 1532. The castle remained in the hands of the Hamiltons until the death of Robert Hamilton in 1757, although one of his sons-in-law adopted the name.

The tower is a rectangular “great tower” with the entrance on the ground floor facing the loch. This leads to the thick-walled vaulted basement room, originally lit by two tiny slit windows. A mural stair leads to the first floor hall, which is vaulted, and a matching one above leads to the second floor hall. A winding stair leads to the third floor level where a pair of mural stairs, one to the north, and one to the south, lead up to the wallwalks. Curiously, the second floor is now open to the roof, with all the timbers showing, and the battlements of the wallwalk are now covered by the roof, so there has clearly been some alteration here. Attached to the old tower, and at a slight angle, is a residential block dating to the 18th century, and this is U-shaped, leading to a lengthy enclosed courtyard to the north-west. The castle is occupied, but is visible from the private access lane which serves multiple properties.

HES Canmore database entry