Hartfield Castle

Hartfield Castle was built in the 1860s.  It was the summer residence of Lord Inverclyde and became a YMCA hostel before its dereliction and demolition in the 1960s. The grounds in which the castle stood are now taken up by the fire station and the land above it.

Second son of the first Lord Inverclyde, and grandson of Sir George Burns, Bart., the founder of the Cunard Line, James, Lord Inverclyde, was born at Glasgow in 1864. He became the principal Director of the shipping business of Messrs. G. & J. Burns, Limited, and President of the Chamber of Shipping of the United Kingdom in 1899. He was a Director of the Cunard Steamship Co., Ltd., and of the Clydesdale Bank. Ltd. and Chairman of the Glasgow City Mission. In the realm of sport he is an enthusiastic yachtsman. He is Commodore of the Royal Clyde Yacht Club, Vice-Commodore of the Royal Northern Yacht Club and the Royal Highland Yacht Club, and also a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron. In addition to the ground belonging to his own house of Hartfield at Cove, he leased the shooting on Rosneath moor above from the Duke of Argyll.

Hartfield Castle’s architect, Campbell Douglas was born in 1828 at Kilbarchan In 1855 or 1856 he set up an architectural practice in Glasgow.The practice came into national prominence with the commission for the Scots Gothic Briggate Free Church in Glasgow and the competition win for the tall-spired North Leith Free Church, memorable for its elaborate tracery, in 1859. In that same year he started to work on the excellent Scots baronial Hartfield Castle.

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