Mauldslie Castle's royal visitors

The history of Mauldslie Castle goes back centuries but the site was important before the building’s creation.
In 1933 Mauldslie Castle was listed for sale and it did not even find a buyer for £2000; two years later, it was sold to a demolition contractor.In 1933 Mauldslie Castle was listed for sale and it did not even find a buyer for £2000; two years later, it was sold to a demolition contractor.
In 1933 Mauldslie Castle was listed for sale and it did not even find a buyer for £2000; two years later, it was sold to a demolition contractor.

Back in the 7th century tradition has it that a Celtic church/chapel was built by St Malouc/St Machutius. He was connected with the foundation of the original monastery at Lesmahagow for the Culdee monks.

In the Middle Ages Carluke’s first church is thought to have been built somewhere near the banks of the Clyde; this was referred to as Eglismalouc – the church of St Malouc.

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This was Carluke’s first church before it moved to the present day town; the name Carluke is derived from Eglismalouc.

In the early Middle Ages this area was covered with forest, some of which was cleared for a three-storey tower house in the late Middle Ages by the Maxwell family; a picture of it is shown in Pont’s map of the 1570s. The only surviving piece of evidence is a 1587 date stone, located in the stable block.

The tower house was demolished by the Carmichaels, Earls of Hyndford, who acquired the estate in the early 18th century and engaged the services of the famous architect Robert Adam.

It was the Hoziers who were to turn Mauldslie Castle into a spectacular mansion house. To do this they commissioned David Bryce who built the house in the 1850s followed by the bridge and accompanying gatehouse in the early 1860s.

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In 1893 William Wallace Hozier bequeathed a large sum of money to build the Lady Hozier Convalescent Home in Lanark which he gifted to Glasgow Infirmary.

He died in 1906 and was succeeded by his son James Henry Cecil Hozier, 2nd Lord Newlands. He entertained George V in July 1914, after he and Queen Mary visited Glasgow just a month before war was declared. They enjoyed pie, beans and chips for lunch ! The royal couple then left by car to open Hamilton Library.

Lord Newlands died childless in 1929. In 1933 the castle was put up for sale and did not find a buyer so in 1935 it sold to a demolition contractor.

The estate has passed through a number of hands since, with the stables turned into a number of dwellings.

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