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Cathcart House in the foreground, Cathcart Castle on it's hill.
From 'A History of the Shire of Renfrew', Crawford 1710 , Semple 1782 & Robertson 1818
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2 miles south west of Rutherglen, off minor roads south of B767, west of Old Castle Road, and east of White Cart Water, at head of Linn Park.
Sited on a hilltop precipice above the White Cart, Cathcart Castle survives only to a height of about 4ft.
The castle originally consisted of a simple oblong keep of 51ft by 30.75ft within a courtyard which extended a further 10ft on each side. There were four round corner towers on the perimeter wall.
The original entrance to the courtyard was in the east, opposite the main entrance to the keep. This was of four storeys and probably a garret, the basement being vaulted. The main door at ground floor level entered a small corridor. Opposite was the entrance to the basement, to the north was a turnpike stair within the walls accessing all floors above, and to the south was a small chamber of 5ft by 6ft which may have acted as a prison since there was access from above. The main chamber at this level was illuminated by three slot windows.
The hall on the first floor measured 32.5ft by 17ft and had several larger windows one of which had stone seats. There was a large open fireplace in the south wall. In common with the floors above there were various mural chambers within the walls.
The floors above had originally consisted of large single rooms, though that on the second floor had been subdivided to give two disproportionate rooms and a link corridor.
The castle was demolished to it’s present height by Glasgow City Council around 1980 due to it’s deteriorating and dangerous condition. It is now overgrown, and daubed with graffiti.
The Cathcarts held the estate from the 12th century, though the site of their original caput is not known. Some suggest the ancient earthworks at Camphill within Queens Park, others identify the site of the present ruin.
They were made Lords Cathcart in 1447, and built the castle in 1450. The property passed to the Sempills in 1546. They opposed Queen Mary at nearby Langside in 1568, but despite this she reputedly watched proceedings from a knoll known as ‘ The Court Knowe’ immediately west of the castle. It is also alleged that she may have stayed the night before in the castle, although both legends are unlikely. The Sempills built Cathcart House just to the south, and abandoned the castle to move there in 1740. The house has long since been demolished. A descendant of the Cathcarts bought the estate back, and he became Earl of Cathcart in 1814.
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