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http:www.PHOTOSbyELEANOR.com
Bedlay Castle is located about 3 miles south and east of Kirkintilloch in Lanarkshire & Glasgow. Bedlay Castle
is a 16th century L-plan tower house. It consists of a main block of two stories and projecting stair-wing, which
rises a story higher. To this has been added a later range, with two round towers, of three stories and a garret.
A small turret-stair is in the re-entrant angle. Many of the windows have been enlarged. The entrance, in the
foot of the stair-tower, leads to the vaulted basement. The basement contains a cellar and the old kitchen. The
main turnpike stair leads to the first floor.
The Boyds of Kilmarnock, who acquired the lands at the Reformation, built the original castle. In 1642 it passed
to the Robertson Lord Bedlay, who extended it; and in 1805 the Campbells of Petershill purchased it.
The castle is said to be haunted by the ghost of Bishop Cameron, who died in
suspicious circumstances about 1350.
Hauntings in the house, including an apparition of a large bearded man, were recorded in the 1970s. Another
story is that at dusk on a summer’s evening, on the old Glasgow-Stirling road, a coach and horses could be
heard. As it approached the rear gate from the garden, the apparition of a young girl would appear and step
into the road. A distant scream was then heard, followed by total silence. During the time when Campbells held
it, they built a mausoleum in the garden. Following the construction, there were tales of spectral appearances in
the grounds. In the 18th century, they had the mausoleum moved to Lambhill cemetery; the ghosts are said to
have followed.
Permission to Use Castle Information from The Castles of Scotland was granted by
Martin Coventry and Goblinshead, Edinburgh, Scotland |
