2012

NS4175 : Crosslet House

taken 12 years ago, near to Bellsmyre, West Dunbartonshire, Scotland

Crosslet House
Crosslet House
Crosslet House was built, c.1850, for Sheriff Humphrey Walter Campbell (for more about him and his family, see NS4076 : Memorial to the Campbells of Barnhill). Before then, the Sheriff had lived at College Park House (which was in the area where NS3975 : Dumbarton Municipal Buildings now stand; see that link for more information). However, when the railway came to Dumbarton, an embankment was created near that house, spoiling the Sheriff's fine view across the Broad Meadow (NS3975 : View to Broadmeadow Industrial Estate) towards Ben Lomond.

In about 1848, he acquired the Crosslet estate from Alexander Smollett of Bonhill, whose family had owned Crosslet and adjacent Stoneyflat (see below) since about 1700. The Sheriff died at Crosslet in 1864, leaving the property to a relative, John Campbell White (the future Lord Overtoun), who moved there when he married in 1867; White held the tenancy at Crosslet for a number of years, and purchased the estate outright in 1883.

(For the family relationship between Sheriff Humphrey Walter Campbell and John Campbell White, see, again, NS4076 : Memorial to the Campbells of Barnhill; see also NS4276 : Ruins of the Folly Castle.)

Following the death of his mother in 1891, John Campbell White moved to NS4276 : Overtoun House; he would make many improvements to the Overtoun Estate (for more on his family, see NS4076 : The White Memorial and NS6065 : Statue of James White of Overtoun).

Peter Denny, son of Dr Peter Denny (see NS4075 : The Helenslee Family Memorial), lived at Crosslet House until his death in 1917; Lady Overtoun (the wife of John Campbell White) then moved to Crosslet, staying there until her death in 1931.

Thereafter, Dr J Douglas White (NS4075 : East End Park - the southern entrance), on his very occasional visits to the area (he spent most of his time in London), sometimes occupied the house. He was the nephew of John Campbell White (Lord Overtoun).

Some work on the house took place around 1950. That year saw the formal opening of Crosslet House as a residential nursery; that nursery was closed down in 1974. The building was subsequently put to a variety of uses, but it would ultimately be demolished in the latter part of 2015; a new care home was then built on that site: see, for example, NS4175 : Construction at former site of Crosslet House, and click on the end-note title for related pictures. For the finished care home, in use, see NS4175 : Crosslet House Care Home.

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Roy's Military Survey of Scotland (1740s-50s) shows "Corslet" here. Similarly, the first-edition OS map of c.1860 shows a "Corslet" close to Crosslet, the buildings probably bearing older and newer forms of what is essentially the same place-name.

Some documents from the fifteenth century(*) record the early spelling "Corsflat". The name is similar in form to that of nearby Stoneyflat; perhaps the two names had a similar origin. (Stoneyflat was a farm, located not far to the NNW; it is no longer in existence, its site now being occupied by Dumbarton Cemetery; see Link for more details.)

[(*) The spelling "Corsflat" is found in a "retour of service of Humphrey Colquhoun ...", dated 21st June 1479, and in a similar "retour of service of John Colquhoun ...", dated 30th September 1493. The texts are given on pp297-98 and pp304-306, respectively, of the second volume of "The Chiefs of Colquhoun and their Country" (William Fraser, 1869).]
Construction on site of Crosslet House

Crosslet House was built c.1850 for Sheriff Humphrey Walter Campbell; it was later occupied by the future Lord Overtoun, and then by other members of his family. From 1950 to 1974, Crosslet House was a residential nursery. After being put to other uses, the house was demolished (from September–November 2015), and the site cleared. A new care home was then built on the site: it opened in 2017.


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Lairich Rig and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Geographical Context: Historic sites and artefacts Housing, Dwellings Period: 19th Century Image Buckets ?: Gone other tags: Toponymy Click a tag, to view other nearby images.
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Grid Square
NS4175, 113 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Lairich Rig   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Monday, 9 January, 2012   (more nearby)
Submitted
Friday, 20 January, 2012
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 4133 7544 [10m precision]
WGS84: 55:56.7435N 4:32.5412W
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! NS 4125 7545
View Direction
East-southeast (about 112 degrees)
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Image classification(about): Geograph
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