KINCAID-L Archives

Archiver > KINCAID > 2006-06 > 1149431214


From: "Richard Kinkead" <>
Subject: Re: [KINCAID] Lennox Castle
Date: Sun, 4 Jun 2006 10:26:54 -0400
References: <001101c687dd$d0fb9a70$2e129a8e@PeterAKincaid>


Peter-

Verrrry gud, mon.

I have a local friend there who has his eye out for a stone/brick if they
ever do demolish either Lennox or Woodhead.

Dick Kinkead 2562

----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter A. Kincaid" <>
To: <>
Sent: Sunday, June 04, 2006 9:50 AM
Subject: [KINCAID] Lennox Castle


> Don Kincaid had contacted a newspaper in Kirkintilloch, Scotland
> about Lennox Castle. They had indicated a willingness to prepare
> an article on the Castle and requested further information in an email
> cc'd to me. I prepared the following and thought some of you may
> be interested in it.
>
> Best wishes!
>
> Peter A. Kincaid
> Fredericton, NB, Canada
>
> Lennox Castle was at one time the most striking building within the Parish
> of
> Campsie. While the name bears honour to the ancient Earls of Lennox and
> a principal landowner in the area, the Lennoxes of Woodhead, the castle
> itself
> was built by the Kincaids of that Ilk. It was John Lennox Kincaid who was
> the builder of this massive family monument.
>
> John Lennox Kincaid was born on 8 October 1802, to John Kincaid of Kincaid
> and Cecilia Lennox, daughter of William Lennox of Woodhead. John's father
> was
> a Justice of the Peace and one of the original partners of Carrick Brown &
> Co.
> (Ship Bank) which merged with the Glasgow Bank to become Glasgow and Ship
> Bank
> in 1836. Cecilia Lennox died in 1817 and her son John Lennox Kincaid
> became
> heir to her half interest in the large Lennox of Woodhead estates.
>
> The other half interest was held by Cecilia's Lennox's elder unmarried
> sister,
> Margaret Lennox of Woodhead, who was in effect the last of the direct line
> of
> the Lennoxes of Woodhead. She was convinced that she was the legitimate
> heir
> to the rights and honours of the ancient Earls of Lennox which for the
> most part
> fell out of use with the execution of the Earl of Lennox with the Duke of
> Albany,
> Regent of Scotland, in 1425. To press her case she hired the prominent
> lawyer
> Robert Hamilton of Gilkerscleugh who, in 1813, prepared and published her
> claim
> in a impressive paper titled "The Case of Margaret Lennox of Woodhead, in
> relation to the Title, Honours, and Dignity of the ancient Earls of
> Levenax or
> Lennox." She was not able to establish her claim and when she died in
> 1831
> her nephew, John Lennox Kincaid, became heir to her half interest and thus
> now had full rights and possession of the Lennox of Woodhead estates. He
> thus assumed the surname Lennox when he was served heir to her in 1833.
> His
> father, John Kincaid of Kincaid, passed away in 1832 and John Lennox
> Kincaid,
> now John Lennox Kincaid-Lennox, found himself with a considerable wealth
> in
> money and property.
>
> John Lennox Kincaid-Lennox married Frances Maxwell of Craigends on 26
> August
> 1828 and ultimately became a brother-in-law to the Duke of Argyll. Bent
> on continuing
> his aunt Margaret's claim to the ancient earldom of Lennox he decided to
> build a
> residence befitting the dignity of an Earl. He thus commissioned
> Scotland's eminent
> architect, David Hamilton, to develop plans for a large addition to
> Woodhead House.
> However, the location was unsuitable and it was decided that a new castle
> was to
> be built on a more visible location in the valley. This new castle was to
> be built in the
> Norman style in recognition of the ancestors of the Earls of Lennox coming
> to
> the district in the Norman period. Construction began in 1837 and took
> two years
> to complete. In addition to income from his estate, funding for the
> building of the
> Castle came from the sale of the stocks he had inherited in the Glasgow
> and
> Ship bank. Although he became possessed of a castle befitting a Scottish
> Earl his case
> to be recognized as heir to the rights and dignity of the ancient Earls of
> Lennox had
> to be abandoned.
>
> John Lennox Kincaid-Lennox was appointed a Deputy-Lieutenant of
> Stirlingshire
> and Dumbartonshire in 1832. He also became Convenor of the County of
> Stirlingshire
> in 1842. He died in London suddenly on 6 March 1859. He was predeceased
> by a son John Kincaid Lennox, a Captain in the 12th Lancers, who died
> in Thebes, Egypt after contracting a lung disease during the Caffre War.
> Thus,
> on his death his eldest daughter, Margaret Cunningham Lennox, became 2nd
> of
> Lennox Castle. She married in 1857, George Augustus Frederick Percy
> Smythe,
> 7th Visount Strangford. She became Viscountess Strangford but her husband
> passed away shortly after their marriage. In 1861, she married Hon.
> Charles
> Spencer Bateman Hanbury, second son of William, Lord Bateman and resumed,
> with her new husband, her family name of Kincaid-Lennox.
>
> Margaret did not have any children and upon her death in 1892, her younger
> sister Cecilia Kincaid-Lennox became her heir. On the death of Margaret's
> second husband in 1912, Cecilia came into full possession of Lennox Castle
> and other family estates. In 1856, Cecilia had married Captain William
> Peareth
> of the 12th Royal Lancers; he having served with her brother. He was heir
> to
> Usworth House, County Durham and of Thorpe Mandeville in County
> Northampton.
> He died in 1870. Cecilia Peareth-Lennox of Lennox Castle and Kincaid
> died on 21 April 1914.
>
> Cecilia's eldest son, William George Peareth, having inherited his
> father's
> estates in 1870 also inherited Lennox Castle and Kincaid upon the death of
> his
> mother and he too assumed the name Kincaid-Lennox. He rented Lennox
> Castle out at various times and during World War I it was used as a
> hospital. William G. P. Kincaid-Lennox in his lifetime did have an
> interest
> in local affairs having become a Justice of the Peace for Stirlingshire
> and a
> Deputy-Lieutenant for the same County. However, he took a keener interest
> in
> horseracing and was once the proud owner of the Grand National winner,
> Glenside,
> and the Cambridgeshire winner Twelve Pointer.
>
> Debts caught up to him and as a result he was oblidged to sell many of the
> family assests. Lennox Castle, together with other family building
> assests in
> the area and 8650 acres of land, were put up for auction in February 1927.
> By
> August of that year Lennox Castle and 3000 acres were sold with the prized
> building being bought by the Glasgow Corporation. Part of the estate was
> developed as a hospital for the mentally handicaped and Castle itself was
> converted into a Nurse's Home.
>
>
>
> ==== KINCAID Mailing List ====
> Search the Kincaid list message archive at:
> http://archiver.rootsweb.com/KINCAID-L/
>

This thread: