Huntershill House, Crowhill Road, Glasgow

Built between 1769 and 1776 by an unknown architect, Huntershill House in Bishopbriggs was the former parental home of Thomas Muir, the 18th–century advocate and political reformer (1765–1799).

The house is two-storey with attic, five-bay, and is rectangular in plan. The front elevation has a central pedimented doorway in a rusticated stone surround. The walls are covered with grey harling with exposed chamfered in-and-out quoins. Windows are timber sash and case. There is a ridge roof with rolled skewputts, moulded stone eaves, and coped end stacks. The interior has been substantially altered (2024).

Entrance gates and gatepiers on Crowhill Road are listed separately (LB22282).

Historical background

The lands of Huntershill were formerly part of the Auchinairn estate owned by James Lyle prior to 1748. Built sometime between 1769 and 1776, Huntershill is shown on later 18th century maps on the main road leading north from Glasgow (Taylor and Skinner 1776; Richards 1795).

In the late 18th century, Huntershill House was the home of Thomas Muir's parents, James Muir, a hop merchant and grocer, and his wife Margaret. Thomas Muir lived at Huntershill intermittently between the ages of 17 and 27. The property was sold in 1803 following the death of Thomas Muir's father.

Huntershill was later owned by the Gallaway family. Historical maps show that during the 19th century, it stood within a plot of garden grounds with several ancillary buildings and curving entrance drive (Ordnance Survey maps surveyed 1857 and 1896). Beyond the garden boundaries, the character of the wider landscape changed during this time period from rural to largely urban, with residential expansion taking place in the 20th century.

In 1969, Bishopbriggs Town Council purchased the house to serve as a pavilion for the adjacent recreation ground. The conversion involved major alterations to the interior of the house and building two extensions (since demolished).

In 1975 a small museum of Thomas Muir memorabilia was opened in a room on the upper floor of the house (now housed in Bishopbriggs Library [2023])

The house was in use as an outdoor recreation centre in the late 20th century and early 21st century.