Glengyle

Loch Lomond And Trossachs National Park Planning Authority

18th century, perhaps containing earlier fabric, with later alterations and additions. 2-storey and attic 3-bay house with crowstepped gables and dormerheads, 2-storey piend-roofed wing to W, further 2 storey gabled wing adjoining at NW corner. Although altered in the 19th and 20th centuries the house has an historic association with Rob Roy MacGregor, who was born at Glengyle, and subsequent references to the property in 19th century Romantic literature.

At its core is an 18th century 2-storey, 3-bay symmetrical house. In 1918 the Glengyle Estate was purchased by Glasgow Corporation, various alterations were made including bipartite windows inserted at ground floor, the addition of a crenellated entrance porch, and crowsteps to the principal gables and dormerheads. Masked by the porch is a bolection-moulded doorpiece with 2 surmounting datestones. One is dated 1704 appearing to have been altered from 1764, inscribed with J McG JB, the other 1728 with MH. Irregular fenestration to rear, 2 eye-shaped windows in the form of gunloops situated close to the ground level. The principal wing may have been added in the earlier 19th century to accommodate a new drawing room, the comprehensive recasting of the house in the early 20th century makes this difficult to confirm.

After acquisition by the Corporation, the interior was subdivided into 3 houses for its workers, each with its own staircase. Access to the interior was not gained at the time of the site visit, 2005, however it is known that the interior was significantly altered during the 20th century.

Materials

White painted roughcast walls, margins to openings and corners painted red. 20th century timber sash and case windows with six pane uppers and plate glass below, decorative tessellated glazing to porch. Grey slate roof. Roughcast stacks with variety of cans (square to house).

Boundary Walls and Gatepiers

The house is set in a wedge-shaped site, tapering to the E, bounded to N and S by random rubble walls. The formal entrance is at the eastern extent of the site; circular stone gatepiers with domed caps, wrought iron 2-leaf gates, informal crenellation to flanking walls.