![Blackhall Manor in Paisley](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Blackhall_Manor_in_Paisley.jpg)
Blackhall Manor is a
tower house
A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...
in
Paisley in
Renfrewshire
Renfrewshire () ( sco, Renfrewshire; gd, Siorrachd Rinn Friù) is one of the 32 council areas of Scotland.
Located in the west central Lowlands, it is one of three council areas contained within the boundaries of the historic county of Renfr ...
, in the western
central Lowlands
The Central Lowlands, sometimes called the Midland Valley or Central Valley, is a geologically defined area of relatively low-lying land in southern Scotland. It consists of a rift valley between the Highland Boundary Fault to the north and t ...
of Scotland. It dates to the sixteenth century, although parts may be older, and formerly belonged to the Stewart or
Shaw-Stewart family. It was designated as a
Category B listed building in 1971.
History
The first house on the site was built by the Norman knight
Walter fitz Alan
Walter FitzAlan (1177) was a twelfth-century English baron who became a Scottish magnate and Steward of Scotland. He was a younger son of Alan fitz Flaad and Avelina de Hesdin. In about 1136, Walter entered into the service of David I, King of ...
in about 1160. In 1396
Robert III of Scotland
Robert III (c. 13374 April 1406), born John Stewart, was King of Scots from 1390 to his death in 1406. He was also High Steward of Scotland from 1371 to 1390 and held the titles of Earl of Atholl (1367–1390) and Earl of Carrick (1368– ...
,
King of Scots
The monarch of Scotland was the head of state of the Kingdom of Scotland. According to tradition, the first King of Scots was Kenneth I MacAlpin (), who founded the sovereign state, state in 843. Historically, the Kingdom of Scotland is thoug ...
, gave the property to Sir John Stewart, his
natural son
Legitimacy, in traditional Western common law, is the status of a child born to parents who are legally married to each other, and of a child conceived before the parents obtain a legal divorce. Conversely, ''illegitimacy'', also known as '' ...
. According to a record book now lost,
barony courts were regularly held there in the sixteenth century. In 1667 Archibald Stewart was made a
Baronet of Nova Scotia
This is a list of baronetcies in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. These were first created in 1624, and were replaced by the Baronetage of Great Britain in 1707.
This page lists baronetcies, whether extant, extinct, dormant (D), unproven (U), ...
by
Charles II, and was the first
baronet of Greenock and Blackhall.
By the 1820s Blackhall had become a farm-house; in the 1840s the farmer built a new house nearby, and the roof of the old one was taken off to save on tax. The structure was used as a store-house, a cattle
byre
A stable is a building in which livestock, especially horses, are kept. It most commonly means a building that is divided into separate stalls for individual animals and livestock. There are many different types of stables in use today; th ...
and a coal shed. The Shaw-Stewart family donated it to the
Burgh
A burgh is an autonomous municipal corporation in Scotland and Northern England, usually a city, town, or toun in Scots. This type of administrative division existed from the 12th century, when King David I created the first royal burghs. Burg ...
of
Paisley in 1940. In 1978 it was judged to have become so dangerous that
demolition
Demolition (also known as razing, cartage, and wrecking) is the science and engineering in safely and efficiently tearing down of buildings and other artificial structures. Demolition contrasts with deconstruction, which involves taking a ...
was proposed. It was completely rebuilt and restored in 1982–1983.
No information about the evolution of the tower over the centuries is available, but the presence of a 14th-century fireplace
jamb
A jamb (from French ''jambe'', "leg"), in architecture, is the side-post or lining of a doorway or other aperture. The jambs of a window outside the frame are called “reveals.” Small shafts to doors and windows with caps and bases are know ...
, the different style of windows in the staircase tower from the rest of the building and its relatively poor bonding with the main block suggest that the tower house was originally built as a
hall house
The hall house is a type of vernacular house traditional in many parts of England, Wales, Ireland and lowland Scotland, as well as northern Europe, during the Middle Ages, centring on a hall. Usually timber-framed, some high status examples wer ...
and enlarged in the 16th century with the addition of another storey and attic, stair tower, larger windows and a new ground-floor entrance. More windows were added in the late 16th or early 17th centuries.
See also
*
List of listed buildings in Paisley, Renfrewshire
This is a list of listed buildings in the parish of Paisley in Renfrewshire, Scotland
Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a bor ...
Footnotes
Further reading
* The Place of Blackhall – the Story of Eight Centuries," Janet S. Bolton, Stewart Society Journal-Vol. XVIII N° 3
* The Stewarts of Blackhall and Ardgowan," J.L. Olar BA, Journal of Ancient and Medieval Studies: The Octavian Society, 1997–2000
* From Royal Stewart to Shaw Stewart," Janet S. Bolton, Nenufra Publications, 1989
External links
Video footage and history of Blackhall Manor
{{coord, 55.83766, -4.41131, display=title
Blackhall
Scottish society
Buildings and structures in Paisley, Renfrewshire
Category B listed buildings in Renfrewshire
Tower houses in Scotland
Country houses in Renfrewshire