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, in the western central Lowlands of Scotland. It dates to the sixteenth century, although parts may be older, and formerly belonged to the Stewart or

Shaw-Stewart family The Stewart, later Shaw-Stewart Baronetcy, of Greenock and Blackhall in the County of Renfrew, is a title in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. It was created on 27 March 1667 for Sir Archibald Stewart, 1st Baronet, of Blackhall, Archibald Stewart. I ...

. It was designated as a

Category B listed This is a list of Category A listed buildings in Scotland, which are among the listed buildings of the United Kingdom. For a fuller list, see the pages linked on List of listed buildings in Scotland. Key The organization of the lists in th ...

building in 1971.

History

The first house on the site was built by the Norman knight Walter fitz Alan 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. According to a record book now lost,

barony court Barony may refer to: * Barony, the peerage, office of, or territory held by a baron * Barony, the title and land held in fealty by a feudal baron * Barony (county division), a type of administrative or geographical division in parts of the British ...

s 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 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, 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.

Footnotes

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

History

See also

Footnotes

Further reading

External links