Gilbertfield Castle

Gilbertfield Castle is a ruined 17th-century tower house in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It stands on the north slope of Dechmont Hill, just outside Cambuslang and south-east of Glasgow. The castle belongs to the former barony of Drumsagard, once held by the Hamiltons. A heraldic panel above the door shows the date 1607. In the early 18th century it was home to William Hamilton of Gilbertfield, a retired soldier and writer who translated Blind Harry’s poem about William Wallace. The castle was built as an L-plan tower with a projecting stair tower on the north side. The basement had vaulted cellars and a kitchen with a large fireplace and oven. A service stair linked the basement to the hall above, which had smaller fireplaces and large windows with gunloops. Above the hall were two more floors, each with three rooms. At the top, the garret had two round turrets at opposite corners. The east wall collapsed in the 1950s, and the north-west turret fell later. Today the castle is a dangerous ruin, with much brickwork fallen each year. Only the corbelling of the north-west turret remains. The site is a Scheduled Ancient Monument. To the north, a large housing development has been approved despite local opposition. A separate plan once proposed incorporating the castle into new buildings.