Johnstone Castle

Johnstone Castle stands in the town of Johnstone in Renfrewshire, Scotland. It was once a grand mansion belonging to the Houstons of Milliken, who bought the estate in 1773. The house was enlarged in 1771 and 1812 by George Houston, who remodelled it in a castellated style with a turret on the front. The architect James Gillespie Graham may have designed the changes. The castle had barrel-vaulted rooms on the ground floor and a rope-style string course outside. By the early 20th century, the growing town had swallowed most of the estate. The castle’s fame partly comes from a visit by the Polish composer Frédéric Chopin in 1848. He had been invited by Anne Houston, wife of the 5th laird Ludovick Houston. Chopin’s friend and student Jane Wilhelmina Stirling arranged his Scottish tour. He wrote that the castle was handsome and opulent, but bad weather soon made him feel ill and depressed. While riding in a two-horse carriage, one horse reared and the carriage crashed into a tree. Chopin escaped without serious injury. Today only a square tower and part of an older section remain. The tower was once in disrepair but was bought in 2001 and turned into a private home. It is now a protected category B listed building. The tower and its crow-stepped bartizan stand as quiet reminders of the castle’s past. The grounds have long since been built over, but the surviving structure still draws interest. Visitors can see where Chopin once stayed and sense the faded grandeur of the Houston family home.