Craigend Castle

The ruins of Craigend Castle are just outside Glasgow, in what is now a part of Mugdock Park. The castle was part of the Barony of Mugdock in medieval times, but was sold to the family of John Smith, a rich book seller, in the seventeenth century. His chain, John Smith & Son, supply all univiersities in Scotland. In 1816 Smith's son James expanded the mansion with Neo-Gothic designs by the architect Alexander Ramsay. Craigend passed through the hands of several private owners until the early twentieth century, when Sir Harold E Yarrow ran a private zoo here until 1954. A rather suspicious fire led to it falling into ruins, and in November 2012 it went on sale ...