Chapeltoun - Construction of The New Chapeltoun House and Estate

Construction of The New Chapeltoun House and Estate

The Chapelton (old) House was demolished in around 1908, possibly following a fire as this is the strong local tradition for the demise of the house. A Miss Mary McAllister may have been the last occupant of the house. Some of the dressed stonework may have been used in the building of the new house, garden and drive walls, the sides of the Chapel burn and elsewhere. The walling around the field side of the Chapel Hill mound is not entirely built with stones from Chapelton (old) House as some old building rubble was brought in from elsewhere at a much later date by the owner of Chapeltoun Mains, Mr. A. Robinson.

The gate to the field below the mound has three sandstone gateposts laid horizontally, two of them are exceptionally large and could be the ornamented gateposts from the old entrance and driveway to Chapelton (old) House. The actual drive is now represented by the curling pond behind the walled up entrance and the OS maps show an entrance here until at least 1911. Chapeltoun Mains has only one gatepost and both High Chapeltoun and Chapelhill house have none. These changes probably reflect the requirement to have access for large modern farm machinery. The gateposts are machine cut sandstone and the same design is found elsewhere, such as at the Kennox lodge, Cankerton and opposite Peacockbank Farm (previously Pearce Bank) near Stewarton, near the original entrance road to Lochridge. In 1775 Armstrong's map shows the road going no further than Lochridge (formerly Lochrig). A wind-pump is shown situated above Chapeltoun House on the 1923 OS map.

During demolition it was noted that the stonework in the lower story of Chapelton (old) House was noticeably older than the upper story as would be expected if Laigh Chapelton had developed into Chapelton when it acquired an owner with greater financial means, Mr. James McAlister (or MacAlester), who added first a new 'mansion house', later an upper story to the old farm, developed the ornamental gardens and probably built the bridge over the river with the associated 'ha-ha' (see the section on the estate gardens and landscape).

Michael Davis records that Hugh Neilson, the owner of 'Summerlee Iron Company' had the present mansion house designed in 1908 by Alexander Cullen, an architect from Hamilton. Harling is used extensively on the walls and this was originally left in an unpainted, artistic, grey state. The family moved into the house in 1910, however The gate-lodge was not built until around 1918, having been designed by Cullen, Lochhead and Brown. R.W.Schultz had proposed a terraced garden in 1911, but it is not known to what extent the existing terraces reflect this design. The pillars at the base of the main flight of steps incorporate old ornamental worked sandstone, presumably from the Chapelton (old) House. A separate conservatory building existed in front of the house at one time according to the OS map. The name 'Chapletoun', with the extra letter 'u' was presumably adopted for the new mansion house.

Hugh Neilson was a keen player of the bagpipes and the music could be heard at many of the surrounding farms, drifting up from the estate gardens. He was also very fond of curling and as soon as the weather was cold enough he would invite all the locals down for a match and a dram at his curling pond (Hastings 1995). It is believed to have been restored when the house was a hotel, using concrete and tarmac.

The Chapeltoun Estate was never very large, incorporating Chapeltoun Mains, High Chapeltoun, the home farm (now Chapelhill House), Chapelburn Cottage, Mosshead of Chapelton Farm, Bogside cottage and Bogflat. Cankerton (Cankertonhole) and Bloomridge (Bloomrig) were part of the Kennox Estate. Between 1924 and 1960 the Neilsons owned Linn House in Dalry.

Bogside cottage was lived in by Mr. Troop and his family and later on by a Mr. McGaw who worked at Chapeltoun Mains. He was the Chapeltoun House gardener. Mr. Thow (pronounced Thor) a forester, lived with his family at the Bogflat Farmhouse. A chauffeur, a Mr. McLean lived at Chapelburn cottage and Firbank existed as a small copse with a possible (unrecorded) standing stone, the bungalow was built in the 1970s.

An incident remembered by Mrs. Wilson is that of Mr. Neilson challenging a young man from Kilmaurs to a fist fight because he had found that the man was courting one of his housemaids.

The 'mansion' house of 1910 has had a number of changes of use after it was a private house, being the headquarters of an insurance company and a hotel under several different owners, before becoming a family home again around 2004. The Lobnitz family of Chapeltoun House moved to High Clunch. The Third Statistical Account of 1953 still records Chapeltoun as being one of the six main estates in the parish of Stewarton.