IMAGES TAKEN NEAR TO
Potterhill Road, GLASGOW, G53 5RR

The view is from the road bridge that carries Linthaugh Road over the river.

This picture was taken from an upper floor of Crookston Castle; see the main description: Image The existing ruined castle dates from the early fifteenth century, but the defensive earthworks were associated with an earlier (twelfth century) wooden structure that stood on the same site. As was mentioned in the main description, the position of an original causeway in the defensive ringwork that surrounds the castle site can still be discerned today. The defensive ditch is clearly visible here, but note a path that crosses it near the position of the red van (which is parked in front of a nearby lodge). It is at this point, where the path crosses the ditch, that the original causeway would have been located. In this image, on the near side of the ditch, just to the right of the path, it is just possible to make out something set into the grass. This is a plaque on a stone, and it reads: "Gatehouse - This is where the gatehouse would always have stood. The first Crookston Castle was built by Robert Croc, who gave his name to the area, before 1180. You can still see the mighty bank and ditch which protected his timber hall, kitchen, bakehouse and stables. The stone castle was built by the Stewarts of Darnley around 1400. This is a carefully planned tower house, with a smaller symmetrical tower at each corner. The castle was damaged in a siege in 1489, and although partially rebuilt was in ruins by 1600."

The viewpoint for this picture was the top of Crookston Castle, and the view is towards South Cardonald. The main road that is prominent at the centre of the image is Lyoncross Road. The line of distant towerblocks to the right of centre is located at Moss Heights Avenue. The area of woodland filling the middle distance in the right-hand side of the image is Crookston Wood.

This wide-angle view, from the north-west, is intended to show the defensive earthworks. The deep ditch was a feature of Robert de Croc's original late-twelfth-century castle. The photograph also shows the causeway that led across the ditch. Click on the end-note title for more pictures of the castle.

Tower in the south of Glasgow dating back to the turn of the 15th Century.

From inside the defensive ditch surrounding the castle.

For the area from which the picture was taken, see Image The part of the castle projecting out furthest, down below, just left of centre, is the far end of the vaulted basement shown in Image On the near side of its metal fence is a flat area, the floor of the Great Hall; the following picture was taken from there: Image

The north-eastern tower is on the right, with its fenced-off rooftop: Image On the left are the remains of the south-eastern tower; when this was intact, the castle would have had a more symmetrical appearance. For the intact north-east tower, see also Image Click on the end-note title for related pictures. The Image is in the left background.

A late twelfth-century timber castle with a defensive ringwork was built here by Robert de Croc (see the end-note); the ringwork is still clearly visible, and its course can be followed around the ruins of the later stone castle. For example, in this picture, the outer and inner banks of the defensive ditch are visible behind the fence, crossing the image from left to right; see also: Image – Image – Image This first effort at a photograph of the castle did not turn out as well as I had hoped, but later visits produced better results: Image and Image Click on the end-note title for more pictures of the castle, including some interior views. The position of a causeway across the ringwork can still be discerned at the site; it is close to a lodge which lies just a short distance to the west of the castle: Image In the fifteenth century, the Stewarts of Darnley built the stone castle whose ruins now occupy the site; its north-eastern tower remains intact, and the top can be reached by means of metal ladders (although the castle was not open to the public when this picture was taken, I was kindly given permission to briefly explore the structure). For another contributor's view of the castle, see http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/87398 For a view of the remains of the hall of the castle, on an upper floor, see: Image Much damage was done to the castle when it was besieged by James IV in 1489; some of the towers were destroyed in the resulting bombardment. The castle was finally abandoned in the late sixteenth century. Crookston Castle is the second-oldest building in Glasgow (after the Cathedral). Archaeological excavations have suggested that there may have been a late Iron Age circular enclosure on the same hill – see "Archaeology Around Glasgow" by Susan Hothersall; note that the WoSAS entry for the castle includes the relevant part of that text, as well as some additional material: http://www.wosas.net/wosas_site.php?id=8890 A notable tree called the Crookston Yew used to stand near the castle (see page 28 of the first volume of "Annals of the Andersonian Naturalists' Society"). In 1710, it was said that "hard by the castle is to be seen that noble monument, the ew-tree, called 'The Tree of Crockstoun', of so large a truck and well spread in its branches that 'tis seen at several miles' distance from the grounds where it stands". By the end of that century, it had decayed, and its remains were removed in 1817 by Sir John Maxwell of Pollok. In the 1890s, it was noted that "two scions of the Crookston Yew exist, at Nether Pollok and at the entrance to the Glasgow Botanic Gardens".