Dalzell House, Motherwell
Nestling
in a well-wooded park on the southern boundary of Motherwell, Dalzell House
is one of the finest mansions of the Scottish Lowlands.
The Place
The earliest history of Dalzell is lost in the antiquity of time. Records
show that in the 14th cent. it was a place of defensive strength but much
before this the site would have attested to the struggles and warfare of
Scotland's turbulent past.
The present structure is a complex and picturesque spread of buildings around a mid 15th century tower house, which is still largely entire. This tower was enclosed by a rectangular curtain wall and surrounded by a dry moat. Both the South Wing, dating from l649, and North and East Wings, remodelled about 1860, abut and incorporate the old vaults and walling. In 1857 the Castle was massively extended and remodelled by its owner, Captain Hamilton of Dalzell. The work was entrusted to Robert William Billings, one of the most eccentric, scholarly and brilliant exponents of picturesque architecture in the baronial style. Billings lived and worked at Dalzell for the next four years, executing much of the carving and plasterwork with his own hands. The richness and beauty of the surviving interior work, in particular the wood carving, leaves Dalzell without parallel in Scotland or indeed Britain.
The Ghosts
Like many other places of antiquity, Dalzell Castle has its own share of
secret passages, romantic tales and ghosts, having at least two specimens
of the latter - the Green Lady who haunts the South Wing and the Grey Lady
who walks the North - their unseen presence is felt by visitors who experience
two pairs of watchful eyes constantly gazing upon them. The body of a maidservant
is reputed to be built into a wall and that of a young man buried beneath
one of the courtyards.
These stories, fact or fiction, are as romantic as the scenic splendour which surrounds Dalzell.
The People
The first Dalzell to appear on record was one Hugo de Dalzell, Sheriff of
Lanark in the time of Wallace. In the Ragman's Roll the names of Scots nobles
who paid homage to Edward I in 1298 include Thomas de Dalzell. Thomas swapped
sides to fight with Bruce at Bannockburn. Thomas's son, Robert, forfeit the
estates by being absent from the country without the King's permission. Various
families held the estates after this but eventually they were granted to
Eleanor, sister of Robert III. The daughter of her marriage with James Sandilands
of Torpichen became the heiress of Dalzell and conveyed the property back
to the original owners on her marriage with George, eldest son of Sir William
de Dalzell.
Robert Dalzell was raised to the Peerage in 1628 as the first Lord Dalzell, serving on the King's Council in 1638. He was later elevated to the dignity of the Earldom of Carnwath Baron Dalzell and Libberton.
The second Earl of Carnwath, another Robert, had been given, by his father, the lands of Dalzell and the Mill of Lanark. In 1635 he obtained a Charter from Charles I erecting into a Barony of Dalzell the whole lands of Dalzell, including the half which had belonged to the Nisbet family. He was nominated as a Privy Councillor in 1641 but in l643 was accused, before the Estates, of traducing Parliament in the King's presence. He was cited to appear before Parliament and on his failure to do so was fined 10,000 Scots merks. In February 1645 he was found guilty of treason and sentenced to be hanged. The sentence was changed and instead of being executed he was stripped of rank, titles and lands and fined 100,000 Scots merks. The Earldom and estates were transferred to his son, Gavin, who was forced to sell various lands in order to pay his father's fine. He sold Dalzell Castle and lands to his cousin James Hamilton of Boggs, second son of John Hamilton, 4th of Orbiston.
The Hamiltons of Orbiston, to whom the estates now belonged, could trace their lineage almost as far back as the Dalzells. Their ancestors were also those of the Dukes of Hamilton and Abercorn. John Hamilton, 3rd of Orbiston, fought and died for Mary, Queen of Scots, at Langside on 14th May 1568. Their history was not as colourful as the Dalzells'. The Hamiltons were more inclined to the academic and trading life style. James Hamilton of Boggs, who took over the estates, amassed a large fortune by trading and supplying the army during the wars of Cromwell and was appointed Commissioner of Supply for the County of Lanark.
In 1766, James, the fifth Hamilton of Dalzell appointed Mr. Robert Clason as minister of Dalzell. Clason Memorial Church takes its name from a descendant of this gentleman.
In l825 an experiment was started on the lands of Dalzell. Archibald James Hamilton, together with Robert Owen of New Lanark fame, decided to found a communal settlement on the estate and it was known as 'Babylon' by the locals. It was sited on what is now the first green of Bellshill Golf Course and the railway bridge there is still called Babylon Bridge. The experiment was doomed to failure and folded about two years later.
John Glencairn Carter Hamilton was created the first Baron Hamilton of Dalzell in l886. It was in his time that the House was the scene of many Royal visits, no fewer than five of Queen Victoria's children preferring its accommodation to the grandeur of Hamilton Palace. William Gladstone stayed at the House in 1879 and in the grounds there still stands a small round building known as 'Gladstone's Tearoom'.
The Park
Several interesting features connected with the House can be observed by
walking in the grounds, the most prominent being the remains of St. Patrick's
Church, now the family mausoleum of the Hamiltons. An ancient stone coffin
lid, found in the adjoining Churchyard, is now incorporated in the terrace
wall among carved corbals from the mediaeval Castle. Near the mausoleum is
the Well of St. Patrick which was restored in 1733 and later in 1882. Surrounding
it are the remains of the Japanese gardens, overlooked by a pillared Gazebo.
In the grounds in overlooked by the house stands an oak tree, estimated to be about eight hundred years old, known locally as the 'Covenanters' Oak'.