A brief history of Ballencleroch House and the dueling trees on the Estate at Schoenstatt Scotland
The first chronicled reference to Ballencleroch appears in a record dated 11 August 1423 when an agreement for Ballencleroch was approved to John Brisbane of Bishopton. The Brisbane’s retained the property for over two centuries until 1642 when it lapsed into the hands of the McFarlans. During the initial phase the structure on the site comprised a tower or mansion house. When James McFarlane took control in 1664, he set about constructing a new mansion house in the traditional Scottish Baronial style. It was modestly erected, but with walls over three feet thick, and gable ends crowned with crow steps. The house endured till the fire in 1982. James McFarlan had wedded Mary Keith and placed her coat of arms at the front door. After this house was demolished in 1988, the coat of arms was retained and can now be observed set into the wall to the front door of the new House.
James and Mary were well connected at the time, even to their familiarity with King William III, but they had diverse family destinies. Their son William was slayed outside Cadder Kirk, Bishopbriggs in 1687. Their other son, Hugh had to depart the family home hurriedly owing to a heart-rending incident. He and a member of the Stirling family fought a duel under the old chestnut trees behind the house. In the sequence of the duel, young Stirling was slain, and Hugh hastily departed to enroll in the army and labour abroad. For years afterwards, the occupant of the Clachan disclosed that the ghost of young Stirling ambled the area adjacent the Chestnut trees. The dueling trees can still be seen near the fish pond to the rear of the house. One of the trees was felled in a major storm, but new life has come to have life from it as you can see, with several species colonizing it, including two young Christmas trees.
Dueling Tree
Hugh’s fortunes rehabilitated throughout his time as a soldier and when he finally resettled at Ballencleroch he brought back many trees from abroad. The extensive collection of varied trees on the Estate is evidence to his labour in this regard.
The family did not always reside at Ballencleroch letting the house to numerous tenants over the years, which was the source of a disastrous event during the 19th century. One tenant removed an oak cabinet with countless family papers including letters from King William III. They deposited the cabinet in a Glasgow warehouse. Unfortunately fire destroyed the warehouse, the cabinet and the valuable documents; not for the last time was fire a constituent in the narration of Ballencleroch.
In the early 19th Century members of the family frequently labored in Edinburgh. John McGarlan senior was an advocate and his son John served as a surgeon. Both in due course retired to Ballencleroch. John the surgeon extended the old mansion house in 1853. In the following 120 years this house with its stylized turrets and gable ends remained the location the majority of people associated with Campsie Glen. During the latter part of the 19th century David McFarlan was the heir. Like his ancestor Hugh, he was a soldier, serving in India. He was twice wounded at Lucknow and served throughout the Indian Mutiny.
THE CAMPSIE GLEN HOTEL
The House remained in McFarlan’s hands into the 20th century, until it was sold in the 1960s. Ballencleroch was then rechristened the ‘Campsie Glen Hotel.’ It was established as a very high-class four star hotel it was aimed at the millionaire class. Celebrities from the world of entertainment and business used it as a country retreat. Alistair Sims (St Trinians) Richard Todd (Dambusters) and David McCallum (The man from Uncle, Colditz) resided there over its 20 year existence. The hotel changed hands in the early 1980s and disaster hit when it caught fire on the night of August 30th 1982. The manager and an accomplice were both convicted of fire raising, and attempted to defraud the insurance company. For Ballencleroch it was the end of an era, and it lay neglected for the next five years.
SCHOENSTATT SCOTLAND
In 1987 the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary acquired the Estate. The first stage was to build the Marian Shrine in 1989. The Shrine is a place of pilgrimage, prayer and peace for all its visitors. Regrettably the timeworn Ballenclerroch had declined so much it had to be demolished. Plans were made for a new building that would strongly echo the style and character of the old one. It was opened in 1995 by the then, Archbishop Keith O’Brian. Intended as a Retreat and Conference Centre with 17 rooms all en suite including accommodation for the sisters.
The Religious Tradition of Campsie Glen
There is an oral tradition that the name ‘Ballencleroch’ denotes, ‘the house of the clergy,’ however, there are no records that the land has ever belonged to the Church or a religious order. Yet the belief seems to pervade the complete history of the Glen which has had a religious nucleus since earliest times. In the 9th century St. Machan, a disciple of St. Cadoc, toiled in the area and erected his ‘Cill’ or chapel in the Glen. When he died he would have been buried there. The first recorded Church was built in 1175 and it served the local community before and after the Reformation until the early 19th century when a new Church was built in Lennoxtown. The remains of the Church can still be seen in the graveyard behind the house.
Even before the Marian Shrine was constructed in 1989. Our Blessed Lady was honoured at this location. In 1508 Sir John Striveling of Gragbernard, a neighbouring house, established a chaplaincy in the Church of Campsie. He also created a private chapel in his own house in honour of Our Lady and requested a priest to celebrate mass and recite the divine office there, and at the altar of Our Lady at Campsie, for members of the family.
The religious tradition of the area is intense, and the Schoenstatt family through the Shrine dedicated to Our Mother Thrice Admirable has developed this and underpinned this foundation. It is longed for that all who come to Schoenstatt Scotland and visit the Shrine will be able to relax in the peace that this wonderful Estate offers, and can be touched by God’s presence, so long and intimately coupled with the area.
Schoenstatt Scotland Press
