Cumbernauld House Park Part 1: The Castle and House

One of the great places to visit in Cumbernauld is Cumbernauld House Park. My wife and I are regular visitors to the park, which is popular with many locals with or without dogs. The park is steeped in history and covers an extensive area, hence the three posts. This first deals with the original castle and the house. The second will be of the park itself and scenery, and the third, the Glen.

Dotted throughout the park are numerous info panels with a wealth of historical facts on them. These were all erected by Friends of Cumbernauld House with the assistance of Awards For All (Scotland), AG Barr PLC (makers of the world famous Irn Bru), Highland Colour Coaters Ltd and Noth Lanarkshire Council Archives and Record Centre. I have photographed these and added them in with the pictures so that you can see for yourselves the rich history of the park.

Motte and Bailey Castle

Starting with the old castle, the oldest part of the site. This was a Motte and Bailey castle, dating from the early 12th century. All that remains are the oval earthworks and an earthen mound which was for a later flagpole. The info board has all the relevant info. Whilst in the area of the earthworks we came across some burnt wood which had fascinating patterns on it so click, click, click. The last photo is of the current house from within the area of the motte (I decided to go with black and white because to me it looks good!). And there were lots of blubells.

Cumbernauld House

Next the house. The current building known as Cumbernauld House was designed circa 1731 and sits on the site of a previous large medieval castle. The original castle was started around 1371 and was the seat of the Flemings, a very powerful family with stong ties to the Scottish Monarchy. Again, check out the info boards for a full history.

The Ha-Ha

Finally, the Ha-Ha. This was a large ditch that was designed to enable the estate’s livestock to be moved around without being seen by those in the “Big Hoose”. It was also used by workers from the village walking to and from work at the mines in the Glen, so that those in the house wouldn’t be offended by the sight of the commoners. (A wandering dog decided to attach itself to me for a wee while, so it got photographed as well!)