THIS seat of the ancient family of Maxwell of Nether Pollok, is situated in the parish of Pollok or Eastwood and county of Renfrew.
The earliest known possessor was Roland de Mearns, who lived in the thirteenth century, and whose heiress, Mary, married Sir Aymer Maxwell of Caerlaverock. The ancient barony of Mearns and Pollok thus came into the hands of the Maxwells.
In the year 1270, Sir Aymer Maxwell granted the lower division of the Barony, or Nether Pollok, to his third son, Sir John Maxwell, Knight, and his lineal descendant is the present baronet of Pollok. (1)
This is one of the most distinguished families in the West of Scotland, and among its members it has in every period of its history embraced men foremost in the service of their country. As soldiers, we find Sir John, the fifth of Pollok, who won his spurs at the battle of Otterburn, and another Sir John, the eleventh, who, at the call of his Royal Mistress, fought at the fatal field of Langside, and only retired from the battle when her cause was hopelessly lost. We have the friend and adviser of his King in Sir James, the twelfth of Pollok. (2) Sir George, the fourteenth, and Sir John, the fifteenth, were famous for the part they took in the religious struggles of their day. (3) For many generations, a Maxwell of Pollok constantly filled the Lord Rector's chair in the University of Glasgow, and in later times the city has been indebted to this family for the formation of one of its earliest native banks, (4) and when we arrive at Sir John, the late excellent baronet, we find him, after spending his early years in the service of his country as Member of Parliament, devoting the latter part of his life to works of charity and public usefulness. (5)
The first castle of the Maxwells, and which probably was built by Sir John, first of Pollok, was placed upon a rock close to the Cart; but, although portions of it and of the castle which was afterwards built on the same site, were standing in the beginning of this century, the last traces have now disappeared. The second castle was built close to it, and continued to be inhabited till the middle of the sixteenth century; little of it but its foundations can now be traced. A third castle was built about 1367, on the site of the first, and this one, which was known as the "laighe place," was apparently at that time the residence of the dowagers and young lairds, whilst the knight or baronet in possession occupied the other or principal castle. Haggs Castle, which was built about 1585, afterwards became the dowager house, and the "Laighe Castle" was then the chief residence of the family. Crawford says of it, - "The castle of Nether Pollok . . . is adorned with curious orchard and gardens, with large parks and meadows excellently well planted with a great deal of regular and beautiful planting which adds much to the pleasure of this seat;" and Hamilton of Wishaw writes thus, - "It stands upon the river of Carth, in a fertile soyle, singularly planted both with barren timber and orchards, fyne inclosures upon both sides of the river, ane great old house, very much improved of late, and a pleasant estate."
The "great old house" of the seventeenth century was, however, too small for the growing requirements of the eighteenth, and in 1747 Sir John Maxwell, the third baronet, pulled it down, and began to build in the same year near the old site, the present mansion house. It was finished in 1752, and, with the exception of some small additions in 1845-6, there has been no change since.
In 1859 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales visited the late Sir John Maxwell of Pollok. (6)
(1) The late Sir William Stirling Maxwell succeeded to Pollok through his mother, Elizabeth Maxwell, sister of the last Sir John Maxwell and wife of the late Archibald Stirling of Keir.
(2) There are a number of letters from King James VI. to this Sir James, preserved at Pollok, and which exhibit the singular relations which existed in Scotland between the King and the subject. We annex some extracts, taken from a most interesting privately printed book, - "Memoirs of the Maxwells of Pollok." The King writes from Falkland, under date August 1590 explaining that he requires more horses, and requesting "that ye will present oure wyffe with ane guid and proper halknay." In another letter written in 1594, when his son was to be baptised, and he expected foreign ambassadors to be present, he requests his "richt traist friend" that "ye will nocht fail to be with ws vpone fyftene day of the said moneth at the fardest, and that ye will haist in sic quik stuff as ye haif in reddiness and may spair to the support of the charges at Hollyruid hous betuix and the twelf day of the said month, and venesone and wyld foull as it may be hall callour about the day of the solempnettie."
(3) Sir George and Sir James were great covenanters, and were alternately fined and imprisoned by the one party and rewarded and honoured by the other; they were frequently present at house and field conventicles, and Wodrow speaks of them most approvingly. Sir John, after the revolution of 1688, was Lord Justice Clerk under the title of Lord Pollok.
(4) Sir Walter Maxwell was one of the founders and partners of the Thistle Bank.
(5) The church of Pollok or Eastfield is a gift to the parish from the late Sir John Maxwell.
(6) There are many important families who are cadets of Pollok, among them the Maxwells of Springkell, of Calderwood and of Dargavel.
There is an old family of Maxwells long connected with Glasgow who are also descended from Pollok; their ancestor was Patrick Maxwell, who married Bessie Boyd, daughter of James Boyd, Archbishop of Glasgow. He built a house on the east side of the High Street in 1623, which belonged to his descendants for upward of 150 years. The representative of this family was Thomas Maxwell, corn merchant in Glasgow, who was the direct descendant of Patrick Maxwell. He died a few months ago.
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