THIS antique edifice was the mansion-house of the ancient owners of the estate of Stobcross. The centre is the original portion, and additions have been made to it from time to time, according to the taste and requirements of successive proprietors. The house faces south. Its precise position is about three hundred yards west from what is now Finnieston Street, and in line with Stobcross Street. Indeed, this last is only an amplification of the original avenue to the house. This old avenue struck off from what is now the western extremity of Argyle Street, at the point known in modern times as "The Gushet House of Anderston." In other words, the present Stobcross Street, which stretches from the Gushet House westwards all the way to the old house of Stobcross, is merely the ancient avenue to the latter, straightened and widened.
The lands of Stobcross originally extended to one hundred Scots acres. They were bounded on the south by the Clyde, on the west by the lands of Over Newton, on the north partly by those of Sandyford and Blackfaulds, and on the east by what is now the suburb of Anderston.
As far back as the reign of James VI., Stobcross belonged to William Anderson. (1) This is ascertained from an old contract preserved in the charter-chest of Hutchesons' Hospital, dated in January 1611, between George Hutchison of Lambhill, one of the benevolent founders, and William Miller, mason in Kilwinning, whereby the latter undertook to build for the former a country-house on the right bank of the Kelvin, near its embouchure; (2) and in this curious old document the arbiter named, in case of disputes, is "William Anderson of Stobcross."
The lands of Stobcross continued with this Anderson family about 145 years afterwards. But they had acquired, besides, the adjacent minor properties, to the east, of Cranstonhill Rankinshaugh and Gushet. One of the Andersons, named James, endeavoured to feu out part of these farms for a village. This was between 1721 and 1740. But he was not successful. Only a few houses were erected during that time, and these of a mean order and chiefly thatched. He named this small cluster after himself, and this was the origin of the now large suburb of Anderston. From old papers it appears that the principal portion of this early village stood on the lands of Cranstonhill and Gushet. The "Gushet House" of Anderston already alluded to, and so well known, keeps hold of the ancient name of part of the possessions of these distant owners.
In 1745, Stobcross and the other lands referred to, so far as unfeued, were conveyed by James Anderson to John Orr, merchant in Glasgow. He was the second son of the first John Orr of Barrowfield. It was this wealthy purchaser who erected a large portion of Stobcross House. But there had been a part of the house in existence in the days of the Andersons, and Mr. Orr made additions. It has, indeed, had a number of "eiks," as the photograph testifies.
John Orr followed up with more energy than Anderson the feuing principle, and was more successful. Among his early feus was one in 1751, of nine acres and one rood, to Hugh Niven. This person was the real prototype of Hugh Strap in "Roderick Random." Niven had his shaving-temple in Bell's Wynd, and no doubt caught Smollett's attention, when the latter was an apprentice to Dr. Gordon, in his High Street Laboratory, which was near the spot where the brazen symbol of the barber craft often flapped distractedly in the odoriferous breeze. Nay, the witty novelist himself may have been operated upon by that shaver whom he has rendered immortal. (3)
During John Orr's ownership, he feued the greater part of Cranstonhill to William Baird, maltman, and thus this minor property, which in our day has been one more mine of wealth to the Houldsworths, passed out of the Orr family.
After possessing Stobcross and the other unfeued lands about six years, John Orr conveyed them to his nephew, Matthew Orr, second son of John's elder brother William, the latter of whom had succeeded to Barrowfield estate. The conveyance is dated 11th May 1751, and specially mentions "the manor place of Stobcross" as then existing, with dovecote, (4) gardens, and orchards. Thus there is direct evidence that this interesting old mansion, now little heeded, was a place of note at least 119 years ago, and probably a good deal longer.
Matthew Orr also followed up the feuing, and, besides pushing it in the Anderston district, he resolved to form another village. With this view, in 1768 he selected twenty acres of the eastmost part of Stobcross lands west from Anderston, and laid these off in small lots of about half an acre each, "for house-steads and gardens." In the feu contracts he introduced a number of stringent conditions, one of which was "that no idle or disorderly person or persons of bad fame shall be allowed to possess any of the houses so to be built." Each feuar was to pay of entry money at the rate of £5, and £2 10s. sterling of yearly feu-duty. This new village was bounded on the west by a small burn, and received from Mr. Orr the name "Finniestown," in compliment to the Rev. John Finnie, who had been tutor to Mr. Orr and his brothers at Barrowfield, and was then factor on the latter estate. Among the first feuars on Finnieston (5) was Mr. John Smith, bookseller, who first introduced a circulating library in Glasgow, and whose son was the late John Smith, LL.D., of Crutherland.
In these old days there was about a mile between the then westmost part of Glasgow (now Jamaica Street) and Anderston, and this great gap, bounded by straggling hedges, ill paved and worse lighted, with here and there a house or a thatched cottage, was long popularly known as "Anderston Walk;" in fact, just a country road. What a contrast now!
In 1776 Matthew Orr sold the whole of Stobcross lands, west from Finnieston, extending to sixty Scots acres, to David Watson, merchant in Glasgow. (6) The price for this now most valuable property was only £3,000, with one pound of yearly feu duty for the whole.
David Watson, besides being a merchant, was a money-broker and private banker. Here is one of his advertisements in the Glasgow Journal of May 1767, about nine years before he purchased Stobcross:- "David Watson, merchant in Glasgow, takes in Ayr, Dumfries, Perth, and British Linen Bank notes at a discount of one penny a pound; or if there is a hundred pounds of one kind, at a discount of a quarter per cent., and pays the value in Edinburgh or Glasgow Notes."
In 1783, Mr. David Watson died. He left four sons and two daughters, all in minority. (7) Their curators most injudiciously sold the Stobcross property, then commencing to rise in value, and consisting of sixty acres, at the low price of £3,750, or at the rate of only about £61 per acre, including the mansion house.
The purchaser was Mr. John Phillips, merchant in Glasgow. Mr. Phillips, who was a native of Kent, resided chiefly in the mansion of Stobcross till his death, about 1829. By his wife, Mary Martin, he left a numerous family. One daughter, Frances, married William Rae Wilson (see Kelvinside.) Margaret married Alexander Smith, merchant, and was the mother of Councillor William Rae Wilson Smith, whom she named after her brother-in-law. A third daughter, Elizabeth, was the mother of the well known Dr. Coldstream, founder of the admirable Larbert Institution. A fourth daughter, Mrs. Rowan, was the last who occupied Stobcross as a mansion.
In 1844 Mr. Phillip's testamentary trustees sold the whole lands and mansion to a "Syndicate," consisting of James Scott, John Ross, jun., the late Hugh Moncrieff, and other well known citizens. As a proof of the enormous increase in the value of this property since it was purchased from the guardians of Mr. Watson's minor children at £3,750, the price paid to Mr. Phillip's trustees was no less than £58,246. Yet this was cheap. The syndicate almost immediately sold twenty acres to the Clyde Trust for not very much less than they had just paid for the whole.
These prices have now (1878) been left far behind. Portions of Stobcross have been fetching from £3 to £5 per square yard. At £5 the whole sixty acres (Scots) that Matthew Orr sold to David Watson for £3,000 would fetch about three and a half millions.
The house of Stobcross has now disappeared, and a good deal of the lands as well. Sixty-one acres (imperial) of them have been taken up for the Queen's Dock, and thirty-three of these are deep under water. This dock is much the biggest job the Clyde Trust have ever taken in hands. We trust it may be a success.
(1) Hamilton of Wishaw writing at this time (Description of the Sheriffdom of Lanark, p. 30) of the Baronie Parish of Glasgow says:- "James Anderson of Stobcorse heth there a convenient house, sited upon ane eminence above the rivir, with suitable gardens, and avenue to the water." These Andersons were of old Rentallers in the lands of "Stobcorse," but are better known by their other property of Dowhill. They are now extinct. Provost John Anderson of Dowhill's daughter and co-heiress, Mrs. Moore, was grandmother to Sir John Moore, and great-grandmother of John Carrick Moore, now of Corsewall.
(2) This antique country residence of George Hutcheson was, till very recently, a prominent and interesting object in the landscape. It was popularly, but erroneously, called "The Bishop's Castle," and was demolished about twenty years ago to make room for a public work, a piece of pure Vandalism. Fortunately a good view of it exists from a sketch taken in 1828 by one who is equally master of pen and pencil, Mr. Andrew MacGeorge. It will be found in "Glasghu Facies."
(3) Niven was a respectable, plump mortal, and wore powder and a pig-tail. He took Smollett's soubriquet with much good humour, and became almost as well known, jocularly, by the name of Strap, as by his own. In the charming volume by the late Mrs. Agnes Baird of the Bridgegate, titled "A Kick for a Bite," a copy of which is preserved in the Andersonian Library, the critical authoress speaks of Niven as the identical Strap, that he was a visitor in her father's house in Bell's Wynd, and that he answered to "Strap" quite freely. He rose to the dignity of Deacon of the Barbers.
(4) This dovecote stood near the east end of the mansion, and was a conspicuous object. It was a lofty square building with a conical slated roof, and always whitened; precisely similar to those still existing on old estates. Flocks of pigeons were always wheeling around this Stobcross "doocote." It was demolished a few years ago.
(5) Finnieston house is a good specimen of the better class of country houses 100 years ago. Though the poplars and beech trees, which gave a dignified seclusion to it, have been cut down within the memory of the present generation, the house with its wings is still in existence, though sadly out of repair. The ground on which it stands extended to four acres and ten falls, or thereby, situated on the west side of the main street of Finnieston, and also included three roods and eighteen falls, or thereby, lying at the foot of Playhill Park, part of Finnieston; and formed part of the lands of Stobcross, which belonged to Matthew Orr of Stobcross. In the year 1770 Mr. Orr exposed for sale about twenty acres of his lands of Stobcross, in lots or portions of half an acre each, "for house-steads and gardens," and this property formed part of these twenty acres. The larger portion was acquired by Mr. John Semple, portioner of Finnieston, and bleacher there, direct from Mr. Orr in 1770. The smaller portion formed part of a lot acquired by William Baird, maltman in Glasgow, from Mr. Orr in 1770, and purchased subsequently from Mr. Baird's trustees by Mr. Semple. Mr. Semple, in 1776, obtained a title to the whole subjects direct from the superior by charter of Novodamus.
Mr. John Semple died on 4th August 1810, survived by a son and a daughter, William and Janet, to whom he conveyed his heritage. William died on 3rd November 1811, and Janet on 23rd January 1820, both unmarried.
Mr. John Semple had another daughter, who predeceased him, named Ann. She was married to John Glas, son of John Glas, Provost of Stirling, sometime merchant in Stirling, and subsequently after the death of his wife, and through the interest of his maternal uncle, General Sir Alexander Bryce of the Engineers, Captain and Paymaster of a West India regiment in Jamaica. Mrs. John Glas left one daughter, Mrs. Jean Glas or Kirkpatrick, wife of John Kirkpatrick, advocate, formerly Chief Justice of the Ionian Islands, and latterly of No. 39 Moray Place, Edinburgh, both now deceased. In 1821 Mrs. Kirkpatrick completed a title to the property as heiress of her uncle and aunt, William and Janet Semple, by charter of confirmation and precept of Clare Constat, from the Principal and Professors of Glasgow College, who had acquired the superiority of the subjects.
The whole of the property has now passed out of the hands of the family of the Kirkpatricks - the last lot having been sold at the rate of 35s. per square yard.
(6) Matthew Orr afterwards became a partner with his elder brother, the second John Orr of Barrowfield, advocate, in "The Camlachie Coal Company," under the social firm of John & Matthew Orr & Company. This unfortunate concern ruined its partners. John Orr lost Barrowfield. But he lost neither respect nor heart. He had been chosen Town Clerk in 1781, and he discharged his important duties with great faithfulness till his death in 1803, when he was succeeded by the late James Reddie. A public monument in the nave of the High Church records his services. Matthew Orr died in Tobago in 1790. Neither brother left issue. And only one of their sisters was married, Janet, the wife of the last Kennedy of Auchtifardle. Their son was the late well known Gilbert Kennedy. He also died childless. And his nephew, Gilbert Kennedy Bogle, son of Archibald Bogle of the Shettleston family, and of Margaret Kennedy, represented both the Orrs of Barrowfield and Stobcross, and the Kennedies of Auchtifardle. Katherine Bogle, his sister, married Allan Burns, second son of the late respected Dr. John Bums, first professor of Surgery in our University.
(7) Three of Mr. David Watson's sons became bankers in Glasgow, under the once well known firm of J. & R. Watson. One of his daughters was married to Mr. Alexander Smith, banker in Edinburgh, parents of the late Mr. Donald Smith, manager of the Western Bank.
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