Duke of Hamilton’s Estates: The Story of Carscallan Lodge
Before the power of the Hamilton family started to decline, the Duke of Hamilton owned all the Farms and steadings across Hamilton and surrounding areas, many being on the high grounds around Strathaven Road, Muttonhole Road and further afield.
As well as Tenant farmers, he had many Estate workers where some lived very remote. One of these families working on a remote site was Called the McMunn Family and they lived in a tiny little cottage deep within the fields at Quarter.
William McMunn was the head of the household on the 1901 census and he was living in this tiny cottage, which was called Carscallan Lodge, located at the edge of the Ramsey’s Plantation north of Carscallan Farm at Quarter Road
I wanted to know more about this family’s life and how they managed to have this very remote job on the outskirts of Hamilton, so decided to look into their family history to see what I could uncover.
I first find the McMunn family on the 1841 census and the first person I discovered was the grandfather of William McMunn, Forrester of Ramsay’s Plantation.
The grandfather of William McMunn, also called William, was living at Old Monkland with his wife Janet (Lammont) and he was working as a Handloom Weaver. Handloom Weaving was in this era a very popular job with men, and it was a saturated market where there were so many doing this profession, it would have driven down wages. Living with the family are their three children, Jane, William & Mary.
William, originally from Glasgow, may have left the busy town for a number of reasons, but likely to gain employment in Monklands. The family seem to live a quiet life, and I next find them in 1851 living at 23 Quarry Street in Hamilton where William continues to work as a Handloom Weaver.
There are three new additions to the family, who are James, Ann & John. The eldest son William Jr is aged 14 and like his father is working as a weaver. William is the first person who takes on the position of Forrester and he looked after Ramsay’s Plantation near Carscallan Lodge.
I next find William Jr on the 2nd of January 1860 living at Low Patrick Street, this is the Hamilton connection and Low Patrick Street is now the site of the carpark behind M&S and the Regent shopping centre and he marries a Hamilton girl called Ann Brownlie and this is the start of this family’s journey and what leads us on to the family moving to Carscallan Lodge.
William McMunn Sr dies on the 8th of September 1865 at his house at 20 Hope Street in Hamilton, the cause of death being a stomach complaint, his son James is the informant of his death.
William’s wife jane then dies at 4 Union Street on the 1st of May 1870, her daughter Mary is the informant of her death.
By 1871 William & Ann are now living at 37 Gateside Street in Hamilton and they have their own family, William, Thomas, James, Janet & Gavin. William is still working as a wool weaver.
It is in 1881 where we first see William living at Carscallan Lodge and he changes jobs from a weaver to a Forrester, a reason for the career change could have been anything, but he would be given the house that was tied with the job and paid for him, so this could have been the reason for his career change. There are also three new additions to the family, who were called Jane, Ann & John.
Before 1881, Carscallan Lodge was known as North Carscallan and the Carscallan Farm which still stands today as a working farm was known as South Carscallan. Between 1851 & 1861 John Cross was living at Carscallan Lodge (Then Known as North Carscallan) and John Cross was a tenanted farmer of 60 acres. John Cross had a minimum lease of 19 years here.
As the Duke’s estate required more timber, North Carscallan Farm needed to become a new operation and was changed from a farm steading to a working lodge.
As we move on through the journey in time, William McMunn is settled at Carscallan Lodge where In December 1881 another son, David was born into the family, however, the family were to be given a devastating blow, when little David contracted bronchitis and died at the age of 1 year.
Winters on the high grounds of Hamilton & Quarter could be very harsh. Baby David was buried at the family lair in the Bent Cemetery on the 16th of December, the very following day after his death.
The duke’s estate needed many ground workers to keep it operational and in the eighteen-hundreds a Forrester would work in the plantations to keep the supply of timber coming to the duke of Hamilton’s estate and to replace felled trees.
By the 1880’s, Scotland was in a big planting boom after decades of felling and estates added 95,000 acres of new plantation and in the 1880’s alone, this was an integral job for the Palace and the duke’s estates.
All of the McMunn family are now all helping out to run the day to day business at Carscallan Lodge and the wider Ramsey’s Plantation.
William’s wife Ann is the home maker, William Jr (19) is working as a Forrister alongside his dad and the second son Thomas (16) is a laborer on the Plantation. James, the third oldest son (14) has now left school and is also working as a plantation laborer.
On the 18th of July 1890, William’s 3rd oldest son James, leaves the Carscallan Cottage and his father loses a strong worker. James Marries a local girl from Laigh Quarter called Jeanie Meikle and they start their first home at a cottage in Laigh Quarter. James gains employment at the local coal mine and is working as a Pit Bottomer.
Thankfully for the McMunn family James did not move very far, as Leigh Quarter was just at the other side of Ramsey’s Plantation and was on the doorstep of Chatelherault Forrest, so they were a short walk away from one another.
By 1891 The rest of the McMunn family are getting on with life and William is now recorded on the census as a Woodcutter, his wife Ann is still the home maker. His oldest son William, still following in his father’s footsteps is also a Woodcutter.
Thomas McMunn, the third oldest son is recorded as an unemployed Pit Bottomer, so perhaps, he had some kind of injury on the night the census was taken. Gavin was also working as a Pithead Bottomer.
Jane is a Domestic Servant and Ann aged 13 is helping her dad on the Plantation and her title is assistant tree planter. John & Mary are still at School.
Sadly, after we see the family living at Carscallan Lodge on the 1891 census, things start to go wrong! After the back-breaking work on Ramsay’s Plantation for almost 20 years, William’s Wife Ann dies on the 4th of October 1891 where 11 day’s earlier she suffered a stroke at Carscallan Lodge. Anne is buried at the family lair in the Bent Cemetery three days later.
On the 27th of September 1903 the McMunn kids are lost when their father also dies. William McMunn, the man who took the family to Carscallan Lodge had to have been in such bad decline after the death of his wife, that he is taken to Hartwood Lunatic Asylum.
Nothing on his death certificate indicates senile decay (What we now know as dementia) but his cause of death is recorded as:
- Arterio Sclerosis – Hardening of the arteries.
- Cerebral Apoplexy – Stroke or brain hemorrhage – 3 days before his death.
William was buried at the family lair at the Bent Cemetery on the 30th September 1903.
William McMunn Jr took over the tenancy of Carscallan Lodge and he became the head Woodcutter on Ramsey’s Estate. In 1901 Thomas, Janet (Jessie) John & Mary continue to live and help on the Plantation.
Thomas has the occupation of Molecatcher (This was indeed a skilled trade as Moles were classed as pests and ruined new plantations. A good Molecatcher could get up to 30 -40 Moles a day)
William’s sister Janet became the home maker, looking after the men. John was the assistant Woodcutter and Mary was now the tree planter. Also living here was David McMunn and he was William’s Nephew.
Thomas McMunn contracts Pleurisy and he had fought this for a month, but it sadly takes his life on the 1st of March 1906.
Some happier times were on there way for the McMunn family as William like his brother James met another local girl from Laigh Quarter. William Married Lilly Davidson on the 30th of September 1906. It seems that the small hamlet of Leigh Quarter had a lot of families with daughters.
We next find William & Lilly on the 1911 census living in Quarter and they are living in the old police station. They also have started their own family and have 3 kids, Lillias, William & Ann. William & Ann are named after William’s parents.
By December 1911 Ann McMunn, who had married a Bridge Builder by the name of J.R. McFadyen daughter of the late William & Ann had also died. A newspaper report from the Hamilton Advertiser tells us that she dies in Calcutta in India. The family were indeed being lost to the mists of time very quickly.
By 1921 Gavin McMunn had married and was now living in Dumfries with his own family. John McMunn continued to work as a forrester and lived with his family in 95 Alness Street, he died on the 20th of April 1955, John had a son called William.
James died in 1928 at the Royal infirmary in Glasgow, he also had a son called William.
This was the end of an era for the McMunn family and their time at Carscallan Lodge. They put down roots on the Ramsey’s Plantation, quite literally and most families around Lanarkshire today will likely descend from the McMunn’s of Hamilton.
So, what happened to Carscallan Lodge?
By 1915, there was a new family living here and the head of the house was a Gamekeeper called David Cuthill. David’s time at Carscallan Lodge was a short one.
David Cuthill joined the Scottish Rifles during the outbreak of WW1 and was killed a short time later in France. He died of wounds on the 24th of May 1917 and left a widow and two children at Carscallan Lodge.
Unfortunately, for David’s wife and two kids, they would have lost their home as Carscallan Lodge was tied to the job.
By 1920, a man named Robert Thomson was now the tenant at Carscallan Lodge, however, his time was also short and between 1925 – 1940 it was occupied by David Bartleman who was a Gamekeeper & dog breeder.
Around the 1920’s, the duke of Hamilton was running out of money, the palace was due to get demolished, and he sold off most of his lands & farms. The long-tenant farmers were given first refusal and most farmers bought their farms and became owner farmers instead of tenanted ones.
However, as of today, I am unsure of the date when the last tenant of Carscallan Lodge left the building and I am also unsure when it was demolished, however, this year my sons and I walked down to Quarter, down the Carscallan farm track, and down to the Lodge’s location.
Nothing stands of the cottage apart from two stone gate posts and the old Silvertonhill stone boundary wall that ran from Chatelherault all the way into Silvertonhill.
It is a very peaceful place and the Ramsey’s Plantation thrives with wildlife, but who knows when someone will live here again on this land, or when the next house will be built.
The McMunn family, served the Duke’s Estate well and if any of their descendants are reading this today, please get in touch and tell me about your family history.
Researched & written by Garry L McCallum – Historic Hamilton. © 2026
