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Shieldhill Castle History

Prior to becoming a hotel in 1959, Shieldhill Castle was the seat of the Chancellor family for over 750 years. The Chancellors are recorded as one of the oldest families in the area, having come from France at the time of the Norman Conquests, along with the Somervilles of Carnwath, with whom there are long standing connections.

The Chancellors left the castle and moved into a new mansion house in Quothquan. In 1568 however, following the Battle of Langside, in which William Chancellor fought in the cause of Queen Mary, Regent Moray sent out a party of 500 horsemen to destroy the mansions, castles and fortalices of her adherents. The Quothquan mansion was burned to the ground. No vestiges of this residence remain.

The Chancellor family then moved back to Shieldhill Castle, where they re-roofed and rendered habitable the old tower, originally built in 1199, and which now forms the core of the present building. The original form of the tower is said to have been square, with access by the round tower on the north side, most probably added by the Chancellors in the late sixteenth century. This remained as the entrance until the major alterations of 1820, when the tower was altered and extended to form the more classical styling that can be seen today.

During the nineteenth century Shieldhill was further added to and modernised. The original door has however been preserved - entire with its stone and lock, removed from its original position to one of the faces of the old tower, where it is set in a later simple rectangular moulding.

Above the door is an engraved stone with shields, letters and a pinnacle shaped carving, reputedly part of the carved work of an altar which had been found behind the panelling of the first floor Library, which had originally been the family chapel.

The letters I.H.S. and M.A. The shield on the left is fifteenth century and bears the crest of the Chancellor family. The shield on the right is unknown. The vane which surmounts the old engraving belongs to the late seventeenth century and the initials are of James Chancellor and Margaret Levingston.

Another remnant of the old tower that survives today is the original spiral staircase within the thickness of the west gable linking the new entrance hall and the Library (the former chapel). According to Irving and Murray (1864) this room was enclosed with panelling of deal around 1680, and it remains a particularly handsome room. Throughout the hotel today there are a number of particularly fine examples of chimney pieces and panelling.

The Grey Lady

Insomniacs visiting Shieldhill should listen for things going bump in the night, for behind the door of a certain room, someone is definitely not sleeping.

Shieldhill has parts dating back to the 12th Century, but 'the keep' is the part haunted by the Grey Lady, thought to be a daughter of the Chancellor Family, who owned the house until the 1950s.

The Lady herself comes from the 17th Century, a time of religious persecution in Scotland, and may have been driven to suicide after being molested by soldiers passing through the area.

The more accepted story, however, is that she fell in love with a 'commoner' and when her father forbade the marriage the broken-hearted lass committed suicide. The Lady, wrapped in a grey cloak, prefers to keep to her own room, which is one of the bedrooms available to guests. Sleep in it if you dare!