Craigends of the 20th Century

As a child, my mother would often take me through what remained of the grounds in my buggy, walking our lurcher and jack russel dogs. I remember the archway, and some steps and a wall. Being only a teenager now, I never did see the magnificent building, and looking at the photographs makes me sad to think that people of my age missed out on it. By the time I was able to walk, the housing estate was already being built.

I'm glad they salvaged the lion. I see it everyday outside the Carrick Centre, and also the large stone with engraving which is placed now at Houston and Killelan Kirk, on the left as you go through the entrace outside the church.

I think it is a disgrace that something so beautiful and magnificent could have been allowed to be destroyed in such a way. I remember the day my mother told me it was to be turned to housing. We were walking through the woods, and I think it was the first time I had ever felt loss, and real sadness. Though my memories of the area were not of the 'hidden tunnels' or magnificent gardens etc, I still felt like the area was part of me.

When playing in the ruins as a boy, a group were all over the house for approximately four hours. When it was time to go home, we were walking away, turning round to see two people at an upstairs window, a man and a woman. Just looking down at us.

There was only one way upstairs, one spiral staircase without handrails, as the other staircase was inaccessible, ruined. There was no way they could have got in the house after we left.

I remember this as if it was yesterday, although it was nearly 40 years ago.

I remember swimming in the pool just under the bridge with my westie 'Angus' who used to love being thrown off the bridge and swimming back for more. It was a favourite hide out for all us kid's who 'dogged off school' infact I was caught there once with the truant officer we called the Sandman,who took me back to St.Brendan's,soaking wet!

I live in Canada now, but tell my son often about the estate, and how much fun we all had.

Quite a bit of my childhood was spent exploring the woods. We would walk up to the site of the house, past a large holly tree. Sometimes we'd explore into the woods and find small outcrops of rock, or an overgrown but ornate gate. Other times we would wander up to the old stables, or to the walled garden, with Dorothy Gurney's "The Kiss of the Sun for Pardon" poem carved over the door.

Further towards Linwood, before one left the wooded section, was a beautiful hidden dell of snowdrops. According to my parents, who have revisited the site since, that is now a main road!

Of course, all was not natural beauty in those days - scattered among the plants and overgrown stonework were burnt out cars, and we regularly had to call the fire brigade to extinguish the pyromaniac desires of certain local youths. There may be little woodland left now, but there would be even less and probably no Craigend Yew if we hadn't rung the fire brigade on what was sometimes a daily basis at one time.

I used to play at Craigends House with my friends in the late 60's early 70's, the house was still pretty intact at the time we used to spend the whole of our school holidays playing there as did half the boys and girls from Linwood.

All the staircases were still there and we had access to the whole house, there was a wine cellar in the basement the wine racks were still there and everyone called it the dungeon. It used to take a whole day to finish a game of hide and seek!!!

It was a great place.

I always remember one particularly hot summer when it seemed like every child from Linwood was swimming in the Gryffe below the house. We used to sit under the Yew tree and tell scary stories about what would happen to Linwood if the Lion's head was ever knocked off.

I can't believe how quickly the house became a ruin and it's such a shame that it couldn't have been restored!

When my friends and I where young we were never aloud to go down to the manor but always did. It was an amazing place to go and being from North Clippens in Linwood 10 minites away it was great.

I still go down the rocks fishing even now but it is sad to see that not very much is left if only it could have been preserved. I'm 33 years old and have taken my own son down who's 3 he thinks its very exciting being in the forest if only he could have seen it in its full glory.

Like almost all the kids from Linwood in the 60's & 70's we spent most weekends & all our summer holidays either swimming in the Gryffe, playing in the old ruin of the house or the yew tree & grounds, camping out on summer nights in the grounds.

When only the front of the house was left, we used to scale the inside of the wall using the old nails which must have held the paneling and climb up onto the Lion, mad or what! If I saw my kids doing anything like that I would have a heart attack.

When we got a bit older, what better place to go for a stroll with a girlfriend.

What a great place to grow up.

My dad took my sisters and I for walks up the "manor" as we called it for many years with our dog Lucky.

I remember the big old grand entrance covered in brambles and weeds and walking up the long driveway. I remember the walled garden with walls intact but garden just a mass & tangle of weeds.

It was considered brave to jump down into the wine cellar under the ruin of the big house. There were still old bottles in the wine cellar at this time but alas the historian in most of us was probably satisfied with smashing at this time...

The tunnels? Yes there definitely were tunnels. I think I recall two.. One pretty long one took you from near the house entrance towards the river.I remember it had a big pipe of some sort running across about half way through.

My pal Drew and I used to cycle up from Linwood on "secret seven" or "Famous Five" type adventures at night. We would use the lights from our bikes as torches to explore the tunnels and the wine cellar.

Like a lot of people I enjoyed the grounds of the old manor for many years and when I went back as a "grown up" seeking historical enlightenment I was very disappointed to discover the manor had been demolished and plans were underway to build a housing estate.

I first went up on my own with my pal Paul from Cowal Drive, we were about 9 or 10, so it would be about 1970. I can't believe we wandered around the old manor house as most of the floorboards were rotten, with big drops below.

In the mid/early 70s a crowd of us would go through the tunnel with the pipe in the middle and dare one another to go through on our own without candles. We also used to shoot birds with air rifles, which I'm not proud of. Quite often we found old stone bottles in wee dumps near the manor.

Criminal that the site was destroyed.

I recently visited Craigends while on holiday in the UK. I was hoping to see some of the ruins of the house - I was not expecting to see much. "Are we in the right place?' I asked my son Steven as we drove into Cunningham Way. (they couldn't even get the spelling right) When we found the stone family crest we knew we had found it. I looked around in dismay - was this all what was left - a housing Estate?

We found the Yew tree after plodding through a veritable Jungle - some enterprising young fellow had even gratified the plaque.

To think that such a grand house and gardens had been reduced to this, upset me immensely. I had seen enough. I left - never to return.

I had wonderful times as a child playing hide and seek with friends at the house and swimming in the river at the bridge into the grounds from the oilfields estate. I used to ride my bike into Linwood to meet my friends through 'the manor' and be really scared coming home at night through it when I would pedal like mad so that I wouldn't come across the ghostly monk who was said to haunt the grounds.

I remember the walled garden and the arch with the poem carved over it. I was told the Cunninghams had kept a lion as a pet in this garden (probably a load of mince!). There were lots of stories about the history of the grounds, not sure which were true and which weren't but I did hear that the stone lion had a curse on it and no one would steal it in case it brought a curse to the houses round about.

Like everyone else I was really disappointed when the remains of the house were demolished and am really sad that it no longer stands.

I visited Craigends a few times by pushbike from Johnstone must be in the early to mid 60s

I remember the entrance was a big archway with large ornate gates that led you through a curving path or roadway through flat farmland which had cattle grazing in the fields at that time. The entrance path was bordered by an small iron fence which ran all the way to the big house. There were many wild roe deer in the estate at that time.

The big house was in ruins but still intact. I remember going up the big staircase and actually being able to stand on the roof of the square tower and look over the estate. I dont remember the stair reaching the tower there must have been aloft access hatch or plank lying about i was quite adventuress at that age as we all were i supose.

I also remember the glass house at the end of the house. It was open to the elements and had a strange tall plant growing in it which looked lie something from the day of the triffids film. I now realise it was a Austrailian tree fern from my limited garden knowledge.

I think at the time there might have been a game keeper still in residence in another small cottage on the estate. At the rear of the house were old tennis courts still visible but beginning to be overgrown. Further to the rear were stables and in one of the stables there was a very good small painting on the stable partition which i presume was a wooden partition on reflection it was actually **** excellent.

You were always taught to treat Madam Cuninghame with the greatest respect. If she was out walking and she happened to speak to you you were told to be very polite.

If you saw the Rolls Royce coming you dare not lift your hand to wave (Ed. the chauffeur was Joan's uncle, Robert Montgomery). And when you were walking even if it was snowing a blizzard, if the Rolls Royce drove past, he couldn't stop to give us a lift.