Craigends of the 20th Century a Renfrewshire estate remembered

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.