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Milheugh House - River Calder

MILHEUGH, Lanarkshire, is a small property picturesquely situated on the banks of the Calder, sometimes distinguished from other rivers of the same name by the epithet "Rotten" or "Routing Calder." It lies partly in the parish of Blantyre, and partly in that of Cambuslang.

The old mansion-house, which has been partly rebuilt in recent times, has been (with the mill adjacent) in the family of Millar of Milheugh for upwards of three hundred years. John Millar of Milheugh, born 1735, was the distinguished Professor of Law in the University of Glasgow, and author of several philosophical works of repute; one on the English Government, and another on the Origin and Distinction of Ranks in Society.

His son was James Millar, Professor of Mathematics in the University of Glasgow, and it is the daughter of this gentleman who is the present proprietor, - Margaret Miller of Milheugh married, in 1828, to Andrew Bannatyne, LL.D., formerly Dean of the Faculty of Procurators in Glasgow. This universally respected gentleman died in 1871.

Besides the two professor lairds of Milheugh, there have been many learned and reverend connections of the Millar family. Among others the Rev. James Millar of Hamilton, and his son-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Hutchison of Hamilton, James Mylne, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Glasgow, and Dr. Thomson, Professor of Surgery in that of Edinburgh, and his son, Dr. Allen Thomson, F.R.S., lately Professor of Anatomy in the University of Glasgow, and in 1877 President of the British Association. The Bannatynes also have had both professors and clergymen in their family.

The eldest son of the late Andrew Bannatyne, LL.D., and his wife Mrs. Millar Bannatyne, is Colonel John Millar Bannatyne, an officer who, after seeing a great deal of active service in the field, has now retired, and occupies himself much in literary pursuits relating to his profession.

The old road along which Queen Mary passed on her way from Hamilton Palace to Cathcart Castle, on the day previous to the battle of Langside, intersects the property, and there is a beautiful spring of water in an adjoining glen still known by the name of Queen Mary's Well, at which that unfortunate lady is said to have rested. Near the same spot was found, some years ago, a clay cinerary urn, of the form commonly held to be Roman.

 

Milheugh House - River Calder

Milheugh House was in the posession of the Millar family from the fourteenth century onwards. There were originally mills on the land which were a profitable source of income for the family. One time resident Andrew Millar (1735 - 1801) was Professor of Law at Glasgow University for forty years and the first in Scotland to give lectures in English (previously Latin was used). The house itself lay empty from some time after the 1920's and was totally derelict by 1954, occupied only by squatters. Since then it has been demolished and the estate developed as a Community Forest Project.

See also Millheugh House 2

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