Stonebyres Falls

Stonebyres was an estate and country house in Lanarkshire, Scotland, belonging to the Weir, or de Vere, family from earliest recorded history. The Weir-de Veres were a cadet branch of the Weir family of Blackwood but were a powerful and sometimes rival branch of the laird of Blackwood, head of Clan Weir. The laird of Stonebyres was often styled Baron Stonebyres. Stonebyres Castle stood by the Linn Burn, a tributary of the River Clyde, around 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) west of Lanark. The keep, which was extant in the 15th century, measured 10 by 8.8 metres (33 by 29 ft). It was later extended to more than twice this size, and in 1850 it was remodelled as a Scots Baronial-style mansion. It was demolished in 1934, though some ruined walls survive. The coach house and a walled garden also remain nearby. Thomas de Vere is said to have been the laird of Stonebyres Castle in the 13th century. A second structure, Cairnie Castle, was near the cliffs above Stonebyres Falls on the Clyde. The remains of this structure were recorded in 1794, but nothing remains today. Stonebyres Falls is now the site of a hydroelectric power station. James Vere of Stonebyres (c.1715–1759) served as Member of Parliament for Lanarkshire from 1754 until his death. An extravagant spendthrift, he was obliged to sell part of the family estates, as was his successor who inherited his debts. Mrs. Vere of Stonebyres is a painting by Sir Henry Raeburn (1756–1823), circa 1805. The subject was the wife of Daniel Vere of Stonebyres, sheriff of Lanarkshire, and was the former Jacobina Leslie, daughter of James, Count Leslie. She was Raeburn's step-daughter, following his marriage to Leslie's widow Anne. Mrs. Vere died 13 December 1820. Stonebyres was purchased in 1842 by James Monteath for £25,600. He extended the house, spending additional £25,999 to do so. The purchase price had come from money inherited from Major Archibald James Douglas Monteath, who reputedly had made his fortune in India with treasure looted from a Maharaja's treasure elephant. James later succeed to the Douglas family's Douglas Support estate when he assumed the surname of Douglas. James Monteath Douglas died unmarried in 1850 and was succeeded by his cousin, General Sir Thomas Monteath Douglas, who died at Stonebyres in 1868. Stonebyres was then leased out for the remainder of the century as James's only surviving daughter Amelia, having married Sir William Monteath Scott of Ancrum made that her home. Dame Amelia's daughter, Constance acquired the estate from her mother and in turn sold it to James Noble Graham, of Carfin, in 1906. However, having spent £60,000 on Stonebyres, he became bankrupt and Constance regained ownership in 1924. Constance died in 1933, and the house passed to the Department of Agriculture which created small holdings for unemployed men from Auchenheath. The house was demolished in 1934, though elements of the estate remain.

Mouse Water is a river in South Lanarkshire which is a tributary of the River Clyde. It is popular with canoeists. In the past, the fast flowing river was used to power mills and factories along its route and is still used today to produce hydroelectricity.

Lee Castle, also known as The Lee, is a castellated mansion in Auchenglen, a branch of the Clyde Valley in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It is located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) south of Braidwood, and 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) north-west of Lanark. Lee was the seat of the Lockharts of Lee from its establishment in the 13th century until 1919, though the present house is the result of rebuilding in the 19th century. The house is protected as a category B listed building, and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.

Kirkfieldbank is a small village and parish in Scotland, on the banks of the River Clyde. It is close to the town of Lanark and is part of the current South Lanarkshire local authority. The village of New Lanark is also close by, some ten minutes drive upstream. The fertile Clyde Valley lands surrounding Kirkfieldbank are noted for their fruit farms, many with greenhouses specialising in tomatoes. One of these, Linmill Farm, which in former times specialised in soft fruit, was the birthplace of the dramatist and writer Robert McLellan (1907-1985). His Linmill Stories, a cycle of short stories written in homage to the summers he spent there as a child, strongly evokes the places and people in and around Kirkfieldbank in the period immediately before the First World War, as well as skilfully employing the rich, evocative Lanarkshire Scots spoken in the area at the time. Kirkfieldbank has a school, a kirk, and two bridge crossings; the old brig, built in 1699, designed by James Lockhart, and a newer one constructed to carry modern traffic. The views from the bridges are picturesque. A caravan park is situated nearby.

Clydesdale (pronounced ; Dail Chluaidh in Scottish Gaelic, pronounced [t̪ʰal̪ˠ ˈxl̪ˠuəj]) was a local government district in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996. The district was initially called Lanark when created in 1975, but changed its name to Clydesdale in 1980. Clydesdale was an old name for the county of Lanarkshire, one of the historic counties of Scotland. Both the names Clydesdale and Strathclyde reference the area's position in the valley (strath or dale) of the River Clyde.

Cartland Bridge is a road bridge on the A73 north-west of Lanark, South Lanarkshire which spans the Mouse Water, a tributary of the River Clyde. The three-span bridge was built in 1822, to designs by the engineer Thomas Telford. It is notable for being the highest bridge over inland water in Scotland. It is a category B listed building.

Mousemill Bridge is a crossing of the Mouse Water on Mousemill Road, just north of Kirkfieldbank. There are two bridges at the site, the present day road bridge and the old Mousemill Bridge which previously formed part of the road between Lanark and Hamilton through Kirkfieldbank but is today solely used by pedestrians.

Cartland Craigs (known locally as Cartland Crags) is a woodland on the outskirts of Lanark, South Lanarkshire, in Scotland. It is a national nature reserve and is one of six areas which together form the Clyde Valley Woodlands (the other five being Cleghorn Glen, Falls of Clyde, Chatelherault, Nethan Gorge and Mauldslie Woods). The reserve is maintained by Scottish Natural Heritage. Cartland Craigs is adjacent to Cleghorn Glen and is the smaller of the two. The footpaths merge to form a 4.5 km walk. The Cartland Bridge is at the main Lanark entrance to the reserve and the Moose Bridge is between Cartland Craigs and Cleghorn Glen. The remains of the Castle Qua fort lie on the reserve and can be seen from the footpath.

Castle Qua (also known as Castle Quaw or Castle-dykes) is the name given to an earthwork found in the Cartland Craigs National Nature Reserve near Lanark, South Lanarkshire. It is site number NS84SE 1 in the records of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. It's believed to be a medieval structure.

The Black Hill in South Lanarkshire is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It overlooks the Clyde Valley, and is the location of a burial cairn from the Bronze Age and an Iron Age fortress. The hill is 2 miles (3 km) east of Blackwood and looks down to the Clyde valley at Kirkfieldbank. It peaks at a height of 290m (or 951 feet) - and now has an ordnance survey triangulation point on top of the cairn. Views include Goat Fell on the island of Arran and the Cobbler, Ben Lomond and parts of the Southern Highlands.As a strategic viewpoint it has been valued for over 4,000 years. Today, the outline of the Iron Age fort and its settlement enclosure along with the Bronze Age burial cairn are clearly visible. The site may have had spiritual significance for these early peoples, indeed it has been suggested that the cairn was built in line with the larger summit cairn on Tinto, and may have been used as a means of deciding the date of the Winter solstice.It was designated a Scheduled Ancient Monument in 1969.

The Tower of Hallbar, also known as Hallbar Tower and Braidwood Castle, is a 16th-century tower house, located to the west of the River Clyde in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The tower is situated above the Braidwood Burn, 3.5 km (2.2 mi) south-west of Carluke, and 1.5 km (0.93 mi) east of Crossford. It has been restored and is let out as holiday accommodation.

Braidwood is a small village near Carluke, in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The medieval barony of Braidwood included the Tower of Hallbar.Braidwood House, former seat of Lord Clydesmuir, is one of the major local landmarks. Over the years it has been a home for sufferers of cerebral palsy run by Capability Scotland and is now home to the South of Scotland offices of the Forestry Commission. Braidwood House was also briefly home to the Airborne Initiative, formerly of Glengonnar outside Abington, who specialised in outward-bound style training for young offenders. However the programme's funding was subsequently withdrawn by the Scottish Executive in 2004, after the airing of a controversial BBC Scotland documentary Chancers. The building has now fallen into disrepair, but there is still a small animal cemetery in the overgrown house grounds. Many houses have been built in Braidwood in the past couple of years, primarily on the former sites of the vehicle dismantlers of Alan Gray at Nellfield. The "Nellfield Garage" petrol station is still functioning along with a shop.