Birkwood Castle
Birkwood Castle, also known as Birkwood House, is a castellated Gothic Revival country house situated in Lesmahagow, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. Built originally as a small Georgian manor in the 18th century, it was greatly expanded by the McKirdy family to create the better known 'Birkwood Castle'. In 1920 the building and its policy grounds were purchased by the local authority for use as a hospital. Following closure of the hospital, attempts have been made to redevelop the building. The house is the subject for numerous ghostlore stories.
History
Birkwood was built in the late 18th century, and the original Georgian villa now forms the northwest wing of the house. It was greatly expanded in the Gothic Revival style in 1857, and again in the 1890s when the architect James Thomson of Glasgow designed the large west wing. It covers an area of, and is a category B listed building. As newspaper coverage and visible datestones corroborate 1857 as the year of the original extension's completion, it implies more recent sources stating 1858 are quite mistaken. The foreman involved in the 1850s extension was Mr Alexander Hamilton.In 1920 the house was purchased by Lanarkshire County Council for £10,000, and opened in July 1923 as a "certified Institution for Mental Defectives" under the terms of the Mental Deficiency and Lunacy (Scotland) Act 1913.The hospital cared for boys and girls with learning disabilities and associated behavioural issues, and was "one of the few psychiatric hospitals which dealt exclusively with children." Following the reorganisation of mental health care in the 1990s, the hospital closed fully in 2005.
Following closure of the hospital plans were approved to convert the house to a hotel in 2009, but the developer went into liquidation before work started. In 2016, South Lanarkshire Council gave planning permission for a £15 million conversion of the house to a hotel. This hotel was part of a planned £80 million redevelopment of the castle and its grounds. In January 2018, the castle was put up for sale after its owners went into administration. Later in the year, it was recommended that Birkwood Castle was demolished, as it was a "major safety risk". The plan was to keep the bell tower and front entrance, as they were structurally secure.