Heatherbank House
Heatherbank House is an early 19th century private house located in Milngavie, Scotland and is one of the oldest buildings in the town. It is the former site of the Heatherbank Museum of Social Work.
History
Early history
It is unclear when Heatherbank House was constructed. John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland clearly shows a building marked as a "Meeting House" in the location of the modern day house. Deeds show that the property/land was sold by James Burns (Scottish shipowner) to John Blackwood on 5 May 1838.Links to the Milngavie Waterworks
In 1852 the engineer John Frederick Bateman was consulted by Glasgow Council in regard to its water supply. In 1854, on Bateman's advice, a bill was obtained to supply water to Glasgow from Loch Katrine. Alfred Moore (engineer) was appointed as his resident engineer and he purchased Heatherbank on 18 November 1856. Work had commenced on Mugdock Reservoir in 1855 and the first section of the works were opened by Queen Victoria in October 1859, however Moore continued to reside at Heatherbank and continue his work until 1865.The McNaughtan's and Australia
On 15 December 1865 Moore sold the property to Janet McNaughtan, widow of the Reverend Alexander McNaughtan who was the local presbyterian minister. The Blackwood family had made some wealth owning the local bleachworks at Craigton. Janet resided in the house with 3 of her daughters; Jennie, Anne and Helen, until her death on 31 March 1875.Janet's son, Alexander McNaughtan (merchant), had left Scotland for Australia before the family moved to Heatherbank, however after the death of his wife he returned to the new family home. It is hypothesised by art researcher Stephen Scheding in his book "The National Picture" that Alexander McNaughtan may have been the last owner of Benjamin Duterrau's lost masterpiece, a large scale version of "The Conciliation". Scheding believed it was taken by Alexander McNaughtan to Heatherbank in 1869 however the picture has not been found. The painting depicts the conciliation of Tasmanian Aborigines by George Augustus Robinson. Scheding's visit to the house to search for the painting was well documented in local newspapers at the time.
After the death of the final McNaughtan daughter in 1904 the house passed into the ownership of their nieces Agnes and Margaret Taylor.