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Colzium Castle

Castle (Medieval)

Site Name Colzium Castle

Classification Castle (Medieval)

Alternative Name(s) Kilsyth

Canmore ID 45908

Site Number NS77NW 4

NGR NS 72879 78775

Datum OSGB36 - NGR

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/site/45908

Ordnance Survey licence number AC0000807262. All rights reserved.
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Administrative Areas

  • Council North Lanarkshire
  • Parish Kilsyth (North Lanarkshire)
  • Former Region Strathclyde
  • Former District Cumbernauld And Kilsyth
  • Former County Stirlingshire

Archaeology Notes

NS77NW 4 7288 7877.

(NS 7288 7877) Colzium Castle (NR) (remains of)

OS 6" map (1968)

Only a small fragment of Colzium Castle now survives, forming the NE part of the garden wall to the N of Colzium House. What has been the W side-wall of the building still exists for a length of 47 1/2ft and stands 16ft high. Springing courses in situ indicate that the basement was originally vaulted.

The tower of Colzium was a residence of the Livingstones of Kilsyth, who owned the property in the 17th century. A stone dated 1575 is said to have been taken from the ruins, and the existing fragment could well be the remains of a building of this period. It appears to have been demolished in 1703.

RCAHMS 1963, visited 1953

All that remains is a fragment of the W wall of the Castle, of rough-dressed stone, 14.5m in length, 1.0m thick, and standing to a height of some 3.0m. It now forms the E gable-end of modern outbuildings. In it can be seen the remains of a walled-up entrance, an arched cavity or recess, and the springing of a vaulted roof.

Visited by OS (JP) 17 January 1974

Activities

Field Visit (2 October 1953)

NS77NW 727788

Colzium Castle.

Only a small fragment of this castle now survives, constituting the NE. part of the garden wall to the N. of Colzium House. What has been the W. side-wall of the building still exists for a length of 47 ft. 6 in. and stands to a height of about 16 ft., the masonry of the outer face being squared rubble and that of the inner face random rubble. Springing courses in situ indicate that the basement was originally vaulted, and the portion corresponding with the surviving length of wall seems to have been divided into two compartments. In the northern one there is a suggestion of a fireplace and chimney-vent; in the southern one there is a recess with an oblique shot-hole which finishes on the outer face of the wall in an opening about 5 in. square, set diamond-wise in the masonry.

The tower of Colzium was a residence of the Livingstones of Kilsyth (RCAHMS 1963, pp. 12 f.) who possessed the property in the 17th century. A stone bearing the date 1575 (Edmonstone 1875, 11) is said to have been taken from the ruins, and the existing fragment could well be the remains of a building of this period. At the end of the 18th century the estate passed into the hands of the Edmonstones of Duntreath (cf. RCAHMS 1963 pp. 11 f.) who built Colzium House close to the site of the old castle (Livingstone 1920, 186), which appears to have been demolished in 1703 (Ibid, 200).

RCAHMS 1963, visited 2 October 1953

Field Visit (January 1982)

Colzium Castle NS 728 787 NS77NW 4

Little now remains of this building, but excavation has revealed the plan of a late-medieval L-plan tower-house to which a hall block was subsequently added.

RCAHMS 1982, visited January 1982

(RCAHMS 1963, p. 246, No. 204; Millar 1978; Millar 1980, 64-5)

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