Buildings and Places : Scotland

Kilkerran House, Ayrshire

Kilkerran estate is in Dailly parish, about 4 miles south of Maybole. Records show that the earliest family associated with the estate of Kilkerran were the Bairds of Kilhenzie and then passed to the Kennedy's, then finally the property was held by the Fergusson family. The building shown is plain and well-proportioned, and appears to date from the time of Lord Kilkerran (d. 1759), with later alterations.

Lennoxlove, Haddington

14th Century house was the home of William Maitland (1525-73), Mary Queen of Scots Secretary of State, and remained in the family until after the death of John Maitland, the 1st Duke of Lauderdale (1616-82). The Duchess of Lennox, bought the house, then passed to her nephew, Lord Blantyre, then to his daughter and her husband Sir David Baird of Newbyth, a descendent of the noted soldier of the same name. In 1912, their son Major William Baird undertook major restoration.

Posso Castle, Peebleshire

In the Valley of the Manor Water, about 2 miles south of Castlehill. These fragmentary remains were once the 16th century seat of the Baird family, who were succeeded by the Naesmyth's. It was, apparently, an L-shaped courtyard with a small keep at the northern end. It was ruinous by 1775. All that survives is a rubble filled cellar and the gable end of an outbuilding.

Saughton Hall Mansion, Newbyth

Saughton Hall Mansion was used as the Scottish National Exhibition administration centre. It was built by Robert Baird, an Edinburgh merchant, in 1660, and the first Baronet for Saughton Hall, Whose grandson William took over the Newbyth estate and was father of the famous General Sir David Baird. In the 19th century it was used as a mental hospital. In 1900 Edinburgh Corporation purchased the mansion and 98 acres of land for £52,000. It was demolished in 1952.

Shotts Iron Works, Lanarkshire

Shotts Iron Works, was founded in 1801 by Robert and Hugh Baird. Over the next century and a half the works expanded to include collieries, brick works, lime works, 5 blast furnaces, a foundry, an electricity power station, central workshops, by-products works and 290 houses. Following the Coal Nationalisation Act, 1947 the Shotts Iron Works Company (producing 743,000 tons of coal in 1946), went into voluntary liquidation and ceased trading on 31 March 1947.

Stichill house, Roxburghshire

David Baird of the Gartsherrie family purchased the estate of Stichill in Kelso, Roxburghshire in 1853 because of it being good hunting country, meanwhile his brother George Baird purchased the estate of Strichen, Aberdeenshire in 1855 from Lord Lovat. Then on his brother David's death George acquired the estate of Stichill. The house not being a good one, he pulled it down, and built a palatial residence in its place.