Mearns Castle

Mearns Castle is a fifteenth-century tower house in Newton Mearns, East Renfrewshire, to the south of Glasgow, Scotland. It is a Category A listed building. The castle has been restored and is now part of the Maxwell Mearns Castle Church. It also gives its name to nearby Mearns Castle High School.

History
The castle was built by Herbert, Lord Maxwell, under a royal warrant issued in 1449, and remained with the family until the fifth Lord was required by James VI to deliver it up to the crown. It was sold to Sir George Maxwell of Nether Mearns in the middle of the seventeenth century, and later passed to the Shaw-Stewart family. In 1971 the remaining stories of the tower were converted to a link between two Church of Scotland buildings.

Description
The castle was originally a four-storey rectangular tower, and parts of the original corbelling remain. There is a vaulted basement room, approached from the main entrance. The first-floor hall, which is also vaulted, is approached by a straight mural stair; it has stone window seats, and once had a minstrels’ gallery. The original arched entrance is now walled up.