Castle Pollok, Pollok House, What's the difference?
Written and edited by Rhys A. Pollock, Clan Pollock President and founder of Clan Pollock
"POLLOCK CASTLE - the Seat of the - POLLOCKS OF THAT ILK."
There seems to be some confusion between POLLOCK HOUSE and POLLOCK CASTLE. The former was a Maxwell-Stirling residence and had nothing to do with our Clan.
The house is now owned by the city of Glasgow, but is looked after by the National Trust of Scotland and is open to the general public. The last of the main line of the Pollocks was Robina, who married Sir Hew Crawfold of Kilburnie. They had one son and when his mother died, he had to take the name Pollock in order to inherit the estate. Thus he became Sir Hew Crawford-Pollock and represented both lines, and when he died without an heir, the estate was inherited by his sister, Jane, a Mrs. Ferguson, who with her husband took the name Ferguson Pollock.
The estate was left to a nephew, living in Canada, who sold it to a developer in the spring of 1947. The property was sold by the acre and by the fall of 1953 the Castle and some thirty acres of land was all that was left.
It is heavily wooded and is under the Green Thumb Conservation law of Scotland. The Castle, which contained 88 Bedrooms, 365 windows was torn down and the present owner Dr. Greer had to agree to build his house on the Castle site.
Since dynamite was used in tearing down the Castle walls, stones were scattered among the trees, I had no difficulty in finding a stone to bring back for the Cairn at Grandfather Mountain.
The sale of such an historic site and the removal of a Castle, even a ruin, could not happen today, because of government regulations to preserve and protect these historic sites.
First published in the May 2008 Pollag.
I think I might be a decendant of the Pollocks. My maternal great-grandparents were James and Susan Pollock. James was born in Glasgow – Susan (I think – in Edinboro) and moved to Western Australia (Leonora) where James worked at the Sons of Gwalia mine until his death. They had two children – Leo (m) and Benedicta (f) (My grandmother.
I would love to know if the relationship is true.
Jeanette Mellor.-
There were a number of Pollocks who lived in Ohio
around Portsmith, and there is a road there called Pollock road, however, many members of the clan became Young’s moving further West into Colorado, Wyoming, and California.
I’m a granddaughter Robert Kyle Pollock he was born in Ashland Ohio and then moved to Mansfield Ohio where he was the 1st Oral Surgeon in area.
Thank you for your information. It has been forwarded to our genealogist. If you would like to become a member of the Clan Pollock International Society there is information on joining and the benefits at https://clanpollock.com/membership-page/.
Based on my records and fact, James and Susan were my great grandparents. They had 4 children. 2 girls and 2 boys. I should know. I am the last of the line.
Our Great Grandfather Gordon Forlong was born at Pollok Castle in February 1819. Is there any chance of visiting the site as we are in Glasgow this week, June 11th – June 13th 2023. We are from New Zealand so we’ve come a long way to look for family descendants & history.
Thanks
Gloria