Scotland/Scots > Black's picturesque tourist of Scotland

HAMILTON PALACE.
are Hamilton Palace, parks and forests, Cadzow Castle and
Glen, Barncluth and Chatelherault, to all of which (except the
interior of the palace), admission can be easily got. The park
near the palace will shortly be enlarged by the removal of the
old town, already nearly all the property of the Duke of Hamil¬
ton. In the old town is a spot called Queenzie Neuk, where
Queen Mary rested on her journey to Langside. At the
“ King’s Head,” now removed, Cromwell lodged during his
raid on Scotland, and in “ Sarah Jean’s Close,” General Lam¬
bert was made prisoner by the Laird of Ralston’s Dragoons.
The old steeple and pillory were built in the reign of Charles I.
The Moat Hill, the old runic cross, and the carved gateway in
the palace parks, are relics of the Hamilton of old times, long
since removed. The town has been much improved by the
erection of a bridge over the Cadzow, and the opening of
Cadzow Street. Water is being introduced at a cost of ,£10,000.
The town is a military depot with large horse and foot barracks
in course of being much improved. At the annual review of
the yeomanry (Queen’s Own), there are races in the low parks.
Of late years, Hamilton has become to Glasgow what Rich¬
mond is to London—a favourite place of residence, with cheap
and easy access to the city all the year round — first class
tickets being given to certain new houses at £7 :10s. a year, or
less than 6d. a day. Hence the erection of a great number of
new villas, of boarding establishments and seminaries, for which
the place has a high character, and is well adapted. The feu-
ing schemes are numerous and well contrived, and Hamilton is
rapidly becoming a genteel suburb of Glasgow. *
Hamilton Palace, the seat of the Duke of Hamilton, stands
on a plain between the town and the river, to the left of the
railway station. The old Palace of Hamilton was a plain
edifice, walled off a brief distance from the main street of the
Netherton, and the most ancient part, erected in 1591, was
removed to make room for the new Palace. The front of the
new Palace is a specimen of the enriched Corinthian order,
with projecting pillared portico, after the style of the Temple
of Jupiter Stator at Rome. The length of this noble facade is
264, and its height 60 feet. The portico has two rows of six
* For further particulars regarding Hamilton and its environs, see Mr. Muir’s
excellent handbook.