Cessnock House, photographed in 1870 by Thomas Annan.
The Heathriehall estate belonged to the Rowans, an old Govan family, during the mid-18th century. In 1800, Andrew Hunter of A & W Hunter bought some land from Dorothea Rowan. He called this part of the old Heatheriehall lands Cessnock, and built the mansion shown in the photograph. A subsequent owner, the lawyer Andrew Mitchell of Grahame & Mitchell, added two wings to the building.
The house was sold in 1870 to a representative of the Clyde Navigation Trust, which sought to acquire land in the area on which to build Cessnock (later renamed Prince's) Dock. However, work did not begin on the vast new dock until late 1889 and so the mansion was let to the shoe retailer William Quarrier (1829-1903) who used it as a House of Refuge for orphaned and destitute boys.
Reference: Sp Coll Dougan Add. 73
Glasgow University Library, Special Collections
Keywords:
A & W Hunter, Cessnock Dock, Cessnock House, children's homes, country houses, Grahame & Mitchell, Heathriehall estate, houses of refuge, lawyers, mansions, orphanges, Prince's Dock, Quarrier's Homes