Hensol Estate, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire
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Hensol Estate, Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire Hensol Estate Situation Hensol Estate is situated in the heart of Castle Douglas, Kirkcudbrightshire in the southwest of Scotland, situated beside the Black Water of Dee river and Kirkcudbrightshire Loch Ken. A secluded waterside estate with Dumfries & Galloway is a region of contrasting a magnificent country house, five landscapes ranging from the high tops of the cottages, a home farm, amenity woods Galloway hills to the sandy coastline of the and commercial forestry, and a variety Solway Firth. It is an area of Scotland which is of sporting opportunities including an renowned for its dairy and livestock farming, established driven pheasant shoot. due to the mild climate. The estate is located in relatively close proximity to a busy livestock market in Castle Douglas which hosts weekly sales. There are also markets at Carlisle Mossdale 1.5 miles, Castle Douglas 9 miles, and Longtown. Dumfries 26 miles, Glasgow 79 miles, Edinburgh 97 miles The nearby Mossdale village is serviced by a local shop. It is one of the gateways to The Hensol House - an A-listed House overlooking Galloway Kite Trail where Red Kites and other the River Dee with 4 reception rooms, wildlife can be observed from a network of cycle conservatory, 10 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms. paths and walks, which form part of Galloway Lovely gardens, grounds and wooded policies, Forest Park, the UK’s largest forest park. with private driveway. Useful outbuildings and The estate lies within the dark skies catchment a courtyard cottage. area from which viewing the night sky is particularly clear. Lodge Cottage, Riverside Cottage, Pine and Garden Cottages with Walled Garden. Castle Douglas is 9 miles distant. It is an 18th Home Farm with farmhouse and steading. century market town now known as Scotland’s ‘Food Town’, and provides a range of services 94 acres grass leys, 134 acres permanent including supermarkets, shops, banks, cafés, pasture, 460 acres rough grazings, 352 acres restaurants, a post office, secondary school, commercial and amenity woodland. hotels and leisure facilities. The town also hosts the Stewartry Agricultural Show annually Sportings in the form of an established driven in August. pheasant shoot, duck flighting, roe deer stalking, 2 miles of frontage to the River Dee. The Royal Burgh of Dumfries, 26 miles to the east, is historically famous as the town where The site of a radio mast yielding an income of Robert Burns lived out his final few years prior £4,500 per annum. to his death in 1796. It is now an important centre of commerce serving southwest Scotland Frontage on to Loch Ken with a boathouse. and has a good range of shops, leisure facilities Superb ornithological and bird watching on the and professional services plus a college of Ken-Dee Marshes. higher education. About 1,068 Acres (432 Ha) in total. Though nestled into a lovely private setting, the For sale as a Whole estate is easily accessible by transport networks. The M74 which connects Scotland to England is situated to the east and provides easy access to both the north and south. Prestwick Airport reside with one of his tenants. He had previously is 48 miles to the northwest and provides purchased Lainshaw Estate in Ayrshire where he international links to destinations outwith the lived for 20 years before his death in 1799. UK. Glasgow airport and Edinburgh airport have domestic and international flights. The nearest William Cunninghame married three times mainline train station is in Dumfries with regular and had 12 children. He was, over the years, services to Glasgow and Carlisle. Cairnryan ferry involved in his first wife’s brother’s business in port provides daily sailings to Northern Ireland. the West Indies which traded in sugar and wine. Following his brother-in-law’s death, he bore The region has plenty of sporting opportunities. the burden of large debts and was forced to For the golfer, there is a selection of courses sell some of his property. Fortunately, Lainshaw to choose from. The closest 18-hole course and Duchrae Estate were not included and after is located at Gatehouse of Fleet and there is his death, having disinherited his two eldest a nine-hole course nearby at New Galloway. sons who were spendthrifts, he left Lainshaw There are international championship courses at to William, a son from his second marriage, and Royal Troon, Prestwick, and Turnberrry. For the Duchrae was inherited by John, a son from his watersports enthusiast, Galloway Activity Centre third marriage who was a mere three years old. on Loch Ken offers sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and canoeing. At the age of 16, John employed a reputable English architect named Robert Lugar, who The southwest of Scotland has a mild, Gulf was renowned for designing country houses. Stream climate which promotes the growth of a Together they designed a house for the much wider range of plant species than in other estate which was completed 12 years later. parts of Scotland. Within the region there are It is constructed of grey granite sourced from some spectacular gardens which are open to nearby hills. The house was named after an the public including Threave Gardens at Castle English friend, Hensol. Later, in his book Villa Douglas, and both Logan Gardens and Castle Architecture, architect Robert Lugar wrote: Kennedy near Stranraer. “This newly erected mansion stands on a Historical Note bold rise of ground in the midst of romantic Hensol Estate was formerly known as Duchrae scenery. In full view and quite near the house Estate or Duchra, and is steeped in history. runs the River Dee, which at a short distance Three generations of the Charters family had a empties itself into Loch Ken; the banks of charter of the lands from King Charles I in the which, on either side, are clothed with wood mid-17th century. Over a period of 29 years, and interspersed with rocks, amongst which a Dumfries merchant, named William Craik (a the river passes, skirting a beautiful bank of forward-thinking farmer in terms of liming and hanging wood, beyond which the mountain in crop rotation), became principal sasine of the the distance, melting with soft air show a highly lands of Duchrae. finished picture of the greatest character… On the whole, the domain of Hensol may be The estate was purchased by William considered of the importance and rank in the Cunninghame in 1786, a Scottish tobacco highest class of noble domain.” merchant from Kilmarnock who became one of Glasgow’s largest importers. In 1824, John 2nd of Duchrae also became 3rd He made his fortune at Cochrane, Murdoch & of Lainshaw, when bequeathed the estate on the Company, which was later changed to William death of his stepbrother John. In 1864, on his Cunninghame & Company, overseeing business death, he left Lainshaw Estate to his eldest son in Virginia. On visits to the estate, as there was and Hensol to his son Richard Dunning Barré. no principal house at Duchrae, William would Having attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and served for nine years in the 4th Dragoon Henderson of Cumstoun in Kirkcudbrightshire. Guards and 2nd Life Guards, Richard retired as In 1971 her husband Sir Nigel Henderson, captain and lived alone at Hensol, unmarried once a chairman of NATO, Brussels, came for 52 years. On his death his nephew Richard to live at Hensol. They restored the house John Cunninghame of Lainshaw, son of John, to that designed by Lugar, and in doing so inherited Hensol. demolished an earlier addition to the house, the Victorian servants wing. Around the same Richard John Cunninghame, or Dick as he was time a conservatory was erected. The garden known, spent part of his life in eastern and established by ‘Wee’ was simplified and a central Africa and became one of the greatest water garden was included. The let farms which big game hunters. He led safaris, and in his became vacant initiated an in-hand farming journals the story recounting him saving the venture. The woodlands were replanted and an life of President Roosevelt from not only a area of wetland and woodland beside the River hippopotamus but also wild elephants is told. Dee was leased to the RSPB, of which Lady Following the war, Dick returned home to Henderson was a firm supporter. Hensol and married Helen Ethel McDougall, known as ‘Wee’, their initials can today be found Sir Nigel died in 1992 and, on Lady Catherine’s carved into the stone lintel of the fireplace in the death in 2010, the estate was sold and the drawing room of Hensol House. contents were put up for auction, which included Cunninghame’s private journals, ‘Wee’ came from a family of great gardeners books of big game hunting, safari knives and who designed the garden at their home, an elegant latrine tent. Logan near Stranraer, which now forms part of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. This historical note has been primarily sourced She established the gardens at Hensol and the from “R.J., Richard John Cunninghame 1871 – walled garden. 1925, Naturalist, Hunter, Gentleman by Monty Brown, 2004.” In 1922 the Cunninghame family sold Lainshaw Estate in order to focus their efforts on Hensol Description Estate, and a noteworthy sundial brought from Hensol is an all-round lowground estate with a Lainshaw Estate was installed into the garden useful combination of main house, farmhouse, developed by ‘Wee’. However, following illnesses five cottages, productive farmland, commercial including tropical diseases such as malaria, and amenity woodlands, various sportings, the Richard John Cunnighame died in 1925 aged 53. site of a telecommunications mast, and a very attractive wildlife reserve.