Hillside House

 

Hillside House - Image CHG Website 

    Hillside House, 2 Barrhill Road, Cumnock, a large and impressive villa, stood in extensive and beautifully kept gardens and included a conservatory, vinery and greenhouse. It was built by the Crichton family in 1846. Adam Crichton was the factor to the Marquess of Bute and his son, Hew  Crichton, became head of the Edinburgh firm Tait & Crichton, Writers to the Signet. Hew's son Hew Hamilton Crichton, who died unmarried, built Hamilton Place in Cumnock. Hillside House was tenanted by Hew Hamilton Crichton  and his sister Margaret. After her brother's death Margaret went on to fund the building of the Crichton West Memorial Church in Ayr Road in memory of her father and brother.

    Hillside House was purchased by the School Board for £1,500 after Margaret died in 1908 and by 1927 it had been renamed Cumnock Academy. By this time the gardens had almost disappeared and, as another wing was added in 1939 to form a U-plan, Hillside House itself was demolished. The old Academy buildings, sadly, are now abandoned and scheduled for demolition.

Cumnock Academy (latterly Greenmill Primary)

Sources:

Cumnock History Group - Researched by Bobby Grierson

New History of Cumnock - John Strawhorn