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Historian Hugh Macintosh, in his 1902 publication, The Origin and History of Glasgow Streets, notes that it is
most likely that Scotstoun got its name from Alexander Scott, who in 1296 owned a considerable portion of Partick.
The earliest mention of the area I have found is in a deed dating back to 1413 held by the Maxwells of Pollok: "Willelme
Montgomerie, dominus of Scottistoune." Later, in a document dated 1521, this Montgomerie clan is again cited: the “land and
tennandrie of Scottistoune in the viscounty of Renfrew” is granted by King James V in favour of Henry Montgomerie of
Eglinton.
The medieval house of Montgomerie held the lands for well over 200 years, and the family name still survives
in Montgomerie Gardens, situated between Lennox Avenue and Vancouver Road.
An uprising against James V at Linlithgow in 1527 by the Earl of Lennox and others affords another mention of Scotstoun. As
the rebellion proved unsuccessful, the participants were brought to justice and severely punished: one of the Montgomeries,
William Crighton, was murdered in defence of the King by a Robert Galbraith. Galbraith was brought to trial and indicted with
"art and part of the cruel slaughter of William Crechtoune of Scottistoune." Art and part is a term used in Scots
law to denote the aiding or abetting in the perpetration of a crime, or being an accessory before or at the perpetration
of the crime. The concept remains in Scotland's modern legal system.
As the Montgomeries' tenure came to an end, the estate was sold in 1634 to John Hutchison, Notary and Town Clerk of Glasgow, and
it was during Hutchison’s ownership that Johan Blaeu drew up his Levinia Vice Comitatus – The Province of Lennox
called the Shire of Dun Britton, which remains the earliest known map to detail Scotstoun.
John Hutchison’s grandson, Archibald Stewart, conveyed the estate to William Walkinshaw, a prominent and controversial
Glasgow merchant, in 1691.
The Walkinshaw family were sympathetic to the plight of the Jacobites, the members of a militant political movement
dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England and Scotland. Given the tense political
climate at this time, John Walkinshaw, William’s son, was forced to flee in 1715 when the estate was claimed under
the newly passed Disarming and Clan Acts by Alexander, the 9th Earl of Eglinton. Alexander finally assumed ownership
of the estate on 13th August 1719, when the Court of Session in Edinburgh issued a Decree against the Commissioners
for the Sale of Forfeited Estates.
A decade later, Lord Eglinton conveyed Scotstoun to his grandson Alexander, the sixth Earl of Galloway under
reservation of a bond of security in the sum of £20,000 in favour of William Wood. At the time there was speculation
that this bond was less than bona fide.
It was around this time that John Walkinshaw reappeared from exile and attempted to reclaim his former estate. This
claim was strongly opposed by the father of a prospective purchaser of the Scotstoun estate, Matthew Crawfurd.
This extract from a Roy map is dated 1747 – at which time the Scotstoun estate was owned by the Eglintons.
Scotstoun is shown as a rambling expanse of arable fields abutting the River Clyde.
Ironically enough, Walkinshaw and Crawfurd had been partners together in a rope work business in the City Centre. Their
business had enjoyed great success and there are no recorded disputes between the two figures. However in the matter of the
Scotstoun estate, Walkinshaw and Crawfurd were at loggerheads. The matter was
eventually referred to judicial arbitration and in 1750 Lord Galloway (with consent of Captain John Wood,
the bond holder’s son) was permitted to convey the lands to William Crawfurd, the eldest son of Matthew Crawfurd of
Balshagray. The Crawfurd family thus owned both Scotstoun and Balshagray estates. The Walkinshaws were, on the
other hand, utterly ruined.
Despite the protracted legal wrangling over the purchase of the Scotstoun estate, the Crawfurds sold the lands of
Scotstoun the very next year to Richard and Alexander Oswald, merchants originating from Caithness, before
conceding the Balshagray estate in 1759 to the same Oswald brothers for £4,540. The unfortunate John Walkinshaw
finally relinquished any hold he may have had on the Scotstoun estate in 1764 when he granted the Oswalds a
ratification of their title “for any right he had in the lands”.
 
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