Colzium
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Colzium House and Estate (historically pronounced "Colly-um" but more recently "Col-zeum") is about 500 metres to the north-east of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, Scotland. The present house dates from 1783 and was extended and modernised in 1861.
W Mackay Lennox bought the house in 1930 and in 1937, on his retiral as Town Clerk, he presented the House and its policies to Kilsyth Burgh, in memory of his mother. The House and estate are principally used for public recreation, as the venue for the spectacular annual Kilsyth International Carnival in mid August, an "Italian Picnic" - a get together of Italian/Scottish families, and functions such as weddings and parties. There is also a particularly fine walled garden and a small theatre, the "clock theatre" which is currently closed. A new children's adventure playground has recently been opened and is proving to be very popular with local children.
The estate still contains the ruins of Colzium Castle just 100 metres north of Colzium House at the point where the driveway turns sharp left to Tak-Ma-Doon Road. The first building here was a large "L" shaped tower house built by the Livingstons of Callendar in the mid C15th to replace the ancient motte. The Civil War Battle of Kilsyth was fought just a kilometre to the east.
A substantial hall house was added in 1575. The castle was demolished by the third Viscount of Kilsyth in 1703, just prior to his accession to the title. The family lost the estate due to their Jacobite sympathies, and it then became the property of the Edmonstone family.
There is an interesting ice house C. 1680 in the glen of the Colzium Burn which was excavated in 1977 and may still be viewed. The estate also contains the oldest curling ponds in the World. The world's first recorded curling club was founded in Kilsyth in 1716.
Around 1800, Colzium and the nearby Cairns estate were owned for some period by Michael Linning, Esq., Clerk to the Signet, who lived later in Edinburgh and Chryston, Lanarkshire. Linning was described in 1838 by John Sommers, D.D., minister of Mid-Calder Parish, as "formerly proprietor of the lands of Colzium and Cairns." Sommers continued in detail concerning Linning's work in the development and use of the Water of Leith, on which the Colzium estate sits, for the benefit of the region. Linning is recorded elsewhere as Writer to the Signit. As such, he was an attorney in service to the Crown and the government.
Source: "Account of the Parish of Mid-Calder with Miscellaneous Remarks," John Sommers, D.D., Minister of the Parish, Edinburgh (1838).
