We have some more fascinating family history relating to the Priory! We were contacted through our website by a Mrs Angela Grace-Jones and her husband Michael from New Zealand. Angela is a grand-daughter of Sir Robert Sinclair Lockhart, who inherited Cambusnethan Castle, as it was known in the family, after the death of his uncle, the Major General Sir Graeme Sinclair-Lockhart (he who was buried alongside his wife Emily at Cambusnethan Mausoleum) in 1904. Living in New Zealand, Sir Robert visited Cambusnethan after his inheritance to see his estate but had to go back to New Zealand due to business interests and sadly was never able to finally return to his ancestral home.
Here you can see a photo of Sir Robert Sinclair Lockhart sent in by Michael, and a very interesting newspaper clipping detailing his visit to Scotland, from the archive of Simon Sinclair Lockhart. He had invited all his tenants to dinner at the Black Bull Hotel in Stonehouse. It's a real window on another era.
Thanks very much to Michael and Angela for sending in this information.
There are also some photos of the Black Bull Hotel in Stonehouse, which is mentioned in the article. One is from a Stonehouse history website and dates from 1903, two years before Sir Robert's visit, and the other is the current image from Google Street-View - looks like it has also seen better days but it's nice to see it is still in use!
First published 2nd June 2014 on the Friends of Cambusnethan Priory Facebook Group.