Geilsland House
Geilsland House lies in between the village of Gateside and the town of Beith in North Ayrshire, Scotland. After serving as a private house it became a school and most recently (2015) has passed into the ownership of the Beith Development Community Trust.
Geilsland was a half merk land, part of the 4 merk land of Marshalland of old extent, in the Barony of Braidstone. An earlier name is said to have been 'Neilsland'. The name is pronounced 'Jillsland' locally. The origin of the name may refer to a gil or gyll, referring to a cleft or ravine as found at the 'Fairy Glen' where the Powgree Burn cuts through the fields.
The lands of Geilsland were bounded to the south and west by the lands held by James Kerr; by the Lands of Crummock held by Fanny Brown; by the lands of Little Hill of Beith once held by John Shedden and then by Alexander Aitkenhead and finally by the road from Beith to Broadstone.
In 1672 the lands were held by John Anderson of Cruckhills whose wife was Janet Barclay. Thomas had inherited by 1697 and then James Anderson. The lands of Cruckhills (near Balgray and Hessilhead) separately passed into the ownership of Hugh Wilson Robert Pollock purchased the lands of Geilsland in 1761 and by 1767 the Crawford family had obtained title with Thomas and John holding the lands prior to William Fulton Love's acquisition in 1867.
In on June 7, 1902 the local paper reported The purchaser of Geilsland is Mr Warren, wine and spirit merchant, Glasgow, who is a brother of Mr Warren, of the firm Warren and Stewart, engineers, who have had control of the various local schemes in connection with water and drainage for a number of years back. Thomas, John and Timothy Warren inherited in turn before an insurance manager, Robert James Cecil Govan and his wife Jean Kinniburgh Templeton purchased the property in around 1923.
In 1942 a builder, Charles Scott Gray purchased Geilsland for £1750, followed by Norman Dunlop McCombe family who were involved in the fruit trade. The Church of Scotland then obtained and used the house, chapel, gymnasium and dormitory blocks from 1963 as a special school until closure of the facility in 2015 and its sale to the Beith Development Community Trust Ltd. later that year.
Geilsland was sold in four lots and in 1867 two of these lots were purchased by Wiliam Fulton Love, writer and bank agent in Beith. He built a handsome villa and gatehouse, in the domestic Gothic style, and enclosed and planted 5 acres (20,000 m2) around the villa. The Millport Chapel, situated within the grounds, was fitted out with items from an old church that once stood on the Isle of Cumbrae.
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