Qualla: Hamilton Low Parks Museum

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: Introduction

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit anonymous, Public domain. The Riding School was built in 1837 for a duke who already had Rubens on his walls and an Egyptian sarcophagus in his entrance hall. By the 1920s the palace those horses served had been sold off in pieces, the largest art auction in British history scattering its contents across the museums of the world. The Riding School survived. So did a townhouse from 1696, built for the Duchess of Hamilton's lawyer. Today those two buildings stand together as the Low Parks Museum, a small institution holding what remains of one of the largest private fortunes Scotland ever assembled.

Image: anonymous | Public domain

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: Two Buildings, One Story

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Supergolden, CC BY-SA 3.0. The older of the two is Portland, built in 1696 by the architect James Smith for David Crawford, secretary and lawyer to Anne Hamilton, 3rd Duchess of Hamilton. It sat at the foot of the Hietoun, close to the precincts of the palace it served. Hamilton has lost much of its old fa...

Image: Supergolden | CC BY-SA 3.0

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: The Lion of the Covenant

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Not identified, Public domain. The Cameronians collection is the heart of the museum. The regiment took its name from Richard Cameron, the field preacher killed at Airds Moss in 1680, and from its founding on 14 May 1689 it was the only regiment in the British military with a religious origin. Every original r...

Image: Not identified | Public domain

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: A Palace Remembered

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Edward Arthur Walton, Public domain. One gallery is given over to Hamilton Palace itself, demolished between 1921 and 1932 and considered one of the largest single losses to Scottish heritage. The display gathers what could be saved: a floor-to-ceiling mirror, photographs taken in the palace's final years, fragments...

Image: Edward Arthur Walton | Public domain

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: Looms and Clydesdales

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Emil Fuchs, Public domain. Before steel and coal, Lanarkshire ran on weaving and horses. The Textile gallery holds one of the original weavers' looms once found in every cottage in every town across the area, alongside the story of Hamilton's distinctive lacemaking industry, introduced by Duchess Elizabeth...

Image: Emil Fuchs | Public domain

Hamilton Low Parks Museum: Visiting Today

Fri, 29 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Peter Graham, Public domain. The museum sits inside Strathclyde Country Park, in the old Low Parks where the palace once stood. Admission is free. The Hamilton Mausoleum stands a few minutes away across the grass, and tours of that other surviving fragment can be booked at the museum desk. Together the three...

Image: Peter Graham | Public domain