High Parks

The former Grand Avenue from Hamilton High Parks
©2011 Gazetteer for Scotland

Part of the estates of the former Hamilton Palace, the High Parks lie above the town of Hamilton. The High Parks represent the end of the Grand Avenue, a tree-lined vista which led south from the Palace up to Chatelherault, once the hunting lodge of the Dukes of Hamilton. Today, the Grand Avenue is much denuded following a century of sand and gravel quarrying which continued until 1978. The steep slope in front of the Chatelherault Hunting Lodge graphically illustrates the amount of material removed, which is estimated at around 300,000 tonnes.

The High Parks include Cadzow Castle and the Cadzow Forest.

Part of the High Parks were given to the nation in lieu of death duties in the 1970s to create the Chatelherault Country Park.

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