Provan Hall, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Provan Hall is a historic place composed of two buildings built about the 15th century and situated in Auchinlea Park, Glasgow. The name 'Hall of Provan' was used in early records. Today, the use of the name 'Provan Hall' or 'Provanhall' is used to refer to the buildings collectively.

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TROGLODYTE (4 months ago)
Stinker hopes it burns

Al Alexander (2 years ago)
Architect unknown Category A listed This was the country seat of the medieval prebend (a sort of large parish) of Barlanark. The priest who lived here would spend six months each year preaching at Glasgow Cathedral and the other six here. Two buildings sit across a courtyard with whinstone walls completing the defensive enclosure. The north block, with its stout stair tower, looks older. However the southern block may simply be much adapted to its current Georgian appearance. The ground-floor vaulted roofs in the north building run in different directions, creating a structure of great stability. A timber tower, like a traditional Scots keep, may once have adjoined its western gable.

mike kelly (2 years ago)
Love vising this place although the cuts are having a serious effect in all Glasgow s recreational areas

Stacey (2 years ago)
Lovely gardens and good place to walk and be in nature. There is a little area with a metal tree that has metal leaves that are inscribed for baby's that passed away before there time. Not a lot of parking within the site you may have to park outwith on a busy day. Rumoured to be the oldest building in Glasgow and the most haunted.

Helen Mcgarvie (2 years ago)
Can't wait to see again love it but its getting renovated so it will be great looking to the future xxxx

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Glimmingehus

Glimmingehus is the best preserved medieval stronghold in Scandinavia. It was built 1499-1506, during an era when Scania formed a vital part of Denmark, and contains many defensive arrangements of the era, such as parapets, false doors and dead-end corridors, 'murder-holes' for pouring boiling pitch over the attackers, moats, drawbridges and various other forms of death traps to surprise trespassers and protect the nobles against peasant uprisings. The lower part of the castle's stone walls are 2.4 meters (94 inches) thick and the upper part 1.8 meters (71 inches).

Construction was started in 1499 by the Danish knight Jens Holgersen Ulfstand and stone-cutter-mason and architect Adam van Düren, a North German master who also worked on Lund Cathedral. Construction was completed in 1506.

Ulfstand was a councillor, nobleman and admiral serving under John I of Denmark and many objects have been uncovered during archeological excavations that demonstrate the extravagant lifestyle of the knight's family at Glimmingehus up until Ulfstand's death in 1523. Some of the most expensive objects for sale in Europe during this period, such as Venetian glass, painted glass from the Rhine district and Spanish ceramics have been found here. Evidence of the family's wealth can also be seen inside the stone fortress, where everyday comforts for the knight's family included hot air channels in the walls and bench seats in the window recesses. Although considered comfortable for its period, it has also been argued that Glimmingehus was an expression of "Knighthood nostalgia" and not considered opulent or progressive enough even to the knight's contemporaries and especially not to later generations of the Scanian nobility. Glimmingehus is thought to have served as a residential castle for only a few generations before being transformed into a storage facility for grain.

An order from Charles XI to the administrators of the Swedish dominion of Scania in 1676 to demolish the castle, in order to ensure that it would not fall into the hands of the Danish king during the Scanian War, could not be executed. A first attempt, in which 20 Scanian farmers were ordered to assist, proved unsuccessful. An additional force of 130 men were sent to Glimmingehus to execute the order in a second attempt. However, before they could carry out the order, a Danish-Dutch naval division arrived in Ystad, and the Swedes had to abandon the demolition attempts. Throughout the 18th century the castle was used as deposit for agricultural produce and in 1924 it was donated to the Swedish state. Today it is administered by the Swedish National Heritage Board.

On site there is a museum, medieval kitchen, shop and restaurant and coffee house. During summer time there are several guided tours daily. In local folklore, the castle is described as haunted by multiple ghosts and the tradition of storytelling inspired by the castle is continued in the summer events at the castle called "Strange stories and terrifying tales".

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