Geilsland House and grounds
29 June
Geilsland was a 'half Merk' land, part of the 'four merk' land of Marshalland, in the old feudal Barony of Braidstone. The Merk was a silver Scottish coin and the value indicates the land valuation. Most of the old Marshallands are now the Spier's parklands; the house of that name having been sadly demolished in the 1960s.
In 1867 the Geilsland portion of the Marshallands was sold off in four separate lots; two of these lots were purchased by William Fulton Love, a legal 'writer' and bank agent in Beith. William Love built the surviving handsome Gothic style villa and gateshouse; he also enclosed and planted 5 acres around the house, including the surviving fine example of a redwood tree, the Wellingtonia.
In 1902 the Geilsland estate was purchased by Mr Warren, a wine and spirit merchant from Glasgow.
The name is pronounced 'Jillsland' and has sometimes been given the spelling 'Gillsland.' The origin of the name may derive from the Scots 'gil', referring to the distinctive cleft found at the 'Fairy Glen', where the Powgree Burn has 'cut' its way through the slope of the surrounding fields.
Geilsland House is now part of the Church of Scotland's Geilsland school. It has an architecturally interesting outbuilding, the Millport Chapel, furnished with fittings from an old church that once stood on the Isle of Cumbrae.
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