Choral Union Excursion to Kilmardinny, New Kilpatrick, on Saturday the 4th of August, 1866

‘Kilmardinny’, photographed by Thomas Annan for The Old Country Houses of the Old Glasgow Gentry. The house and estate were located in the parish

of New Kilpatrick, now Bearsden.

 

In August 1866, the annual gathering of the members of the Glasgow Choral Union, which, this year, was in the form of a “pic-nic”, took place at Kilmardinny. Nearly 200 ladies and gentlemen were conveyed to the beautiful grounds, thanks to arrangements made by the directors with Mr Robert Dalglish, the owner.

 

An article on page four of The Glasgow Herald, on Monday the 6th of August, provides some charming details of the occasion:

 

“A wild morning of wind and rain augured little pleasure for out of door recreation, but the fickleness of our climate produced a change

as rapid and agreeable as a pantomime transformation scene from caves of gloom to realms of faery. The dancing and part singing, which

were largely indulged in, would have formed, with a slight change of costume, in such a sylvan spot, a fair realisation of a tableau of Watteau.”