South Lanarkshire Leisure and Culture

Dungavel House near Strathaven in Lanarkshire was the main family home from 1919 for Alfred, 13th Duke and Duchess Nina. They spent very little time in Hamilton Palace itself. Alfred was formerly an officer in the Royal Navy, having served as a midshipman on HMS Renown. He allowed the Admiralty to use the Palace as a Naval Hospital during the Great War. It was Alfred who oversaw the final sale and surrounding holdings via the Hamilton Estate Trustees. The Chairman was his old friend and former captain on HMS Renown, now Admiral of the Fleet, John ‘Jackie’ Fisher.

The Palace was in poor condition and Alfred inherited huge debts, estimated at some £1,000,000. Alfred’s father William, the 12th Duke, appointed Admiral Fisher to carry out the disposal task. The Hamilton Estates Act, a private members bill, was passed in 1918 and received Royal Assent in Parliament that May. This allowed for the eventual purchase and demolition of the Palace by Hamilton Town Council in the 1920s to 30s. The Palace grounds were gifted to the town of Hamilton in 1924 for recreational use.

After the Second World War ended Alfred’s son Douglas, 14th Duke moved the family from Dungavel to Lennoxlove House in Haddington, East Lothian. Dungavel became a Mining School and was later converted into HM Prison. It now functions as a somewhat controversial UK Government Immigration Removal Centre.

In the mid-1960s Douglas’s eldest son Angus, later 15th Duke, wanted to build a multi-sports facility in the Low Parks Palace grounds. This was to include a water sports centre and an athletics stadium. Most of all, for Angus, there was to be a Grand Prix standard motor racing circuit. A full survey and design were completed with an estimated cost of £600,000. It was deemed too expensive by Hamilton Town Council and remained on the drawing board.