to 14 November 1919, raising £29,000. In May 1920 Hamilton Town Council considered purchasing the building from the trustees, with a view to restoring it and converting it into flats for public housing, while in December of that year the Duke and Duchess of Hamilton gifted of ground at the south front of Hamilton Palace to the town council for recreational purposes The building was sold for demolition to an Edinburgh building contractor in October 1921, with demolition work commencing in November 1921 and continuing until 1926, with the last sections being demolished in 1932. In July 1922 Hamilton Town Council purchased of the Hamilton Estate, including Hamilton Mausoleum, the stables and the riding school, from the trustees for £20,250. Parks and landscape Hamilton Palace was built in the flood plain of the River Clyde and in close proximity to the town of Hamilton, which grew up around its western boundaries. Situated in the Low Parks, the palace stood at the centre of an extensive garden which, as its main axis, had a great north–south tree-lined avenue over in length. This designed landscape may have originated in the late 17th century but was first drawn up in 1708 by Alexander Edward. The layout was later developed, most notably by William Adam, who introduced Châtelherault hunting lodge into the south avenue in the High Parks where it commanded a broad vista northwards across the Low Parks. The Low Parks contained a number of buildings. Netherton Cross The Netherton Cross is the oldest symbol of Christianity in Hamilton. The location where the cross originally stood lay to the north of the medieval motte hill in the Low Parks, and is now part of Strathclyde Country Park. The Netherton Cross dates back to the 10th or 11th century and is a rare example of ecclesiastical sculpture from the Kingdom of Strathclyde. It is a free-standing carved cross of red sandstone standing to a height of 2.1 metres and is decorated on all four sides with figurative scenes of humans, animals and patterns. In 1857 Hamilton Town Council and the Duke of Hamilton appointed a committee to conserve the cross and a railing was erected around it to protect it. The Duke and Duchess of Hamilton gifted the cross to Hamilton Town Council in January 1920. In 1926 the Netherton Cross was moved from its site in the Low Parks and erected in front