employed around 200 people. The mill burned down and was rebuilt several times before being destroyed by fire in 1876 and was never rebuilt. Without work many of the mill workers drifted away and their homes lay empty. After seven centuries of ownership, the Montgomerie family's finances foundered and Eaglesham Estate was put on the market in 1835. The Estate was finally sold for £217,000 in 1844 to Allan Gilmour, Sr. and James Gilmour. East Renfrewshire Council's archives hold an unpublished manuscript "Graham's Eaglesham Essay" which details the history of the village at this time. 20th century By the early 20th century, The Eaglesham Estates were heavily burdened and together with the considerable debts left by Allan Gilmour were advertised for sale in the late 1920s. Angus Gilmour transferred the common area of the village of Eaglesham in 1929 to the parish council at his death. By the late 1930s many of the houses were in a state of disrepair. A letter-writing campaign was started and by the 1950s a worldwide appeal was launched for funds towards Eaglesham's conservation. Such was the success of the campaign, that the village was designated the first outstanding conservation area in Britain on 12 August 1960. A remarkable event during World War II was the landing of Rudolf Hess at Eaglesham on 10 May 1941. Shortly after 11 p.m. a Messerschmitt Bf 110 aircraft crashed at Floors Farm with an airman bailing out and landing at Floors Farm. David McLean, a local ploughman, ran out of his cottage at the rear of Floors Farm after hearing an aeroplane crashing and saw a parachutist coming down. McLean assisted the slightly injured airman back to his cottage. The airman, a German officer, identified himself as Captain Albert Horn. Horn was arrested and subsequently taken to the 3 Battalion Home Guard Headquarters at Busby then briefly Giffnock Police Station before being transferred to Maryhill Barracks in Glasgow and other locations before finally being to transported to P.O.W. Reception Station, Abergavenny, South Wales where he remained for the duration of the hostilities. Horn turned out be Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess. Hess apparently claimed that he had flown to Britain with a message for the Duke of Hamilton in an attempt to persuade the British government to restore peace but in poor light mistook his intended destination of Dungavel House near Strathaven as Eaglesham House. Hess was tried as