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History of Ailsa Craig Castle

Attend, all ye who list, to hear our noble England's praise,

I sing of the thrice famous deeds she wrought in ancient days,

When that Great Fleet Invincible, against her bore in vain,

The richest spoils of Mexico, the stoutest hearts in Spain.
                                                                         - Macaulay.

Every now and again, we hear the name of Ailsa brought forward as a proper place to be fortified in connection with the defence of the Clyde. And, strange to say, the only time our island is mentioned in Scottish history occurs in a like connection. Deprived by nature of fertility, Ailsa occupies a commanding position, which, as in the case of Gibraltar, makes it important of itself; and as far back as the time when the Protestant and Roman Catholic faiths were struggling in these lands for the mastery, our Rock was looked on as a post of advantage to be seized and fortified.

At one time, the rising tide of Protestantism promised to carry everything before it. Germany, Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Holland, Switzerland, all caught the contagion of Reform, and it seemed likely that the Bible alone would become the creed of Europe. But, by and by, there came a reaction. The ruling spirits of the Reformation did not always rule wisely. Selfishness asserted itself, and persecution began. In too many cases, it was seen that "Young Presbyter was but old Priest writ large." Among the ruling powers of Europe, two soon singled themselves out as the respective champions of the rival faiths.

Spain was the champion of the old, England of the new. Philip of Spain was then the most powerful monarch of the world. He ruled over Spain, the Netherlands, and part of Germany, while the genius of Columbus, backed by the prowess of his fleets and armies, had added a large part of America to his domains. And while Philip was powerful with his arms, he was one of the most fanatical supporters the Roman Catholic Church ever had; and everywhere throughout his dominions, he had established the merciless Inquisition, to crush out of existence the rising spirit of Free Inquiry.

But while Spain thus seemed so triumphant, there was a small kingdom on the Atlantic sea-board then awaking to a consciousness of its strength. This kingdom was England, ruled over at that time by Elizabeth and her astute ministers. Elizabeth was a Protestant; and while herself averse to religious persecution, she was seeking to guide the New Cause to victory, wherever she could prudently do so. Philip chafed at this obstacle to his designs; but for a while he dissembled, until at last his timidity was overcome, and his patience exhausted. Meanwhile, even in Protestant Britain, many still adhered to the Old Faith. Mary, Queen of Scots, was openly on that side, but she had marred her life, and was at last forced to lay down her head on the block at Fotheringay, February, 1587. This tragic act roused the Catholics of Britain to desperation, and several of them rose in open rebellion. Among these, Lord Maxwell, on the borders, raised the standard of revolt, but his attempt was short-lived. An old chronicler thus records it:- " Thinking to get support from the King of Spayne, and uther Papistis lordis, his confidderittis in Scotland, quha were allidgit to have resavitt the Spaynzeis gold," he refused to deliver up his castle of Lochmaben, and furnished the same with men and victual. Whereof the king (James VI.) hearing intelligence, repaired to Dumfries with the whole army of all the country west of the Forth, and laid siege to the castle. But Lord Maxwell escaped by sea, and was pursued till opposite Kirkcudbright (Ballantrae), " quhilk being perceavit by the said lord, he withdrew himself, and passed with ane and himself in ane cokboit to Ilsliay, and on the back of that ile, fand ane fischer boit, quhairin he cam to the land foranent the Abbey of Crosregale," where he was captured. And thus ended Lord Maxwell's attempt to further the Catholic cause; while in the course of it, we get a glimpso of our little islet with the "fisching boits" about it, and the pursued man making for the shore opposite Crossraguel, to be there seized and imprisoned.

But Philip himself now comes on the scene to launch his thunderbolt. For years he had been gathering in the Tagus the ships which were to form the Invincible Armada, and these, on the last day of July, 1588,⁽¹⁾ were seen in full sail entering the English Channel. The fleet was very large, consisting of 130 ships with 8000 seamen and 20,000 soldiers, while the Duke of Parma was waiting at Dunkirk with 30,000 more. But the ably managed fleet of England, aided by the storms of heaven, completed what Sir Francis Drake called " the singeing of the Spanish King's beard." The Armada never took on board the Duke of Parma's soldiers, but was driven round the coast of Britain without any attempt at landing, and only fifty vessels reached Spain with 10,000 men, stricken with disease and death. The rest went down at sea or perished among the rocks. Eight thousand are said to have been drowned between the Giants' Causeway and the Blaskets, while on a strand near Sligo, an English captain counted 1100 corpses which had been cast up by the waves.

Notwithstanding this terrible disaster, Philip meditated a second attack on Britain, and meanwhile sought to stir up Catholic revolts there. And the next story we have to relate concerns another of those hopeless attempts to revive the cause of the Old Faith. Hew Barclay of Ladyland,⁽²⁾ Kilbirnie, was one of those restless spirits who abound in a restless age. He was a poet, of a kind, and a friend of Montgomery of Hessilhead, the author of "The Cherry and the Slae," to whom he addresses various poetical epistles, one of which (purged from some of its grossness) I give as a specimen.

"Friend ! if ye knew the strait that I am in, Though ye be deif, I know ye are not daft, Bot kynd enough to any of your kin; If ye bot saw me, in this winter win', With old bogogers, notching on a sped, Draiglit in dirt, whylis wat even to the skin. I trow there suld be tears, or we twa shed. Bot maist of all that has my bilis bred, To hear how ye on that syde of the muir, Birlis at the wyne, and blythlie gois to bed, Forgetting me, puir Pleuman, I am sure. So sillie I, opprest with barmie juggis, Invyis your stait that's puing Bacchus' luggis."
 

Barclay had become a Protestant, but, in 1592, he abandoned that faith, for which (as the law then was) he was excommunicated, but granted a licence to depart out of the realm. A few years later, he returned, and commenced plotting with a number of his fellow Catholics, for the overthrow of the existing government. His plotting was directed toward obtaining possession of Ailsa Craig, for the following purposes:- (1) "To sett up and manteyne ane public Masse, quhilk should be patent to all distressed papists, wherefraso ever they should come." And this is an affecting reason which appeals to all hearts that hate religious oppression. (2) " To serve as ane place of releifo and refreshment to the Spanyart or rather a port to them, on ther arryval in Ireland." But this, of course, is as bad a reason as the other was good. (3) " To establish ane storehouse to keep iurnishing and all things profytable to the use of the Erie of Tyrone, with the quhilk Erie, Ladyland by his commissioners had been buissy sen his last coming to Scotland." In other words, he proposed to make Ailsa what Lord Beaconsfield made Cyprus, "a place of arms."

This then was the object of Barclay's plotting, and to obtain it he was willing to risk both life and fortune. But the secret oozed out, and the Eev. Andrew Knox (related to the redoubtable John), "minister of God's Worde at Paseleye," who had been the means of detecting certain of Ladyland's previous schemes, at once sounded the alarm. But the King was loth to act, so the Paisley minister himself solved the difficulty by taking possession of the island. At the head of nineteen men, he landed secretly on Ailsa and awaited the issue. Ladyland, altogether ignorant of the ambush laid for him, set sail with thirteen of his fellow conspirators, intending "to fortify the island, and victual the same for the ressett and comforte of the Spanishe armey, luiked for be him to have come and arryvit." On reaching the spit of shingle on the east side, which affords the only landing place, he found himself suddenly opposed by a tand of determined men, who at once "forgadderit with .him and his compleceis, tuke sum of his associatis, and desirit himselfe to rander and be takin with thame, quha wer his awne freindis, meaning nawayes his hurte nor drawinge of his blude." Though taken at a disadvantage the laird would not yield. Withdrawing within the "sey cant" he resolutely defended himself, till having been forced to retreat step by step, he was thrust backward into the sea (which deepens abruptly at this point) and so was "drownit and perisheit in his awne wilfull and desperat resolution."

Even after the death of Barclay, it was deemed advisable to provide against the possibility of further surprise on the part of "some practysers for Ireland whose eyes were espyed to be set upon the place." But the King was again loth to move. So Bowes, the English agent, appealed to the Earl of Cassillis, and obtained from him a promise " to gyve regarde to yt." As the result of this " regarde " we learn that the Earl intrusted the custody of Ailsa to one Thomas Hamilton, whom Bowes, however, did not consider "very fytt for the charge." But he must have been more-"fytt" than the Englishman thought, as we hear of no further alarms on this subject. On the south wall of the present Castle of Ailsa, about three feet from the top, there is inserted a stone with the armorial bearings of the Hamilton family engraved on it. How it got there has always been a mystery, but this Thomas Hamilton who was entrusted with the custody of the island in 1597 may have been the person. It is true we do not read of any buildings he erected or repaired, nor had he any right to carve his " arms " there without leave of the owner. But the fact of the Spanish scare may have induced the Earl to put the old Castle in a proper state of defence; while the fact that the building is in such good preservation, and the armorial bearings so sharply defined, would seem to point to a lata date for at least this part of the old fortalice. In this strange way, then, our little Ayrshire island finds itself in history. It is connected, we see, with the Armada, and the stirring times when Protestantism and Catholicism were struggling fiercely for the mastery. And it is well that things ended as they did. It would have been a sad day for this district had Ailsa become a centre of disaffection and a "place of arms" for either the Spanish or the Irish. But such was not to be. And we trust our Craig will be able to end its history without ever hearing the sound of firing more deadly than those of fowling pieces directed against solan geese or puffins.

The Castle of Ailsa stands alone
   Braving the storm and rain,

Its grey tower keeps its silent watch
   Over the restless main.

Its sturdy walls hold stoutly out
   Against old Time's decree,

While, perched on its steep, it seems to shout

   "Oh! wha daur meddle wi' me."

Like an eagle bold, it plants its foot
   On the edge of the solid rock,

And stands prepared to launch afar
   And brave the battle's shock.

For in days of old, when Might was Right,
   And the fiercest bore the gree,

It was wise to hold such a post as this
   To guard one's liberty.

But who dwelt here, there's none can tell;
   Its records all are gone,

And nought is left to speak to us
   But the lichen-covered stone.

Nought but three cinque-foils, and an oven quaint-
   These are all that are left to tell,

Whether a warrior made this his hold,
   Or a pious monk his cell.

Yet there it stands, that grim old tower,
   And never a word it says,

To all our eager questionings
   Of the deeds of other days.

Good-bye, dumb sentry. Keep your watch,
   Like the Roman one of old,

Who stood at his post in the earthquake's shock,
   And died like a warrior bold.

*1 -  The Mansion house may still be seen near Lochwinnoch, from the G. and S. W. Eailway. The estate now belongs to the Cochran-Patricks.

*2 - The present year (1S88) is the ter-certcnary of the Armada.