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Eglinton Castle
EGLINTON CASTLE, a noble mansion, the seat of
the Earl of
Eglinton, situated on the banks of the Lugton, in the south of
the parish of Kilwinning, district of Cunningham, 2½ miles north
of Irvine in Ayrshire, and 20 from Glasgow. This edifice is of a
castellated yet modern and very stately and magnificent
structure, and was built about the year 1798. A spectator,
looking upon it from any part of the lawns, has high conceptions
of its grandeur, and of the taste and opulence of its proprietor;
and the more minutely he surveys it, he experiences these
conceptions becoming more lofty and brilliant. There is a large
circular keep, and at the corners are circular turrets joined
together by a curtain, — to use the language of fortification.
The whole is pierced with modern windows, which in some degree
destroy he castellated effect, but add to the internal comfort.
The interior of the fabric corresponds with the magnitude and the
beauty of its exterior. From a spacious entrance-hall, a saloon
opens, 36 feet in diameter, the whole height of the edifice, and
lighted from above; and from this the principal rooms enter. All
the apartments are spacious, well-lighted, and furnished and
adorned in the most superb manner. One of them in the front is 52
feet long, 32 wide, and 24 from floor to ceiling. Every thing
about the castle contributes to an imposing display of splendid
elegance and refined taste. Nor are the lawns around it less
admired for their fine woods, and varied surfaces and beautiful
scenery. The park around the castle is 1,200 acres in extent,
and has one-third of its area in plantation - The first
of the ancient and originally Norman family of Montgomery, who
settled in Britain, was Roger de Montgomery, or Mundegumbrie.
Under the banner of
William the Conqueror — to whom he was related -
he obtained great distinction; and, accompanying that monarch
into England, he, in 1066, commanded the van of his army at the
battle of Hastings. In guerdon of his bravery, he was created
Earl of Chichester and Arundel, and afterwards Earl of
Shrewsbury, and, in a short period, lord of no fewer than 57
lordships throughout England; and, at the same time, received
extensive possessions in Salop. Having made a martial incursion
into Wales, he captured the castle of Baldwin, and imposed upon
it his own name of Montgomery, — a name which not only it, but
the romantically situated town in its vicinity, and the
entire county in which it stands, have permanently retained.
The first of the family who settled in Scotland, was Robert de
Montgomery. Walter, the son of Allan, the first steward,
having obtained from David I. several Scottish estates, Robert
accompanied him from Wales to take possession of them, and
received from him the manor of Eaglesham in Renfrewshire. This
was, for two centuries, the chief possession of the Scottish
section of the Montgomeries. John de Montgomery, seventh laird of
Eaglesham, married Elizabeth, daughter and sole heir of Sir
Hugh de Eglinton, and niece of King Robert II., and obtained
through her the baronies of Eglinton and Ardrossan. At the
battle of Otterburn he had the command of part of the Scottish
army under the brave Earl of Douglas, and, by his personal valour
snd military conduct, contributed not a little to the celebrated
victory which was achieved. The renowned Henry Percy, well
known by the name of Hotspur, who was general of the English
army, Sir John Montgomery took prisoner with his own hands; and
with the ransom he received for him, he built the castle of
Polnoon in Renfrewshire: see article Eaglesham. His grandson,
Sir Alexander Montgomery, was raised by James 11., about 1488, to
the title of lord Montgomery, and inaugurated into the officeof
king's bailie of Cunningham. His son, Hugh, was elevated, about
1508, to the title of Earl of Eglinton; and, a few years
previously, in June, 1498, obtained a charter to himself and his
heirs of the office of bailie of Cunningham, and chamberlain of
the town of Irvine. About the time of his obtaining this
charter, a feud arose between him and Lord Kilmaurs, which
continued between the families, and occasionally blazed forth in
deeds of violence, and originated tedious and fruitless appeals
to umpires, till after the union of the crowns. Hugh, one of
the line of Earls, came into possession of the earldom when
considerably under 16 years of age; and having, for a time, been
placed or rather coercively brought under the curatorship of his
grand uncle, Sir Neil Montgomery, of Langshaw, he eventually
enjoyed his inheritance during only ten months when he fell the
victim of his family's hereditary feud. Riding from his own
castle, towards Stirling, on the 20th of April, 1586, he was, at
the river Annock, waylaid and shot by David Cunningham of
Robertland, and other Cunninghams, the emissaries of the Earl of
Glencairn, the descendant of Lord Kilmaurs. Though this
atrocious act of assassination created a strong sensation
throughout the country, and was afterwards partly punished by
Robert, the master of Eglinton, it was at length, under the
feeble and capricious administration of the pedant, James VI.,
formally pardoned. So late as twenty years after this event, on
the 1st of July, 1606, the old feud broke out in a violent tumult
at Perth, under the very eyes of parliament and the
privy-council. In the 18th century, all the valuable
improvements in gardening, planting, and agriculture, which,
during half-a-century, were made in the parish of Kilwinning, and
throughout a great part of Ayrshire, proceeded, in a great
measure, from the spirited exertions, combined with the fine
taste of Alexander, Earl of Eglinton. Nor was his successor in
the peerage less distinguished for his magnificent and costly,
though considerably unsuccessful, schemes to enrich the district
of Cunningham, and advance the public weal of Scotland, by
improving the harbour of Ardrossan, and cutting a canal to it
from the city of Glasgow: see ARDROSSAN. Happy would it be for
themselves, their posterity, and the population of the
territories in which their estates are situated, if persons of
rank and fortune copied the example of this munificent and
patriotic nobleman. But something different must be said
respecting the enormous expenditure,
at Eglinton castle, in the month of August, 1839 upon a gorgeous
pageant, in imitation of the tournament of the Middle ages, — a
"passage of arms," as a tilt with wooden poles smoothly rounded
at the end over lists carefully strewn with saw dust five inches
deep, yielding soft repose to unhorsed knights,
was somewhat facetiously termed. - Susanna, the
third wife of Alexander, the ninth Earl of Eglinton and daughter
of Sir Archibald Kennedy of Culzean, is celebrated for her
personal beauty, and for her transmission of a nobleness of mien,
distinguished at the period as "the Eglinton air," to a family of
one son and seven daughters.
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