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Dunure Castle
The delightful coloured
sketch above is presented with the kind permission of Mr A.
McCutcheon. For the full story about this sketch please click on
the image.
All other text and illustrations below and in the Dunure
Castle links on the left are from the plaques around the site.
They are
reproduced here by the kind permission of:
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Tom Addyman, Director of
Addyman Associates who wrote and supplied all the material
displayed on the plaques. |
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Strathclyde Building Preservation Trust who
undertook major conservation work on the site.
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The photographs are my own with the
illustrations copied by myself from the plaques.
 This
castle is the ancient seat of the Kennedys of Carrick,
subsequently Earls of Cassillis. The original building is pre-13th
century, but the existing structure
is somewhat later.
The first known Kennedy of Dunure was
John de Kennedy who was granted the lands in 1357. His descendant,
David Kennedy, was created 1st Earl of Cassillis in 1509. Gilbert
Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassillis,
entertained Mary Queen of Scots in the castle from 4th to 7th
August 1563. The same Gilbert was, on 1st September, 1570,
responsible for
the roasting here of the Commendator of Crossraguel, to force him
to transfer to the Earl, lands belonging to the Abbey. The
Commendator was rescued by Kennedy of
Bargany and survived to a good age.
In 1704. The Barony of Dunure was
acquired by Sire Thomas Kennedy of Kirkhill (Provost of Edinburgh
in 1685), and the castle has been in the possession of direct
descendants since then, but has been a ruin since the middle of
the 17th century. It may well have been destroyed by fire.
The late medieval dovecot (doocot) dates
probably from the 15th century. It would have held some 200
nesting boxes and would have supplied the castle with fresh
eggs and winter meat. It is one of the finest examples in
Scotland.
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