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Greenan Castle
You can see the castle
marked on the map below as 'Grÿnen' in 1654 with the River Doon to
it's right. Up the river, by Bridgeend (site of an earlier castle,
Brigend, now gone) is the Brig O'Doon, where Tam's horse Meg lost
her tail in Robert Burn's poem, Tam O'Shanter.
This map is from Joan
Blaeu's Atlas of Scotland (Kyle) drawn in 1654 and is reproduced
by permission of the Trustees of the
National Library
of Scotland
 The
ruin of Greenan Castle stands on a rocky headland just south of
Doonfoot, near Ayr, on the site of an earlier 12th century
castle. The current ruin is a rectangular 16th century tower
house, originally 4
storeys high with ditches dug for defences on the landward side
that are still visible.
Roger de Scalebroc held a castle at this
location in the 12th century. After passing the property on to the
Davidsons, it was sold to the Kennedys in 1588. Sir Thomas Kennedy
of
Culzean (younger son of Gilbert the 3rd Earl of Cassillis), spent
his last night at
 Greenan
Castle before being murdered by Mure of Auchendrane in 1602. Sir
Thomas Kennedy was later murdered by John Mure of Auchendrane as
part of the feud, and was in turn executed for the murder in 1611.
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