Ardstinchar Castle
Ardstinchar Castle is a Burgruine in Ballantrae at the mouth of Stinchar on the west coast of Scotland County South Ayrshire . Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar had the castle built in the mid-15th century. In the 1770s, Ardstinchar Castle was demolished and the building blocks used to build a bridge over the river. Today only the remains of the donjon are preserved.
history
The builder of Ardstinchar Castle, Hugh Kennedy of Ardstinchar , was originally a Dominican who had left his monastery for a trip to France , where he participated as a mercenary in the Hundred Years War and during the siege of Orléans 1428-1429 troops for Joan of Arc led. Presumably he inherited the property from his brother, Alexander Kennedy , who owned the property in 1429 and died with no heirs. With another brother, Thomas Kennedy , he amalgamated his lands to form the Barony of Ardstinchar , but kept an annuity until his death in 1454. His descendants lived at Ardstinchar Castle for more than a century. Maria Stuart visited the castle in 1563. She probably strolled around the walkway halfway up the tower, which still exists today, and admired the view.
A long-running family feud between the Cassillis and Clan Kennedy , which began at the time of Hugh Kennedy, ended in 1601 with the murder of the last Baron of Bargany and Ardstinchar . The family fortune was lost and Sir John Hamilton of Letterick , son of the 1st Marquess of Hamilton , bought the property. In 1770 the castle fell into disrepair and the residents took stones to build a three-arched bridge over the River Stinchar, various houses and the Ballantrae inn (today: King's Arms Hotel ).
architecture
Today only the ruins of the donjon on a rocky hill remain from the castle. Originally the castle had the shape of a segment of a circle and had three towers with a square floor plan, which were connected by crenellated walls. The gatehouse was on the north side and the donjon in the south-eastern part of the courtyard. A long hall house was attached to it.
The remains of the castle lie on a rocky outcrop near the river. The main tower was 8.7 meters by 6 meters and the walls were 1.1 meters thick. Its height was 15 meters. The remains of the other towers are too small to be able to determine the size of these towers. The courtyard walls varied in thickness between 1 meter and 1.6 meters. A moat 8 meters wide and 1.5 meters deep, cut into the rock, lies outside the north-eastern courtyard wall; in the west there is another, shallow moat.
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b c Keith Fergus: The Ayrshire and Arran Coastal Paths (accessed February 2, 2017).
- ↑ a b c Entry on Ardstinchar Castle in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
- ↑ a b c d e f Ardstinchar Castle - The Marian Connection . In: mariestuartsociety.org . Archived from the original on November 22, 2015. Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
Web links
Coordinates: 55 ° 5 ′ 56.4 " N , 4 ° 59 ′ 59.8" W.