Barr Castle (Renfrewshire)
Barr Castle is the ruin of a residential tower on a low range of hills south of the village of Lochwinnoch in the Scottish county of Renfrewshire .
history
The tower was built in the 15th or early 16th century. At the end of the 16th century it passed into the hands of the Hamiltons from Ferguslie . They kept the castle until the end of the 18th century, then sold it and moved to a new country house .
Today the ruin is a Scheduled Monument .
architecture
The tower has a simple, rectangular floor plan and covers an area of 7.8 meters × 10.7 meters. This cross-section continues upwards to the approach of the four corner towers, which no longer exist today, at a height of around 12 meters. The chimney and part of the gable have been preserved on the south side.
From the outside, the castle is very simple and looks above all because of its bulk. The tower has walls made of rough quarry stone with cut stones as corner stones . The only remaining decoration of the building is the ornamental gable above the main entrance, in which the initials of Margaret Hamilton and John Wallace can be found.
The main entrance is on the ground floor on the west side. This is a later conversion; the original entrance was on the first floor and was accessed by stairs. Window openings are preserved on all four sides of the building. There are also various elements on the walls of the tower that indicate later changes that were probably made at the end of the 17th century when the tower was converted into a larger home.
Little remains of the courtyard, which was drawn by McGibbon & Ross in the 19th century. Extensive photographs and plans show that there were various outbuildings in the castle courtyard, e.g. B. a wing on the southern wall of the tower, which no longer exists today.
The ground floor was divided into two rooms, both of which had vaulted ceilings. The front door led into a small corridor from which one could get into the two rooms. This is where the stairs to the upper floors began. The kitchen had a large, very low arched hearth.
The knight's hall filled the entire first floor and was lit from all four sides through window openings. This hall differed from most of the Scottish castles in that it had a flat and low ceiling instead of the usual airy arched ceiling. From the plans of the second floor you can see that this was also divided into two rooms, namely by a narrow wall that was attached to the doors of the two toilet bays in the south wall. The two rooms were not connected to each other and could be reached via two separate stairs from the knight's hall below. The third floor was also divided into two rooms, each of which had a lavatory. These rooms were also accessible via their own stairs from the floor below. There were closets in the thick walls.
The ground plan of the battlements shows the usual arrangement of protective devices for the walls before the introduction of roof coverings. The stones overlap at the junctions, and gargoyles have been formed in the lower row of stones . Both the main staircase and a staircase in the northwest corner led to the crenellated roof. At the edge of the roof, a battlement led around the entire building. The corner towers were roofed, and each of these corner towers used to have frames for small doors and iron hooks for the hinges. A large gutter made of stone hollowed out on the surface formed the connection to the main roof on each corner tower.
Various inscriptions are carved into the brickwork of Barr Castle. So one finds z. B. "IW" and "MH" on the ornamental gable above the main entrance, "IH" and "IC 1680" above the lintel at the top of the stairs and "WO 1699" on the battlements. These inscriptions are the initials of various Hamiltons, Lords of Barr, John Wallace and his wife Margaret Hamilton , John Hamilton and Jean Cochrane .
The Lords of Barr
From the Poll Tax Roll of 1695, the farms and settlements of the Barr lands can be identified: These were the Sunnyaykers on the Lynthills , Bridgend , Johnshill outside the village of Lochwinnoch and the farms of the Cruiks , Knockbartons , Kames and Barneichs .
The Barr Glens
The Glen family had Barr Castle built. After the death of Alexander Glen in April 1629, the castle fell to the Hamiltons of Ferguslie.
The Hamiltons from Barr
Margaret Hamilton , eldest daughter of Allan Hamilton from Ferguslie , married John Wallace , the second son of William Wallace from Elderslie . Part of the marriage contract was for the husband to adopt the Hamilton name and coat of arms. Accordingly, on July 9, 1647, under the "Great Seal" John Wallace, a permit was given, hence there was the Hamiltons of Barr .
Alexander Hamilton von Barr , great grandson of Margaret and John, was born in 1670. His name appears as "of Barr" in the Lochwinnoch Poll Tax Roll of 1695. He was appointed Commissioner of Supply for Renfrewshire the following year . Alexander Hamilton died in 1747 and is buried in the cemetery of St John's Kirk in Lochwinnoch. Alexander's grandson John Hamilton sold the property to the MacDowall family . He died in 1825 and was buried in the family grave in Lochwinnoch.
Garthland's MacDowalls
Barr Castle has belonged to Fergus MacDowall von Garthland , chief of Clan MacDowall, since 2011 . Due to its status, the castle is considered the seat of the clan. The MacDowall family has little historical ties to the castle other than having owned the land on which the castle was built since the 18th century. The inscriptions that have been preserved to this day - inside and outside - refer to the Hamilton family from the 17th century.
Others
Jabez Hamilton , one of the last Barr Castle residents, died in one of the upstairs rooms. When the undertakers came to fetch her body for burial, they had great difficulty in bringing her coffin down the narrow spiral staircase.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Scheduled Monument - Entry . In: Historic Scotland .
- ^ Lieutenant-Colonel George Hamilton: A History of the House of Hamilton . J. Skinner & Co., Edinburgh 1933.
swell
- MacGibbon & Ross: Castellated & Domestic Architecture 1889 . Volume III, pp. 183-186 and drawings.
- Lieutenant-Colonel George Hamilton: A History of the House of Hamilton. J. Skinner & Co., Edinburgh 1933.
- Dr. Andrew Crawfurd: The Cairn of Lochwinnoch, Renfrewshire and the West of Scotland Matters 1827-1854 .
- New statistical account . 1836. Volume VII. Pp. 94-95.
- Alexander Gardner: Parish of Lochwinnoch 1885-1890 in Archaeological and Historical Collections Relating to the County of Renfrew . Book II.
Web links
- Barr Castle . Canmore. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland.
- Lochwinnoch website.
- Photo of Barr Castle. Flickr.
Coordinates: 55 ° 47 '18.7 " N , 4 ° 38' 17.2" W.