Hessilhead Castle

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Hessilhead Castle
Hessilhead Castle 1876

Hessilhead Castle 1876

Creation time : 15.-16. century
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: Burgstall
Standing position : Scottish nobility
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Beith
Geographical location 55 ° 44 '44.8 "  N , 4 ° 34' 55.6"  W Coordinates: 55 ° 44 '44.8 "  N , 4 ° 34' 55.6"  W.
Height: 117  m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference
Hessilhead Castle (Scotland)
Hessilhead Castle

Hessilhead Castle is an Outbound castle in Beith in the Scotland administrative unit North Ayrshire . Their lands belonged to the rule of Giffen and the Baronate Hessilhead.

Hessilhead Castle in the late 19th century.
Floor plan of the castle.

At the end of the 19th century the castle was already described as "now without a roof and in ruins, a rectangular structure, built in two construction phases and with a floor plan of 22.5 meters × 11.7 meters". “The older, western part was evidently a donjon from the 15th-16th centuries. Century; the eastern extension was built for Francis Montgomerie , who bought the property in 1680. Both the old and new sections had vaulted ceilings on the first floor , but the upper floors were too dilapidated to describe. The country house was left to fall into disrepair around 1776. “ Timothy Pont mentions the castle as a solid, old building, surrounded by a moat and situated on a lake.

Hessilhead Lodge , now Hessilhead Cottage 2008

An August 1949 article in the Kilmarnock Standard entitled "Ancient Ayrshire Castles" had a photograph showing extensive, ivy-covered ruins in a landscaped garden setting with meadows, bushes, trees and well-maintained paths. In 1956 the Royal Commission for the Ancient and Historical Monuments in Scotland noted : “Hessilhead Castle has been demolished. Extensive quarrying around the site of the castle ruins has cleared any trace of a moat. There are no traces of buildings left. ”However, this is not entirely correct, as traces of rubble and foundations can still be found at the former location of the castle and the quarry uses the remains of the former moat. Timothy Pont reported around 1604 that the castle was protected by extensive moats and stood on a lake. This lake, Hessilhead Loch , has since been drained and the trenches filled.

Willian Roy's map from 1747–1755 shows the country town of "Hazlehead" and nearby, in the midst of fairly extensive ornamental gardens, the castle of "Heeselhead". Armstrong's map from 1775 shows "Hazlehead" and finally Thomson's map from 1832 shows the country town "Hazelhead" and the ruins of "Hazlehead".

The Earl of Glasgow's family later lived in Hessilhead Castle and, after they had given up the castle, the new owner, a "Mr Macmichael", had the roof removed and the building deteriorated around 1776. Around 1887-1892, Hessilhead Castle is described as being surrounded by gardens. Dobie notes the destroyer of Hessilhead Castle as a "Mr Carmichael" who sold building materials for the castle and also had parts of the walls torn down and an impressive old yew tree felled. In the 1960s, Howie of Dunlop had the remains of the castle blown up.

Dobie also writes that a single echo could be heard a little south of the castle ruins, slowly and miserably repeating the voice once, thus "casting a melancholy charm on the scene of vanished greatness".

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b D. MacGibbon, T. Ross: The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries . Volume 3. Edinburgh 1887-1892. P. 376.
  2. ^ A b D. MacGibbon, T. Ross: The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries . Volume 3. Edinburgh 1887-1892. Pp. 375-377.
  3. ^ Kilmarnock Standard , August 1949.
  4. ↑ Entry on Hessilhead Castle  in Canmore, the database of Historic Environment Scotland (English)
  5. ↑ James D. Dobie, JS Dobie (Editor): (1876). Cunninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont 1604-1608. with continuations and illustrative notices . John Tweed, Glasgow 1876. p. 194.
  6. ↑ a b c National Library of Scotland. Retrieved September 8, 2017.
  7. ↑ a b James D. Dobie, JS Dobie (Editor): (1876). Cunninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont 1604-1608. with continuations and illustrative notices . John Tweed, Glasgow 1876. p. 204.
  8. ↑ Dane Love: Lost Ayrshire - Ayrshire's Lost Architectural Heritage . Birlinn, Edinburgh 2005. ISBN 1-84158-436-3 . Pp. 12-13.

Web links

Commons : Hessilhead Castle  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files