Kerelaw Castle
| Kerelaw Castle | ||
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 Kerelaw Castle 2006 |
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| Creation time : | around 1191, rebuilt after 1488 |
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| Castle type : | Niederungsburg | |
| Conservation status: | ruin | |
| Standing position : | Scottish nobility | |
| Construction: | Quarry stone | |
| Place: | Stevenston | |
| Geographical location | 55 ° 38 '54.2 " N , 4 ° 45' 8.3" W | |
| Height: | 19 m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference | |
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Kerelaw Castle is a ruined castle in the city Stevenston in the Scotland administrative unit North Ayrshire .
history
The castle, which was also called Kerila Castle or Turnlaw Castle , is said to have been held for the Lockharts by Richard de Morville from 1191 , according to Timothy Pont , after Stephen Lockhart (or Loccard ) was awarded a piece of land in Ayrshire . He named this land "Stevenstoune" (later "Stevenston") after himself and the manor house of Baronate Stevenston was called "Kerelaw". Castle and baronate were later transferred to the Campbells of Loudoun and even later to the Cunninghames (or Cunninghams , or Cuninghames ) of Kilmaurs . While in the hands of the Cunninghames, the castle was sacked and burned by Hugh Montgomerie, 1st Earl of Eglinton , in 1488 in the wake of the well-documented, long-running feud between these two prominent Ayrshire families . The Cunninghames, under the leadership of the Earl of Glencairn , burned Eglinton Castle to the ground in 1528 in revenge.
Kerelaw Castle was rebuilt sometime after 1488 and is believed to have contained a number of carved coats of arms of the Scottish nobility taken from Kilwinning Abbey . Land was leased to nine Saltcoats fishermen in 1545 in exchange for the transportation of the Earl's furniture from the Saltcoats Creek on the Clyde to Finlayston each spring and transportation back each fall when the family returned to Kerelaw Castle for the winter months. Half a barrel of herrings also had to be delivered to the earl every year.
Abbots' residence
According to a local legend, the castle is said to have been the seat of the abbot of Kilwinning , possibly due to the fact that the third son of Alexander Cunningham, 1st Earl of Glencairn , was an absent abbot of the abbey after the Reformation and at Kerelaw Castle could have lived.
Later story
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In 1609 Sir Thomas Boyd bought the property and soon sold it to Sir William Cunninghame of Cunninghamhead . 30 years later, Sir Robert Cunninghame from Auchenharvie bought the castle and the surrounding lands. In 1655 John Hamilton from Cambuskeith (now “The Mount”), later from Grange , (grandfather of Alexander Hamilton , a founding father of the USA) bought Kerelaw Castle and renamed it “Grange Castle” after his family house in Kilmarnock . Clements and Graham give 1685 as the date for the sale of "Kerila" (Kerelaw) to John Hamilton . Until 1787 the castle was the seat of the Hamilton family ; then another Alexander Hamilton (2nd cousin of the American politician) had Kerelaw House (also "Grange House") built nearby. The castle was soon abandoned.
Alexander Hamilton of Grange laid the foundation stone of the new Eglinton Castle in Kilwinning in 1797 for the 12th Earl of Eglinton.
Outbuildings
A pigeon house from 1775 existed here until the 1960s; then it was demolished along with the other outbuildings. Houses for the workers had been built in the courtyard and their high stepped gable ends made the castle ruins appear even more picturesque. The Gothic windows were probably installed in the buildings in the 19th century. There was also a lime kiln nearby. Dudups ("Diddup") nearby was part of the estate.
Roy's 1747 map lists the name as "Kerry-law," and Smith names the castle "Kerila Castle," as does Paterson . "Kyryaw Castle", Mains and Mühle are marked on Ponts map from 1604–1608. A lodge east of the castle can be seen on an older Ordnance Survey map; it still exists today as a private house.
Later story
The house, castle and estate were sold to Gavin Fullerton in 1838 after Alexander Hamilton's death . Fullerton soon renamed the property "Kerelaw" again.
The castle today
Kerelaw Castle is now in ruins; three walls have been preserved in different stages of decay. Gothic windows still adorn the south wall; they are said to have been influenced by Kilwinning Abbey (and prove that much of the castle was built at different times).
1852 saw Paterson loopholes and twisted ornaments dating from before the 14th century. An old bridge, which is only used by pedestrians today, is close to the ruins, but the castle itself is surrounded by a fence to protect the castle ruins and the public from each other (the castle ruins from uninvited visitors and the public from falling parts of the wall) . The ruins of the castle and estate are owned by the North Ayrshire County Council. In 2014, repair work was carried out on the building and the immediate vicinity was cleared of vegetation that could damage and obscure the building. There are signs on the fence explaining the castle ruins.
The bridge has a large cavity that once gave pedestrians access to the path along the Stevenston Burn . The arch of the bridge and the cavity show that the bridge was built in two phases and later widened; the upstream part of the bridge is of a later date. A large, beautifully hewn quatrefoil has fallen from the arch of the bridge and is now located downstream of the bridge.
The former enclosed garden of the castle with its sundials and the complex bedding system was used as building land at the end of the 1960s, but a single wall of the system has still been preserved. An Ordnance Survey map from the 1850s shows an orchard that was located near the enclosed garden.
A ford lined with large stones once crossed the Stevenston Burn in the Kerelaw Valley below the castle. The path led up the bank and past the Kerelaw Mains farmhouse . When a limestone quarry was built, the path up from the ford was destroyed. Two pedestrian bridges led across the stream, one at the still preserved weir and the other on the other side of the quarry house, where stone walls clad with stone can still be seen today.
Picture gallery of the castle and its surroundings
One of the Gothic windows that have survived to this day in 2008
The last remains of the castle's enclosed garden in 2008
A walled up entrance to the former fenced garden in 2008
The remains of the eastern castle wall in 2006
Remains of the old ford
The weir at Stevenston Burn in the Kerelaw Valley
Individual evidence
- ^ William Robertson: Ayrshire: Its History and Historic Families . Volume I. Dunlop & Drennan, Kilmarnock 1908. p. 133.
- ↑ a b James Clements: Stevenston (Stivenstoune Stinstin): The Kernel of Cunninghame . Gilmour and Lawrence, Glasgow 1974. S, 17.
- ↑ JS Dobie (Ed.): Cuninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont, AM, 1604-1608: With Connotations and Illustrative Notices by the Late James Dobie of Crummock, FSA Scot. John Tweed, Glasgow 1876. pp. 252-253.
- ^ John Macintosh: Ayrshire Nights Entertainments . Dunlop & Drennan, Kilmarnock 1894. p. 329.
- ↑ JS Dobie (Ed.): Cuninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont, AM, 1604-1608: With Connotations and Illustrative Notices by the Late James Dobie of Crummock, FSA Scot. John Tweed, Glasgow 1876. p. 370.
- ^ William Robertson: Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire . Volume II. Hamilton, Adams & Co., London 1889. pp. 15-16.
- ^ William Robertson: Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire . Volume II. Hamilton, Adams & Co., London 1889. pp. 13-29.
- ^ A b James Paterson: History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Volume 5. James Stillie, Edinburgh 1863–1866. P. 561.
- ^ Robert W. Billings: The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland . Volume III. Oliver & Boyd, Edinburgh 1901. p. 41.
- ↑ James Paterson: History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Volume 5. James Stillie, Edinburgh 1863–1866. P. 558.
- ^ William Robertson: Historical Tales and Legends of Ayrshire . Volume II. Hamilton, Adams & Co., London 1889. Plate 6.
- ↑ James Clements: Stevenston (Stivenstoune Stinstin): The Kernel of Cunninghame . Gilmour and Lawrence, Glasgow 1974. S, 13.
- ↑ Eric J. Graham: Robert Reid Cunninghame of Seabank House . Ayr Archaeological and Natural Historical Society, Ayr 1997. p. 44.
- ^ John Macintosh: Ayrshire Nights Entertainments . Dunlop & Drennan, Kilmarnock 1894. p. 330.
- ^ Grand Tournament at Eglinton Castle . Kilwinning Heritage. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
- ^ A b David McGibbon, Thomas Ross: The Castallated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries . Volume VC Douglas, Edinburgh 1887-1892. P. 569.
- ↑ Kerelaw House . Ayrshire Roots. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
- ↑ Michael Davis: The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire . MC Davis, Ardrishaig, Argyll 1991. p. 292.
- ↑ JS Dobie (Ed.): Cuninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont, AM, 1604-1608: With Connotations and Illustrative Notices by the Late James Dobie of Crummock, FSA Scot. John Tweed, Glasgow 1876. p. 124.
- ^ Roy Military Survey of Scotland, 1747–55 . National Library of Scotland. Retrieved September 28, 2017.
- ^ John Smith: Prehistoric Men in Ayrshire . E. Stock, London 1895. p. 54.
- ↑ James Paterson: History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. Volume 2. James Stillie, Edinburgh 1863–1866. P. 445.
- ^ Artists - Robert Bryden . FutureMuseum.co.uk, South West Scotland. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
- ^ Ayrshire, Sheet XVI (includes Ardrossan; Irvine; Kilwinning; Stevenston). Survey Date: 1856. Publication Date: 1860 . Ordnance Survey Scotland. Retrieved September 29, 2017.
