Stanecastle

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Stanecastle
Stanecastle 2007

Stanecastle 2007

Creation time : 1520
Castle type : Niederungsburg
Conservation status: restored
Standing position : Scottish nobility
Construction: Quarry stone
Place: Irvine
Geographical location 55 ° 37 '35.5 "  N , 4 ° 38' 59.9"  W Coordinates: 55 ° 37 '35.5 "  N , 4 ° 38' 59.9"  W.
Height: 21  m ASLTemplate: height / unknown reference
Stanecastle (Scotland)
Stanecastle

Stanecastle is a folly and was formerly a medieval baronate in the Scottish administrative division of North Ayrshire . The baronate was first mentioned in 1363. Today the area belongs to Irvine New Town .

History of the castle

The original castle was built around 1417 by the Francis family, who also owned land in Sprouston near Kelso . The baronate fell by marriage to the Montgomeries of Greenfield.

Heraldic shield of the Montgomeries in Eglinton. The rings represent the Eglinton family. The quadrants are misaligned.
The coat of arms on the Stanecastle

In the Middle Ages, the Baronate Stanecastle surrendered to the ever expanding rule of Eglinton and William Francis of Stane transferred his estate to the Earls of Eglinton in the 15th century . Campbell states that the current castle was built in 1520 for the Montgomeries of Greenfield, a branch of the Clan Montgomery .

In 1750, Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton , had the castle repaired and converted into a folly. The four closed and four open pointed arched windows were only installed at that time for decoration and a stone coat of arms with the coat of arms of the Earls of Eglinton was attached to the west side. It was wrongly claimed that the escutcheon was placed upside down, but the shield is actually the right way up; the visible flaw is that the signet rings and the French lily are upside down in the coat of arms. Another mistake occurred in a coat of arms of a similar size that is preserved today in the Eglinton Country Park square: the individual symbols are in the wrong quadrants.

As an original detail of the tower, a spiral staircase in the northeast corner has been preserved.

A secret tumble is said to have run from Stanecastle to Eglinton Castle and Seagate in Irvine. Another tunnel is to run from Stanecastle to Dundonald . An underground passage was found by workers at Stanecastle in the 19th century.

Knadgerhill was not acquired by the Earls of Eglinton until 1851, who traded it for part of their lands from Bogside Flats. This enabled the construction of a new driveway to the Stanecastle estates from Long Drive.

Stanecastle today

Today you can only see the donjon of the original property, in the wall of which a stone was inscribed. This donjon was modified in the 18th century by the installation of eight neo-Gothic windows and has a modern roof with a chimney and windows. The Irvine Development Corporation repaired and stabilized the building. The Montgomery Society of Scotland wanted to purchase it as the headquarters of the clan and museum, but this was not realized.

Opposite the donjon is the Stanecastle Gate, a much younger structure but adapted to the style of the buildings in the area. In the 20th century this driveway, or rather its orientation, was changed. It once represented the southern entrance to the huge estate of Eglinton Castle, which is now Eglinton Country Park.

Historic Scotland has listed Stanecastle as a "Category B" historic building, as has the gate opposite.

The rest of the property was fenced in and protected. For many years the modern gate was locked with a padlock, but this is no longer the case.

Gallery images

  • Stanecastle 1866

  • Stanecastle

  • Stanecastle in summer

  • Stanecastle from the old Stanecastle Lodges

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ John Straw Horn: The History of Irvine. John Donald, 1985. ISBN 0-85976-140-1 . P. 3.
  2. ^ Martin Coventry: Castles of the Clans . Goblinshead, Musselburgh 2010. ISBN 1-899874-36-4 . P. 210.
  3. ↑ a b Thorbjørn Campbell: Ayrshire. A Historical Guide . Birlinn, Edinburgh 2003. ISBN 1-84158-267-0 . P. 196
  4. ^ David MacGibbon, Thomas Ross: The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the 12th to the 18th century . Volume V. James Thin, Edinburgh 1990. ISBN 0-901824-18-6 . Pp. 351-352.
  5. ↑ Salter. P. 60.
  6. ↑ Irvine Times, February 4, 2009. p. 18.
  7. ↑ John Straw Horn: The History of Irvine. John Donald, 1985. ISBN 0-85976-140-1 . P. 125.
  8. ^ Eglinton Archives, Eglinton Country Park.
  9. ^ Listed Building: Stane Castle . Historic Scotland. Retrieved February 1, 2018.
  10. ↑ Listed Building: Stanecastle Gates . Historic Scotland. Retrieved February 1, 2018.

Web links

Commons : Stanecastle  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files