The corbels of the parapet are unusual in that they project less than usual and this links Auchenharvie with the work at Law Castle and Barr Castle. The castle is built from whinstone with freestone corners.^[1]

It is known from the pollen record at Bloak Moss that extensive clearances took place here in the fifth or sixth centuries AD and such a site would have been of great strategic importance to these early settlers, standing out as it does, like an island above the mosses.^[3]

The Cunninghames of Auchenharvie

The castle had long been in the hands of the Cunninghames and notably. Auchenharvie's most famous owner was Dr. Robert Cunninghame who was created a Baronet of Nova Scotia in 1673 and was Physician to Charles II in Scotland, appointed shortly after the King's coronation at Scone in 1651. He was with the King's army at the defeat at Worcester in September 1651 and was made a prisoner in the Tower of London, being released after a ransom was paid. He was very wealthy and purchased back the Barony of Stevenston from the Earl of Eglinton in 1656. He died in 1676 and his son only outlived him by two years and because his daughter could not inherit, the land passed through the male line to her cousin, Robert Cunninghame.^[4][5]

In January 1678 Robert Cunynghame, apothecary / druggist in Edinburgh, is stated to be the heir to Anne, daughter of Sir Robert Cunynghame of Auchenharvie. She was Robert's cousin German and part of his inheritance was the Barony of Stevenston and the lands of Auchenharvie. He also owned some of the lands of Lambroughton and Chapeltoun. He married Anne Purves of Purves Hall in 1669 and had seventeen children. Despite his inheritance he later got into serious debt.^[5]

A good deal remains of this typical tower castle, which has been ruinous since the 1770's, with indications of the barrel roof vaulting, side tower, ornate sandstone ornamentation, etc. Uncommon orchids have been recorded as growing on the motte.

The house belonged to Sir David Cunningham, 1st Baronet of Auchinhervie, an absentee courtier in England, till 1642. He planned to add additional building in 1634, beginning with a garden wall around the old tower. He had thought the house too small to accommodate his friends in 1628 during a planned royal visit, so he asked his cousin David Cunningham of Robertland to accommodate his mother so that if his friends visited they could stay at Robertland instead.<

In 1829 Aitken's map shows the castle as belonging to a Colonel Barns.^[6]

The Resurrectionists

A local legend is that in the days of the 'body snatchers' or 'resurrectionists'; before the Anatomy Act of 1832, bodies obtained locally were hidden in the ruins before being taken up to Glasgow at night to sell to the surgeons and medical students at the old university who practiced dissection skills on them. Another version of the story states that the bodies were collected together from neighbouring parishes at Darnshaw, a remote house near Bloak Moss on the old Auchenharvie to Megswell route. The bodies were then sold in Glasgow for £10 each to medicals students from the university.^[7]

Auchenharvie House

An estate named Auchenharvie was built by the family in Stevenston and although demolished, the name lives on in Auchenharvie Academy. Middleton near Annick Lodge had been part of the estate, passing into the hands of the Hamiltons of Bourtreehill and then passing to the Earls of Eglinton.^[5]

The Toll Road

The old toll house close to Auchenharvie Castle farm was demolished in the 1990's and a private house with that name now stands on the site. The toll road junction is still extant as farm tracks. A road used to run across the fields from here to cut across the river by a ford below Megswell farm. This road passed beneath the Montgreenan driveway which was carried by a highly ornate bridge at this point. The construction of the Lochlibo Road made this route redundant.

Etymology of Torranyard - The meaning of 'Tour' in Scots is 'Tower', as in the prominent Auchenharvie castle tower nearby. A Yard in Scots is a garden. 'Torranyard' could therefore be a corruption of 'Tour Inn yard.' Local people still pronounce the name 'Torranyard' as 'TOURanyard'. 'Torran' is also a Gaelic word meaning a small hill.^[9] Torranyard is a hamlet at a crossroads on the Irvine to Glasgow 'Lochlibo Road'. It was recorded as 'Turing Yard' in 1747, 'Turnyard' in 1775, 'Tirranyard' on Thomson's 1820 map and in 1832. On the 1860 OS map it is shown as having a toll booth and an inn called 'Tour', on the opposite side of the road from the present Torranyard Inn (2007). The Montgreenan estate and hotel is nearby and the site of the old Girgenti house and surviving tower are nearby on the Cunninghamhead road.

A William Forgisal (Fergushill) of Torranyard was miner at the Doura Pit in the 18th-century. He lost his leg in a mining accident, as had his father. William's wife was a tough sort, her comment being on seeing him so encumbered, was that the Forgisal's would need a small plantation of their own to keep them in crutches.^[9]

The castle mound today is rich in wildflowers, however any visitor should beware as the castle sits in an elevated position with an unfenced vertical drop.