MacLellan's Castle - Photo ©
Sarah Charlesworth, 24 Aug. 2003
McLellan's Castle
Photo © Colin Smith, July 2002
MacLellan's Castle - Great Hall
Photo © Otter, 22 April 2008
MacLellan's Castle - Photo © Sarah Charlesworth, 24 Aug. 2003 |
McLellan's Castle Photo © Colin Smith, July 2002 |
MacLellan's Castle - Great Hall Photo © Otter, 22 April 2008 |
MacLellan's Castle, in Kirkcudbright, south west Scotland, was the noble residence of the MacLellan family. Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie (died 1597) was Provost of Kirkcudbright and father of Robert Maclellan, 1st Lord Kirkcudbright. He was responsible for the construction of MacLellan's Castle, a red sandstone ruined castle, dating from 1582. The castle is located right in the centre of this former county town.
MACLELLAN'S HOUSE, KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE.
This fine example of sixteenth-century architecture is situated in the town of Kirkcudbright, on the left bank of the river Dee. The house is roofless, but its walls are quite entire, and it could easily be made habitable. It is worthy of being better taken care of than it is at present. If roofed in so as to protect the walls from the weather, the building would last for a very long time, and there are many purposes in a town like Kirkcudbright, such as a local museum, to which it might be adapted. The whole building is a mass of ivy, giving it the appearance of a huge hay-stack, of a green instead of a yellow colour. Fortunately this little bit is still visible, otherwise a very vague idea could be formed of the character of the details of the architecture.
The building may be described generally as of the L plan, with a projecting tower or wing at the south-west corner, and a double projection at the re-entering angle. The latter is an unusual feature, and is probably unique, or nearly so, in Scotland. The single square projection is frequent, as at Balvaird, Dalcross, etc., also the round tower is often met with ; but in none of the examples shown in this work do we meet with a double projection. In other respects the general disposition of the place is not unlike that of Elcho and Kellie.
The house consists of four stories, with an attic in addition in the south-west tower, and in part of the north end of the house. The whole of the ground floor is vaulted, and is about 9 feet high. It has no internal communication with the upper floors except by a door, now built up, adjoining the main entrance doorway. This peculiar arrangement for cutting off the ground floor from the upper floors explains the use of the double break in the re-entering angle. The doorway leading into the circular staircase, shown on the ground floor in the south-west tower, is built up, so that this part of the plan is conjectural, but the position of the passage, which apparently led to the staircase, seems to indicate that the steps descended to this level. It would be useful as a service stair to the great hall from the kitchen and cellars.
The kitchen is in the east end of the ground floor, with a separate door to the outside. There is a service window into the passage, beside the kitchen door, and at the corner of the passage will be seen on the plan a small diagonal opening with a square corner support, the purpose of which is not clear. The kitchen fireplace is about 14 feet 6 inches by 7 feet, and has a window at one end. At the north end of the building is a so-called ice-house, down a few steps, and outside the ice-house is the well. Opposite the entrance door a straight flight of steps leads to the first floor. On the right hand is the great hall, 42 feet 8 inches long by 19 feet wide, lighted by four windows, one of which is deeply recessed in a wall 11 feet 6 inches thick. The fireplace on the east side of the hall is 10 feet 7 inches wide, with a huge stone lintel in one piece. At the back of the fireplace a spy-hole opens into a little closet, entering off the landing of the principal staircase, from which the proceedings in the hall might be secretly observed. We have seen in other houses similar contrivances for privately reconnoitring the ongoings in the principal apartments of a house. This floor also contains three good apartments, one being the private room, entering from the hall, and the others being probably bedrooms. On the upper floors the house is divided on plan into three parts, served by three wheel stairs, all of which begin on the first floor, separate entrance doors being thus provided to all the rooms. In addition, however, the rooms communicate through each other, there being no passages in the upper floors. The withdrawing-room is situated over the hall, and is of the same size, having access by two of the wheel staircases.
The apartments reached by the stair entering off the window in the deep recess in the great hall seem to have been the private chambers of the lord and lady of the house and their family, and the other portions of the house may have been reserved for guests and domestics. There were altogether eighteen or twenty rooms.
Over the entrance door there is a large and ornamental panel, divided into three compartments. In the lower compartment are the arms of Sir Thomas Maclellan and his wife, Dame G. Maxwell, and in one of the compartments, above the shield, are the letters C. M., 1582, the date of erection, and beneath the shield can be made out the letters
DOMS DEBIT THE
HOWS OF HEFP
The window to the right of the panel is in a somewhat similar style, and is ornamented with the revived dog-tooth enrichment, so characteristic of this period. The other window, with parapet above, is from the northmost of the two projections in the re-entering angle.
The builder of this house was Sir Thomas Maclellan of Bombie. He was of a family once prominent in the neighbourhood, but not now represented in the locality. The house stands on the site of the convent of Greyfriars, which, being in ruins, was in 1569 granted to Sir Thomas, and, as we see by the date over the doorway, it was twelve years later before the building was in progress. It is said by local authorities that only a few of the rooms were ever completely finished, or rendered fit for habitation, and that it has been roofless since 1752. Sir Thomas was Provost of Kirkcudbright, and died in 1597.
Immediately adjoining the house, to the south-east, is a small aisle and transept, now used as a school, containing a monument to Sir Thomas and his wife. This building formed a part of the old church, taken down during this century, and, being on the site of the Greyfriars monastery, it is quite possible that part of the old buildings may be incorporated in its walls, although the main structure is evidently of a far later age.
The semicircular arch with its quasi-Gothic mouldings, and dog-tooth enrichments, have been frequently mistaken for old arch stones belonging to the monastery; but they are not so. The whole monument is of one period, and shows in all its details the mixture of Gothic and Classic forms so prevalent at this time. In the spandrel above the arch are two heads, undoubtedly portraits of Sir Thomas and his wife. The Latin inscription may be translated thus: "The Lord Thomas M'Lellan and his wife, Dame Grissel Maxwell, are laid here, and marble covers both. Born of these, R. D. Kirkcudbrius has erected this tomb in honour of his dear father. He died in the year of our Lord 1597." Above this are the Maclellan arms, with a ship, the seal of the burgh, and at the top of the panel a crest, with the Maxwell motto, "Think on," the whole being surmounted by a cherub bending forward to accommodate itself to the slope of the roof, into which the figure is slightly recessed.
"Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland by David Macgibbon and Thomas Boss - 1887"