Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire
Photo © wfmiller, 17 March 2008
Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire
Photo © Dreamer84, 30 August 2007
Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire
Photo © Ian Rainey, 13 June 2006
Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire Photo © wfmiller, 17 March 2008 |
Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire Photo © Dreamer84, 30 August 2007 |
Hunterston Castle, North Ayrshire Photo © Ian Rainey, 13 June 2006 |
The Castle built ( circa 1200 ) and owned by the Hunter family who came over
to Britain with William the Conqueror and West Kilbride soon after, is in very
good condition as it has been restored.
West Kilbride is a village in North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland
by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the water to Goat Fell and the Isle of
Arran. West Kilbride and adjoining districts of Seamill and Portencross are
generally considered to be a small town, having a combined population of 4,393
at the 2001 census.
There are four standing castles in the area in and surrounding West Kilbride.
Hunterston Castle, on the nearby Hunterston estate, is home to the historic
Clan Hunter. It hosts regular clan gatherings which bring clan members to the
area, from all corners of the world. The current Clan Chief is Madam Pauline
Hunter. Close to the castle is a walled garden which is being replanted and
restored.
HUNTERSTON CASTLE, AYRSHIRE.
A keep, with a modern house attached, standing on a level plain about half a mile inland from the Frith of Clyde, and about midway between Largs and West Kilbride. In. ancient times a morass stretched round the castle, with a protecting moat and rampart, all of which have now disappeared, the morass being changed into cultivated land and a beautifully-wooded park. The original keep is of small dimensions, measuring about 24 feet 6 inches by 21 feet 6 inches, and about 34 feet high to the top of the parapet. It contained four stories, of which the undermost is vaulted, and was probably the store. It has no fireplace, but there is the usual stone drain, and an opening for a hoist in the arch overhead, but no other communication with the floor above. The main entrance was on the first floor, from which a wheel-stair in the thickness of the wall led to the top t The parapet walk is protected by a battlement projected on small corbels round three sides only. The corbelling ceases near the end of the north wall, and the parapet is continued round the east side flush with the walls of the keep. This has probably been an alteration made when the wing was added to the east. The walls of the keep are nearly 5 feet in thickness, and it has generally the character of a structure of the beginning of the sixteenth century. The keep was enlarged, apparently in the seventeenth century, by the addition of the building shown by hatched lines on the Plan, thus converting it into a house of an oblong plan, with a staircase turret projecting in the middle of the south side. In this turret is the entrance doorway, on the ground floor, and the circular staircase which gives access both to the old and new parts of the structure. On one of the skew stones of the staircase turret are the initials R. D. The new building has been divided by timber partitions into apartments, and probably at the same time the old hall on the first floor was screened off from the wheel-staircase and garde-robe. This hall is still used as an occasional room by Colonel Gould Hunter Weston, the proprietor, and is fitted up as a library. The large old stone fireplace has been filled in with a smaller one, probably at the time the additions were made. The caps of the ancient fireplace are still in position. Above it is an old painted hatchment con- taining the Hunter arms, with the motto CURSUM PERPICIO. The building is in good preservation, and was the family residence till the erection of the present mansion house (which is in the immediate neigh- bourhood) in the early part of this century. There were ranges of offices attached to the castle, on the south side, which no longer exist, the site being now occupied by a modern homestead. The small courtyard on the south side seems, however, to be old. What remains is very picturesque, and comes on the visitor as a surprise, owing to its not being visible from any distance.
Hunterston derives its name from the office of Hunter, or Venator of the King's lands, held by the family from a very early period.
THE CASTELLATED AND DOMESTIC ARCHITECTURE OF SCOTLAND BY DAVID MACGIBBON AND
THOMAS ROSS, 1889