Ross Castle

NY08NE 1 0670 8870.

(NY 0670 8870) Ross Castle (NR) (Site of)

OS 6" map (1957)

'Ye Rose castel', the castle of the barony of Ross, is shown on map of 1590, and part of an old wall in the steadings of Ross Mains is thought, because of its comparative thickness, to be of the castle.

Name Book 1857; J and R Hyslop 1912

The now disused farmhouse at Ross Mains incorporates in its basement the remains of an earlier building comprising several blocked windows, a fireplace and stone staircase. Whilst not easy to date these remains, it seems possible that they are from a 16th century building.

Visited by OS (JP) 5 October 1972

Ross Mains is an exceptional example of a medium-sized Georgian farmhouse. Built in 1728 for the Duke of Queensberry, it consists of a five-bay hip-roofed block (recently re-roofed), two storeys and an attic in height over a partially sunken basement. External detail includes an ogival-moulded plinth, rusticated quoins, a plain-eaves band and mounded cornice. The entrance is central to the facade and is approached by a flight of stairs. The doorway has a richly moulded shouldered surround and is surmounted by a panel bearing the Queensberry arms and the date 1728. Internally, although remodelled and, more recently, partially gutted, original features include some panelling, skirting and cornices, a silhouette balustrade in the attic, basement kitchen fireplace and service stair.

Incorporated into the basement of the house, in re-use as lintels and in the fabric of a fireplace to the rear of the service stair, there are a number of architectural fragments of 16th-century date, probably from a tower-house which may have stood on or close to the site. Two other fragments, each wrought with a rounded arris, are incorporated into the neighbouring steading, towards the E end of the S wall at a height of about 1.8m (NY 0671 8866).

Visited by RCAHMS (IMS/JRS) 9 September 1993.

NY08NE 64 06674 88659 Ross Mains Farm and Farmhouse