Culzean Castle, Gas House. View of gas house from South-East.

Description Culzean Castle, Gas House. View of gas house from South-East.

Date 7/8/1991

Catalogue Number B 56328 CN

Category Photographs and Off-line Digital Images

Copies SC 763966

Scope and Content Gas House from south-east, Culzean Castle, South Ayrshire This shows the mid-19th century gas house (gasworks) which stands close to the beach to allow coal to be delivered by sea. It is a rubble-built structure with a corrugated iron roof and ball-finialled tower (left). The brick floor in the foreground and the remains of further walling indicate lost parts of the works. The gas house and manager's house were restored in the 1990s to house an exhibition on the history of gas power. Coal gas for lighting the estate was produced here by the gas manager, who lived in an adjacent cottage. This type of gas was used for lighting from the 1840s. In the early 1900s the gasworks were converted to produce acetylene gas. The Culzean gasworks indicate the modernity and wealth of the estate owner, and visitors would have been shown the facility as part of a tour of the grounds. Culzean Castle was remodelled by architect Robert Adam (1728-92) from 1777 onwards for David, 10th Earl of Cassilis. He extended the late 16th-century, L-plan tower-house in the Castellated style and added a drum tower in 1785. Adam also designed the Neo-Classical interior, oval staircase (built 1787), and adjacent home farm. The castle was extended to the west in 1875 by architects Wardrop & Reid, and restored in the 20th century for The National Trust for Scotland. Source: RCAHMS contribution to SCRAN.

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