Publication Account
Date 1986
Event ID 1017415
Category Descriptive Accounts
Type Publication Account
Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017415
Perched on a sea cliff, the ruins of this castle occupy the most spectacular coastal setting of any in southwest Scotland. It is a substantial ruin too, presenting a 30.2m-long landward front on the edge of a 15m wide rock-cut ditch. Entry is through an arched gateway in this wall which was originally secured with a sliding drawbar. The promontory on which the castle stands is enclosed within the remains of a circuit-wall; vestiges of a watch-tower lie at the seaward extremity, and foundations of a building, probably including a kitchen, adjoin the south angle of the tower.
The ditch and parts of the enclosure may have formed part of an earlier castle of the Adair family; a castle has been on record since the 14th century, but some time before 1503 it was invested and burnt by the fearsome McCullochs of Myrton and Cardoness. The nucleus of the tower was built early in the 16th century by William Adair of Kinhilt (d. 1513), probable builder also ofStranraer Castle (no. 15). It was later added to and remodelled, the most likely patron for this work being Viscount Montgomery, laird of Dunskey from 1608 until his death in 1636. After his acquisition of the estate in 1648 the Reverend James Blair moved to Killantringan, and already by 1684 this castle was 'wholly ruinous'.
The main block is a sizeable L-plan tower with a later long gallery range to the north-west. The arrangement of rooms follows the usual pattern: vaulted cellars on the ground floor, main public rooms on the first floor, and private chambers on the upper floors. On the first floor, the great hall takes up the whole of the main block, and leads through to the gallery. On the ground floor, the layout around the entrance has been complicated by the later insertion of a large scale-andplatt (straight-flighted) staircase. Previously, the main stair ascended the turret in the re-entrant angle, while the wing may have contained the original kitchen before it was out-housed. Curiously, the water-supply, a well-chamber beneath the east wall, appears to have been accessible only from the outside. The northernmost cellar in the main building was designed for access only from the courtyard, not from within, possibly for stabling. Two dark unlit chambers on the ground floor suggest a more sinister purpose; every good castle should have at least one really unpleasant prison-cell!
Information from ‘Exploring Scotland’s Heritage: Dumfries and Galloway’, (1986).
