Publication Account

Date 1977

Event ID 1017720

Category Descriptive Accounts

Type Publication Account

Permalink http://canmore.org.uk/event/1017720

The remains of the Cromwellian citadel at Ayr is the best surviving example in Scotland of a fortress of that hue. Cromwellian troops built the citadel in the 1650s on land encompassing not only the area of the old castle but of the parish church as well. Stone for the project was possibly brought by sea from Ardrossan Castle (Dunlop, 1953, 199). The general plan of the fortress can be traced on the ground - the north, northwest, and southwest bastion walls being complete and backed by an earthen platform on the west and southwest. The enclosed area in total is twenty-seven acres - room enough for a garrison of 2000 foot and horse soldiers (Ordnance Survey, Record Cards, Reference NS 32 SW 15). The fortress although short-lived as a military establishment, was raised into the status of a baronial burgh in 1663 after King Charles II granted the area to the Earl of Eglinton. The burgesses of Ayr purchased the charter from the Earl in 1687 and sold it in turn to the Countess of Eglinton in 1727, who tried to encourage diverse industries such as brewing within the citadel precinct In 1755 the citadel passed in ownership to the Kennedies of Culzean.

Information from ‘Historic Ayr: The Archaeological Implications of Development’, (1977).