Baltersan Castle

Baltersan Castle is a ruined tower house which sits surrounded by agricultural land and is easily visible from the A77 south of Maybole. The building is surrounded by a safety fence and is not accessible to the public. Unfortunately, when the castle ruin was sold, insufficient attention was paid to access needs from a main road across the field, and therefore, plans to restore the building appear to have stalled.

The tower sits on a slope which overlooks the canalised watercourses that drain into the Abbeymill burn, and is not particularly sited for defence. The lands of Baltersan were held by the Kennedy family from the 15th century up until they were bequeathed to the Abbey in about 1530 by the widowed lady of the estate. In a fairly typical example of Reformation business, David Kennedy of Pennyglen secured title to the lands in 1574, and modified or replaced the existing building, a datestone of 1584 recording the fact. The tower is a modest L-plan building with a turret stair providing access to the upper floors from the hall, a larger stair in the wing leading from the entrance to the first floor, and a private stair leading to the wine cellar from the hall for the lairds use only. There were two storeys above, with a round turret on the third floor level overlooking the entrance area, and the watch tower of the wing corbelled slightly out on decorative masonry. A carved lintel records the pious phrase “THE NAME OF THE LORD UIS A STRONG TOWER: THE RIGHTEOUS RUNNETH INTO IT”. He was followed by his son, another John, in 1597, by a third John in 1609, and a fourth John in 1616.

Subsequently the history of the land ownership is unclear, but it appears to have passed to the Culzean branch of the Kennedies, with John Kennedy of Culzean, and Sir Alexander Kennedy of Craigock, a  younger son of the laird of Culzean both succeeding to the estate. Craigock was succeeded at Baltersan in 1652 by his third son, Major Thomas, who was still around in 1686. Major Thomas had three daughters, and therefore Baltersan passed to one of his son-in-laws, Hugh Kennedy of Ardmillan. Hugh had a son, John, who died without children in 1721 in London, leaving the estate the subject of a lawsuit. It is not clear at what point the castle was abandoned.

HES Canmore database entry