Balzieland Castle

Balzieland Castle is a badly ruined tower house dating back to the 15th century at least. A single stub of masonry nearly 10 metres high stands tall in the walls of the walled garden for Logan House, which is its ultimate replacement. The estate at the point of writing is listed as under offer, having been placed for sale – but the ruin is within the Logan Botanical Gardens, which is open to the public.

The MacDowall/MacDouall family were long-term residents in Galloway, but in Kirkcudbrightshire rather than Wigtownshire, and received their first charters in the area in 1467, when Patrick MacDowall was lord of Logan. It has long been asserted that Balzieland was the old name for Logan, and that the castle was burned down in about 1500, destroying the early records relating to the lands. What is known is that Patrick MacDowall received a new charter in 1504 – and  presumably rebuilt the castle. It is unknown whether the ruin that stands is from the burned-down building, or the rebuild.

From examining the map of William Roy, it seems that the ruin stands in the location of the L-shaped building depicted adjacent to the name “Loggan”. The later Logan House seems to be depicted to the north of the name. What survives is the southern corner of the building, and whilst it is true that the full height is only about 3 metres in length, examination of photographs shows that the lower fragment is more than twice this size, and contains a tiny slit window in the middle. What is more, the northern end of the old wall does not contain the quoinstones at the southern corner, meaning the building extended farther in this direction – entirely consistent with the building depicted by Roy. It therefore appears likely that the ruin is in fact part of the rebuilt house, and that it survived into the mid 18th century at least. The plans of Logan house from the recent sale do not shed any light on the matter, but the house is described in its listing as “a fine Queen Anne house completed in 1702; earlier construction can be identified in the cellar.” If this date is accurate, it would suggest that the two buildings were occupied simultaneously. It is not at all clear whether the name “Balzieland” should therefore be assigned to the ruin – or where the name came from. I have been unable to find any online reference which predates MacKerlie’s 1906 book giving the details of the c1500 events. It is also perfectly possible that substantial extensions to a David Bryce design, now removed, have obscured matters somewhat.

HES Canmore database entry