Auchenharvie Castle

Auchenharvie Castle is a ruined tower house on a rocky outcrop which has been subjected to extensive quarrying, and overlooks Auchenharvie Farm. The outcrop has been largely removed on three sides, meaning that the general setting of the tower is no longer comprehensible. The castle was a modest rectangular tower house presumed to have been entered at ground floor level through a doorway in the east gable, a stair in the thickness of the wall leading up to the first floor. Most of the east gable and north wall have now fallen, but the 19th century plan published in MacGibbon and Ross shows that even then the entrance area and north-east corner had vanished. The first floor had a central fireplace in the southern wall (the entire flue now fallen) and a well-formed arched opening to the west of that may have actually been the entrance. The vaulted basement was lit by a slit window in the west gable, and perhaps a matching one at the east end if it was not the doorway. A circular opening off a small window in the north floor was interpreted as containing a stairway to the upper floor – but this was partially collapsed in the 19th century and has now gone altogether. A continuous run of corbelling supported the open round corner bartizans, but much of this is now missing as well. The quarrying and ruinous nature of the site show that it has been deliberately misused over the years, and some rather odd comments in the Wikipedia article show that access is not welcomed by the landowner.

The Cunninghames of Auchenharvie were an offshoot of the principal line of the Cunninghams, lords of Kilmaurs, which lay a few miles to the south-east. Alexander Cunningham was created  the first Earl of Glencairn in 1488 by James III, and died soon afterwards in his service at Sauchieburn. In the Scots peerage, Robert Cunningham of Auchenharvie had two sons, the elder (Edward) was killed in a fight with Hugh Montgomerie, son of the earl of Eglinton before 1523. The younger was Robert, who succeeded him and appears as a witness in documents from 1541. Elsewhere it is noted that William Cunningham of Craigends, the second son of the earl of Glencairn killed in 1488, was the traditional ancestor of the Auchenharvie family, presumably therefore the father or grandfather of the elder Robert noted above. The tower could architecturally be considered to date to the late 15th century and therefore to have been built for the elder Robert. Adam Cunninghame, younger of Auchinharvie, is recorded in 1567 and 1580, and he was laird in 1583. By 1638 Sir David Cunninghame was laird of Auchenharvie, but he was largely away at court in England, and had found the place too small to live in when visiting the area in 1628. Sir Robert Cunningham, his grandson, was the physician to King Charles II, rewarded with a baronetcy in 1673. His son died only two years after he had, and left a daughter who was not able to inherit due to the terms of the entail of the estate, which passed to her cousin Robert instead. Robert fell into serious debt, and the estate was broken up in the 18th century, the tower then left to decay. It is still shown as occupied by General Roy c1750, but by 1820 was in ruins.

HES Canmore database entry