Glengarnock Castle

Glengarnock Castle is a ruined “great tower” and courtyard occupying a promontory site overlooking the River Garnock in Ayrshire. A substantial ditch isolates the promontory, and the tower stands to the rear of the courtyard. The ruins of the tower are both impressive, showing that it had a double height vault at ground and first floor level, and vulnerable – great cracks in what remains of the vault allow daylight through. The courtyard had towers and buildings inside which survive to some extent, and the castle may have suffered from landslip at some point.

Glengarnock lies in Cunninghame, a division of Ayrshire which came under the dominance of the kings of Scots in the latter 12th century. It was held by the Riddell family, retainers of the de Morvilles, who were heritable Constables of Scotland. In the 13th century there may have been a fortified promontory with a timber castle here, but the remains that survive are clearly later, and date to the mid 14th century at the earliest, and probably later. The Cunninghame family took possession of Glengarnock in 1477, and was retained by them until laird James fled to Ireland after being involved in a murder. He then sold Glengarnock to George Erskine in 1609. Subsequent transactions are difficult to follow, but it seems likely that the castle fell into decline during the 17th century and was in ruins by the mid 18th. In a storm of 1839, part of the tower collapsed, leading to stabilisation works, but these were designed to prevent further decay, not repair the castle.

HES Canmore database entry