Auchans Castle,
[Adamson, Page 85] House, House of Auchans
[Paterson, Pages 432] or Old Auchans, is a mock military mansion, Category A listed, T-plan building of a late 16th-century date converted to the L-plan during the early-to-mid-17th century; its ruins stand about 1 km W of
Dundonald,
South Ayrshire
South Ayrshire ( sco, Sooth Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir a Deas, ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. On 30 June 2 ...
, Scotland. Parish of Dundonald. It was held at various times by the
Wallace
Wallace may refer to:
People
* Clan Wallace in Scotland
* Wallace (given name)
* Wallace (surname)
* Wallace (footballer, born 1986), full name Wallace Fernando Pereira, Brazilian football left-back
* Wallace (footballer, born 1987), full name ...
,
Cochrane and
Montgomerie families.
Description
![Auchans Castle view from garden](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/Auchans_Castle_view_from_garden.JPG)
McKean refers to Auchans as being amongst Scotland's principal châteaux which he defines as the ''dwelling of the owner of a great property, a large and beautiful pleasure house in the countryside'', and records that James Wallace added the fashionable square stair-tower in the re-entrant angle, with its viewing platform and broken pediments in 1644. The spelling on
Joan Blaeu
Joan Blaeu (; 23 September 1596 – 21 December 1673) was a Dutch cartographer born in Alkmaar, the son of cartographer Willem Blaeu.
Life
In 1620, Blaeu became a doctor of law but he joined the work of his father. In 1635, they published ...
's map of 1654 is 'Aghans'.
The castle stands on a slightly elevated knoll and is constructed mainly of
whinstone
Whinstone is a term used in the quarrying industry to describe any hard dark-coloured rock. Examples include the igneous rocks, basalt and dolerite, as well as the sedimentary rock, chert.
Etymology
The Northern English/Scots term ''whin'' is f ...
.
Cummell recorded in the 18th century that the building reminded him of the old Glasgow College buildings.
[Service, Page 108] The original house, with its high gables, had three principal storeys; the basement was vaulted and a stair-tower was situated externally, central to the South side. The balustraded terrace on the South side of castle was at one time enclosed within a courtyard. A new wing, three storeys and a
garret
A garret is a habitable attic, a living space at the top of a house or larger residential building, traditionally, small, dismal, and cramped, with sloping ceilings. In the days before elevators this was the least prestigious position in a bu ...
in height, was at a later date added at the West end of the North wall, and a stair-tower, with a Renaissance-style doorway, was built, still visible in the present ruins. This new wing was extended still further on the North by the addition of a block with two towers. The basement of the block was vaulted; one of the towers was corbelled, square in section and its gables crow-stepped. Domestic buildings were added on the South and East sides of the courtyard.
The kitchen stood in the western wing; the first floor contained a suite of principal rooms, that in the western wing being known as the dining room in the 1860s, probably originally being the private room and bedroom of the proprietor. It was wood panelled and had an ornate marble fireplace.
[MacGibbon & Ross, Page 174] The second floor contained bedrooms and the third floor, partly in the roof, was chiefly occupied by a long gallery. This was lit by dormer windows and by a large traceried window in the east gable, long built up.
[MacGibbon & Ross, Page 176] The entrance was in the square balustraded tower and was of the Renaissance style. The main block of the castle was not vaulted and only the cellars in the North wing had vaults. Only a few gun-loops were provided as by 1644 such defensive structures were largely redundant.
One of the 'side angles' in 1876 carried a date stone engraved with the year '1644' and another carried the date '1667'. Likely
marriage stone
A marriage stone, nuptial stone or lintel stone is usually a stone, rarely wood, lintel carved with the initials, coat of arms, etc. of a newly married couple, usually displaying the date of the marriage. They were very popular until Victorian time ...
s carried the initials that relate to
Sir William Cochrane and his wife Eupheme Scott.
The now greatly ruined castle stands in its woodland policies amidst a series of stone-walled parks, the walls of which are mainly in a state of collapse. The building and the park walls were in the main constructed using stone robbed from
Dundonald Castle
Dundonald Castle is situated on a hill overlooking the village of Dundonald, between Kilmarnock and Troon in South Ayrshire, Scotland. Dundonald Castle is a fortified tower house built for Robert II on his accession to the throne of Scotlan ...
. A vast number of valuable Eglinton family papers were discovered in one of the apartments in the 1880s, rescued as the building was in a terminal state of decay. Many had already been destroyed through neglect.
[Paterson, Page 433][Millar, Page 14]
The Auchans pear, gardens and policies
MacGibbon & Ross record that flower gardens stood to the side of the property within a walled garden. In 1875 this garden was still under cultivation and in the orchard had stood the parent tree of the famous Auchans pear, the first of its kind in the county, brought in from France (or Norway)
[Classification of pears](_blank)
/ref> at an early date, said to be during the reign of Mary, Queen of Scots
Mary, Queen of Scots (8 December 1542 – 8 February 1587), also known as Mary Stuart or Mary I of Scotland, was Queen of Scotland from 14 December 1542 until her forced abdication in 1567.
The only surviving legitimate child of James V of Scot ...
. This tree had grown to a great height and was blown down in 1793. In 2003 a sample of pears from Pluscarden Abbey
Pluscarden Abbey is a Catholic Benedictine monastery in the glen of the Black Burn, southwest of Elgin, Moray, Scotland. It was founded in 1230 by Alexander II for the Valliscaulian Order.
In 1454, following a merger with the priory of Urqu ...
near Elgin were sent for identification and were found to be the Black Aachen or Auchans pear. Hogg's Fruit Manual also records them as growing in Cheshire.
The Auchans pear may have taken its name from the castle as the proper name, 'The Toadback Pear', had dropped out of usage. It is a lumpy russet, showing great health and vigour and the fruit is described as being as "ugly as a toad". Other varieties are Red Auchan and Winter Achan. The flesh is described as ''tender, buttery, juicy, sugary, with a rich and aromatic flavour.'' Auchans are Scotch dessert pears of first-rate quality; ripe in November and December. As stated, the tree is a very abundant and regular bearer, particularly when it has acquired age. The Auchans pear spread all over Scotland as shown by the Pluscarden Abbey survival.
An artificial loch was situated within the policies, well stocked with fish. The Old Bank is the name given to the tree-covered hillside to the west, bordering the old deer park. An area known as Kemp Law is associated with the site of a vitrified fort
Vitrified forts are stone enclosures whose walls have been subjected to vitrification through heat. It was long thought that these structures were unique to Scotland, but they have since been identified in several other parts of western and northe ...
and the Badger Brae that lies nearby. The mid-19th century OS maps show a complex of out-buildings and a dwelling called Old Auchans, situated above the castle and with Parkthorn farm nearby; it had views of what is now the quarry. The Old Auchans property is now ruinous; it may have been the dwelling of the estate factors before New Auchans House, now demolished, was built.
The Deer Park and Rabbit Warren
A deer park was present in the 1820s as shown by Thomson's map. Opposite Dundonald Castle is a high and precipitous bank, wooded, which until the 1820s formed part of the boundary of the Auchans deer park. The whole herd was removed by the Earl of Eglinton to the Eglinton Castle
Eglinton Castle was a large Gothic castellated mansion in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland.
History
The castle
The ancient seat of the Earls of Eglinton, it is located just south of the town of Kilwinning. The original Eglinton Castle w ...
policies. The woods around the property were extensive and old; Auchans had been long been famed as a preserve for game. The OS map of the mid-19th century shows a rabbit warren in the central area between the Beech Wood and the Kemp Law areas.
Wallace, Cochrane and Montgomerie families
In 1527 the estate of Achynche (Auchans) was first held by the Wallaces of Dundonald. Colonel James Wallace was the last of that family to occupy the castle; he was an active supporter of the Solemn league and Covenant
Covenant may refer to:
Religion
* Covenant (religion), a formal alliance or agreement made by God with a religious community or with humanity in general
** Covenant (biblical), in the Hebrew Bible
** Covenant in Mormonism, a sacred agreement b ...
and led the rising at Pentland in November 1666.[Adamson, Page 85] He died in exile in Rotterdam in 1678. His family were a branch of the Wallaces of Craigie. In 1640 the estate passed to his relative Sir William Cochrane of Cowdon, an arrangement carried out prior to Colonel Wallace's participation in the insurrection.
Sir William also suffered during the Civil War, but after the restoration of the monarchy he was created Earl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1669 for the Scottish soldier and politician William Cochrane, 1st Lord Cochrane of Dundonald, along with the subsidiary title of Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltre ...
in 1669 for his services to the Crown.[Love (2003), Page 227] The second earl for a time lived with his mother, Lady Katherine Kennedy, at Auchans, after his father died, circa 1679. Adamson relates ambiguously that the earl lost the estate due to unfortunate scientific speculations. In 1876, it is recorded that one of the side angles had the date of 1644 and another of 1667; a marriage stone
A marriage stone, nuptial stone or lintel stone is usually a stone, rarely wood, lintel carved with the initials, coat of arms, etc. of a newly married couple, usually displaying the date of the marriage. They were very popular until Victorian time ...
had the initials WCD (William Cochrane of Dundonald) and ES (Eupheme Scott) also occurred in two places.
After the death of Lady Eglinton in 1780, Auchans housed workmen's families. Archibald, the 11th Earl of Eglinton lived here for a while at some stage.[Adamson, Page 85] The Dundonald cemetery houses the Auchans burial ground, next to that of Craighouse, Fairlie house and Shewalton House. John Dunlop Esq. of Whitmuir Hall near Selkirk has a memorial plaque, giving the fact that he was Factor to Lady Susanna Montgomery at Auchans and died in 1836, aged 61. John Dunlop Esq. is quoted by William Aiton as having set up and recorded rainfall with a rain gauge at Auchans House in 1808-1809.[Aiton, Pages 18 & 19]
In 1846 the property was owned by Lady Mary Montgomerie, by whose servants it was chiefly inhabited and it was becoming ruinous, with parts untenanted and locked up. The structure was altered quite considerably to accommodate the workmen and some features, such as ornate marble fireplaces, were removed and taken to Auchans House, now demolished. In 1875 estate foresters occupied the ground floor, but the roof was well maintained. In 1885 stones had been take to build cottars houses however part of the west wing next to the north gable was re-roofed. Janet Gilchrist, a single lady, was at the time employed as a caretaker and remained until 1897.
In 1892, following the death of Archibald William, the 14th Earl of Eglinton, his daughter Lady Sofia Constance Montgomerie inherited the Auchans estate that comprised the house and policies together with the farms of Bogside, Broomhill, Clevance, Crooks, Girtrig, Guilliland, Highlees, Kilnford, Laurieston, Parkthorn and Ploughland.
The building was able to be used during World War I to house German prisoners of war, however by 1922 the roof had largely collapsed.[Buildings at Risk register](_blank)
/ref>
Auchans was at one point re-acquired by the Earl of Dundonald
Earl of Dundonald is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1669 for the Scottish soldier and politician William Cochrane, 1st Lord Cochrane of Dundonald, along with the subsidiary title of Lord Cochrane of Paisley and Ochiltre ...
, who owned Auchans House in 1951. Attempts are occasionally made to restore the castle, including interest by the Clan Wallace Society.
Lady Susanna Montgomery, dowager countess of Eglinton
It was traditional and practical for a dowager to move out of the family seat and dwell within a dower house
A dower house is usually a moderately large house available for use by the widow of the previous owner of an English, Scottish or Welsh estate. The widow, often known as the "dowager", usually moves into the dower house from the larger family h ...
or jointure-house. Susanna as dowager countess first moved to Kilmaurs Place and then to Auchans. Letters from 1765 are recorded as being written at Auchans and in 1762 she wrote in a letter to her son-in-law James Moray of Abercairney that her son (the tenth Earl) had given her Auchans House and that she was about to repair it. Millar records that after the murder, by Mungo Campbell
Mungo Nutter Campbell of Ballimore (1785–1862) was a 19th-century Scottish merchant who served as Lord Provost of Glasgow 1824/26.
Life
He was born around 1785 the eleventh child of Alexander Campbell of Dallingburn (1739–1811) and his wife ...
, of her son Alexander, tenth Earl of Eglintoun, in 1769, she had retired from the position which she held in society and when her second son Archibald (the 11th Earl) was married in 1772, she took up her residence permanently at Auchans. She lived at Auchans for eight years.
Susanna is remembered for eccentrically taming a number of rats at Auchans to come for food at her table when she tapped on an oak wall panel and opened a small door. These ten or twelve rats would leave when instructed to; she commented that she valued the gratitude they showed, something she had rarely received from humans.
Views of Auchans Castle
Recorded names for Auchans are Achinynche (15th Century), Auchinche (1512), Achans, Achnes, possibly derived from the Gaelic 'Achaidhean' - 'tilled fields'. Auchans Castle, House of Auchans, Old Auchans and Auchans are modern day renderings that have resulted in confusion with other nearby houses.
File:Auchans Castle Ayrshire from South-East.JPG, A view from the South-East of Auchans in 2009
File:Auchans Castle East Gable with traceried window.JPG, Traceried window in the East gable end
File:Auchans Castle fireplace detail.JPG, Details of old fireplace
File:Auchans Castle interior of round tower.JPG, The interior of one of the round towers
Meeting with Samuel Johnson and James Boswell
In 1773 James Boswell
James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 (New Style, N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the Englis ...
and Samuel Johnson
Samuel Johnson (18 September 1709 – 13 December 1784), often called Dr Johnson, was an English writer who made lasting contributions as a poet, playwright, essayist, moralist, critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer. The ''Oxford ...
visited Lady Susanna, now the Dowager Countess, at her home, Auchans. She embraced Johnson upon his departure and commented that as she was old enough to be his mother, she would adopt him. Auchans is now Old Auchans and stands as a substantial ruin in 2009. Her son Alexander already knew Johnson and had passed on much information about him to his mother.
Johnson, in a letter to Mrs Thrale, described Susanna as ''a lady who for many years gave the laws of elegance to Scotland. She is in full vigour of mind, and not much impaired in form. She is only eighty-three. She was remarking that her marriage was in the year eight; and I told her my birth was in the year nine. 'Then,' says she, 'I am just old enough to be your mother, and I will take you for my son.' At last night came, and I was sorry to leave her.''
Auchans House (new)
A new Auchans House (NS 36035 34900) was built circa 1819 by Monteaulieu Burgess of Coilsfield, designed by William Wallace. Love in 2005 states that the house was in fact built for the Earl of Eglinton and that Burgess was his Commissioner, followed in 1885 by the Hon. Greville Richard Vernon, son of the 1st Lord Lyveden. Major Coats of the Paisley thread manufacturers tenanted the house at one time, as did the Beattie banking family. In 1947 the Earl of Eglinton sold the house to the Earl of Dundonald. The house was sold by the Earl of Dundonald in 1960 to a builder and then demolished in 1970 and the site has since been developed as a housing estate on the edge of Dundonald.
An Auchans Mains recorded in 1832 by John Thomson lay near Kilnford close to Dundonald and was later renamed as Auchans House; this house now lies under the housing estate. A place, possibly a farmstead, named as 'Old Auchans' on the OS map (NS 3536 3447) lies as a ruin in the Beech Wood above the ruined Auchans qv 'Auchans Castle.' The repeated use of the name 'Auchans' has confused the sites over the ages.
The new mansion of Auchans was built in the style of an Italian villa, with projecting glazed porch, giving access to the hall and main staircase. The land around the house was richly wooded, and this character was carefully preserved, so that from whatever side the dwelling was approached it was against a background of woodland. The carriage-drive was bordered for a considerable distance with a symmetrical parterre
A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...
of flowers, and an extensive conservatory formed an exterior wing to the mansion-house.
The principal decoration of the main front wall consisted of the ivy and other trained shrubs. The mantelpieces and surrounds moved from Old Auchans may have survived as the 1960 sale details specifically exclude these items.
Archaeology
An axe-hammer from Auchans Castle is now preserved in the Dick Institute, Kilmarnock
Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...
. An urn, containing fragments of human bones, was found near Auchans Castle by a workman who was digging in a small mound of gravel. The urn, crudely made, disintegrated on exposure, and the remaining fragments were sent to the nearby Dundonald manse, where they were kept for some time. There is no local tradition of a tumulus having existed where this burial urn was found. An extensive area of rig-and-furrow cultivation near the castle has been recorded from aerial photographs.
The OS map of the mid-19th century shows a fort on the heights at the Hallyards.
Natural history
Dundonald Woods (NS363343) are one of the most extensive areas of elm-dominated woodlands in Ayrshire. Ash, oak and sycamore are also abundant; much of the policies are composed of derelict-coppiced-type growth from trees felled in the Second World War. Some conifer plantations are present. Wetland habitats are also present, with springs, an old reservoir near Collennan and a very eutrophic water body, Merklands Loch, all contributing to the high biodiversity of the site. Dog's Mercury, Wood Melick, Broad-leaved Helleborine, and Giant Bellflower are amongst the significant plants present.[Edwards, Site 22] The policies of Auchans Castle still (2010) contain several ancient sycamores of over five metres circumference. Aught Woods lie on a slope running down towards the Collennan Smallholdings.
References
Notes;
Sources;
*Adamson, Archibald R. (1875). ''Rambles Round Kilmarnock''. Kilmarnock : T. Stevenson.
*Aiton, William (1811). ''General View of The Agriculture of the County of Ayr; observations on the means of its improvement; drawn up for the consideration of the Board of Agriculture, and Internal Improvements, with Beautiful Engravings''. Glasgow.
*Billings, Robert William (19010. ''The Baronial and Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Scotland.'' Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd.
*Campbell, Thorbjørn (2003). ''Ayrshire. A Historical Guide''. Edinburgh : Birlinn. .
*Cuthbertson, David Cuningham (1945). ''Autumn in Kyle and the Charm of Cunninghame.'' London : Jenkins.
*Dougall, Charles S. (1911). ''The Burns Country''. London : A & C Black.
*Edwards, Steven (1981). ''Important woodland sites for Wildlife conservation in Ayrshire''. Scottish Wildlife Trust.
*Fraser, William (1859). ''Memorials of the Montgomeries Earls of Eglinton''. Edinburgh.
*Gillespie, James H. (1939). ''Dundonald A Contribution to Parochial History.'' Glasgow : John Wyllie & Co.
*Hill, George Birkbeck (1890). Footsteps of Dr. Johnson (Scotland). London : Sampson Low, Marston, Searle and Rivington.
*Kirkwood, Rev J (1876). ''Troon & Dundonald with their surroundings Local and Historical.'' Kilmarnock : McKie & Drennan.
*Love, Dane (2003), Ayrshire : Discovering a County. Ayr : Fort Publishing. .
*Love, Dane (2006), Lost Ayrshire : Ayrshire's Lost Architectural Heritage. Pub. Edinburgh : Birlinn Ltd. .
*MacGibbon, D. and Ross, T. (1887–92). The castellated and domestic architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the 18th centuries, V II, Edinburgh.
*McKean, Charles (2001). ''The Scottish Chateau''. Stroud : Sutton Publishing. .
*Millar, A. H. (1885). The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire. Glasgow : Grimsay Press. .
* Paterson, James (1863–66). History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton. V - II - Cunninghame. Edinburgh : J. Stillie.
*Robertson, William (1908). Ayrshire: Its History and Historic Families. Glasgow : Grimsay Press. . V.2.
*Service, John (1913), ''The Memorables of Robin Cummell.'' Paisley : Alexander Gardner.
*Stewart, Gordon (2004). ''Old Auchans House, Dundonald.'' Pub. Friends of Dundonald Castle.
*Strawhorn, John and Boyd, William (1951). ''The Third Statistical Account of Scotland. Ayrshire.'' Edinburgh : Oliver & Boyd.
*Tranter, Nigel (1935). ''The Fortalices and Early Mansions of Southern Scotland. 1400-1650''. Edinburgh : The Moray Press.
External links
Video & commentary on Auchans House and Lady Susanna Montgomerie
Old Auchans. Scran. Accessed : 2009-11-19
{{DEFAULTSORT:Auchans Castle, Ayrshire
Castles in South Ayrshire
Category A listed buildings in South Ayrshire
Listed castles in Scotland
History of South Ayrshire
Clan Cochrane