The Castle of Park is a 16th-century L-plan

tower house A tower house is a particular type of stone structure, built for defensive purposes as well as habitation. Tower houses began to appear in the Middle Ages, especially in mountainous or limited access areas, in order to command and defend strateg ...

near

Glenluce Glenluce ( gd, Clachan Ghlinn Lus) is a small village in the parish of Old Luce in Wigtownshire, Scotland. It contains a village shop,a caravan park and a town hall, as well as the parish church. Location Glenluce on the A75 road between Stranr ...

, in the historic county of Wigtownshire in

Dumfries and Galloway Dumfries and Galloway ( sco, Dumfries an Gallowa; gd, Dùn Phrìs is Gall-Ghaidhealaibh) is one of 32 unitary council areas of Scotland and is located in the western Southern Uplands. It covers the counties of Scotland, historic counties of ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

. It is a category A

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

History

The castle was begun in 1590 for Thomas Hay, the son of one of the Commendators of

Glenluce Abbey Glenluce Abbey, near to Glenluce, Scotland, was a Cistercian monastery called also ''Abbey of Luce'' or ''Vallis Lucis'' and founded around 1190 by Rolland or Lochlann, Lord of Galloway and Constable of Scotland. Following the Scottish Reformatio ...

, and his wife Jonet MakDouel. It was completed by 1599. The building was extended in the 18th century, and was used by the Hay family until Sir John Dalrymple-Hay sold the Park estate in 1875; it was then left uninhabited. The Cunningham family acquired Castle of Park in 1830. They later abandoned Castle of Park in favour of Dunragit House, using Castle of Park to house farm laborers. It is reported that Castle of Park is haunted by the ghost of a Monk who was murdered by walling him up in one of the rooms. A green lady who became pregnant whilst working at the castle has also been seen through the years. A program of restoration was carried out in the 1950s and 1960s by the Ministry of Public Buildings and Works, including removal of the 18th-century wings. In the 1980s, additional work was done by the

Landmark Trust The Landmark Trust is a British building conservation charity, founded in 1965 by Sir John and Lady Smith, that rescues buildings of historic interest or architectural merit and then makes them available for holiday rental. The Trust's headqua ...

. The building is now maintained using income from its use as holiday accommodation. At various times the building has also been known as "Park Hay", "The Park O' Luce", "Park Castle" and "Park House". The antiquarian

Richard Pococke Richard Pococke (19 November 1704 – 25 September 1765)''Notes and Queries'', p. 129. was an English-born churchman, inveterate traveller and travel writer. He was the Bishop of Ossory (1756–65) and Meath (1765), both dioceses of the Church ...

visited in 1760, and described, "The Park, Sir Thomas Hay's, a castle most beautifully situated on a ridge which is at the foot of hill, having towards the river a steep hanging ground covered with wood, and a more gentle descent southwards to the meadows on the bay adorned with trees".

Description

The building is divided into four floors. The lowest floor consists of three

barrel vault A barrel vault, also known as a tunnel vault, wagon vault or wagonhead vault, is an architectural element formed by the extrusion of a single curve (or pair of curves, in the case of a pointed barrel vault) along a given distance. The curves are ...

ed rooms used as kitchens and store-rooms; above this is the main hall measuring some by . The third and fourth floors are divided into smaller rooms. The southward projection contains a large spiral staircase, from which a further spiral stair leads to the roof and to a small room above the main stair. Although imposing, the building is not defensible. Unlike earlier examples such as

Drum Castle Drum Castle is a castle near Drumoak in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. For centuries it was the seat of the chief of Clan Irvine. The place-name Drum is derived from Gaelic ''druim'', 'ridge'. The site is located approximately northeast of Banchory a ...

, the walls are hollowed out with additional staircases and, to quote the 1898 description, " commodious closets".Reproduced in

References

External links

Castle of Park
at the Landmark Trust {{DEFAULTSORT:Castle Of Park Landmark Trust properties in Scotland Castles in Wigtownshire

Park A park is an area of natural, semi-natural or planted space set aside for human enjoyment and recreation or for the protection of wildlife or natural habitats. Urban parks are urban green space, green spaces set aside for recreation inside t ...

Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Listed castles in Scotland Historic Scotland properties in Dumfries and Galloway Tower houses in Scotland