The Castle of St John, also known as Stranraer Castle, is an early 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 ...

in the centre of Stranraer, in Dumfries and Galloway, southwest Scotland. It was built by the Adairs of Kilhilt (who originally came from Ireland) c.1510. It has been used as a home, a court, a police station and as a military garrison during the "Killing Times" of Covenanter persecution in the 1680s. During the

Victorian era In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardia ...

, the castle was modified to serve as a prison, and it was used as an ARP base during the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

. The castle was refurbished in the late 1980s and is now a museum.

References

External links

Castle of St John
- official site * St. John Castles in Wigtownshire Category A listed buildings in Dumfries and Galloway Listed castles in Scotland Listed prison buildings in Scotland Museums in Dumfries and Galloway History museums in Scotland Prison museums in the United Kingdom Defunct prisons in Scotland Military and war museums in England Stranraer Tower houses in Scotland {{UK-museum-stub