Castle Kennedy is a ruined 17th-century tower house, about east of

Stranraer Stranraer ( , in Scotland also ; gd, An t-Sròn Reamhar ), also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It is located in the historical parish of Inch in the historic county of Wigtownshire. It lies on the shores of L ...

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, around north of the village Castle Kennedy.Coventry, Martin (1997) ''The Castles of Scotland''. Goblinshead. p.109

History

The property belonged to the

Kennedys The Kennedy family is an American political family that has long been prominent in American politics, public service, entertainment, and business. In 1884, 35 years after the family's arrival from Ireland, Patrick Joseph "P. J." Kennedy be ...

from 1482; the castle was started in 1607, on the site of an earlier stronghold, by John Kennedy, 5th Earl of Cassilis. After a brief period in the hands of the Hamiltons of Bargany the property passed to the Dalrymples of Stair around 1677. The castle was gutted by fire in 1716, and it was never restored. Lochinch Castle is about north.

Structure

This E-plan castle was originally on an island in a

loch ''Loch'' () is the Scottish Gaelic, Scots language, Scots and Irish language, Irish word for a lake or sea inlet. It is Cognate, cognate with the Manx language, Manx lough, Cornish language, Cornish logh, and one of the Welsh language, Welsh w ...

. The main block has four storeys and an

attic An attic (sometimes referred to as a '' loft'') is a space found directly below the pitched roof of a house or other building; an attic may also be called a ''sky parlor'' or a garret. Because attics fill the space between the ceiling of the ...

; there are two five-storey projecting square wings; and two seven-storey square towers in the re-entrant angles. One of the seven-storey towers contains the main turnpike stair. Three-storey wings are a later addition. There are large windows, evenly spaced, and shot-holes. From the main entrance a vaulted passage runs through the

basement A basement or cellar is one or more floors of a building that are completely or partly below the ground floor. It generally is used as a utility space for a building, where such items as the furnace, water heater, breaker panel or fuse box, ...

; it communicated with a newel-stair in the south west re-entrant turret. All of the basement rooms, including the large kitchen, are vaulted. It is thought that the public rooms were situated within the main block, which had a single large chamber at each level. There were a series of bedchambers and associated closets in the wings. There is no evidence of any enclosure; there is a walled garden to the south which dates from the 18th century.

Gallery

File:Lavender! Get your lavender! (6559826033).jpg, Flower bed in the Walled Garden File:Box hedge and sundial in the Walled Garden, Castle Kennedy - geograph.org.uk - 2684796.jpg, Box hedge and sundial in the Walled Garden File:Castle Kennedy Gardens (33214399331).jpg, Footbridge File:Castle Kennedy Gardens (32528097873).jpg, Castle Kennedy Gardens File:Castle Kennedy Gardens Canal (30048581747).jpg, Canal

References

{{Castles in Dumfries and Galloway Castles in Dumfries and Galloway

History

Structure

See also

Gallery

References