Sorn Castle from the River Ayr Way - geograph

Sorn Castle is located by the

River Ayr The River Ayr (pronounced like ''air'', ''Uisge Àir'' in Gaelic) is a river in Ayrshire, Scotland. At it is the longest river in the county. The river was held as sacred by pre-Christian cultures. The remains of several prehistoric sacrificia ...

just outside the village of

Sorn Vehicle Excise Duty (VED; also known as "vehicle tax", "car tax", and more controversially as "road tax", and formerly as a "tax disc") is an annual tax that is levied as an excise duty and which must be paid for most types of powered vehicles which ...

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire ( sco, Aest Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir an Ear) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headq ...

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 th ...

. The castle comprises a medieval

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 strate ...

, which was extended over the years, and remodelled in the

Scots Baronial Scottish baronial or Scots baronial is an architectural style of 19th century Gothic Revival which revived the forms and ornaments of historical architecture of Scotland in the Late Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period. Reminiscent of Sco ...

style by

David Bryce David Bryce FRSE FRIBA RSA (3 April 1803 – 7 May 1876) was a Scottish architect. Life Bryce was born at 5 South College Street in Edinburgh, the son of David Bryce (1763–1816) a grocer with a successful side interest in building. ...

in the 1860s. The castle is protected as 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 I ...

History

A tablet on the castle wall states "Extant AD 1409, Added to AD 1783, Restored AD 1865, Enlarged AD 1909". The original three-storey tower house is located at the south-west of the present building, and was constructed in the 15th century, or possibly earlier. This tower was extended westwards in the 16th century. Additions were made in the late 18th century in a castellated style. In the 1860s the Somervell family owned the castle, and commissioned David Bryce to remodel the building. Sorn Castle was bought in 1908 by Thomas W. McIntyre, who commissioned a new entrance from architect Henry Edward Clifford and carried out internal remodelling. In September 1598 the wedding of

Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox Ludovic Stewart, 2nd Duke of Lennox and 1st Duke of Richmond (29 September 157416 February 1624), lord of the Manor of Cobham, Kent, was a Scottish nobleman who through their paternal lines was a second cousin of King James VI of Scotland ...

and Jean Campbell, a great-granddaughter of

James IV of Scotland James IV (17 March 1473 – 9 September 1513) was King of Scotland from 11 June 1488 until his death at the Battle of Flodden in 1513. He inherited the throne at the age of fifteen on the death of his father, James III, at the Battle of Sauc ...

, was celebrated with a banquet at Sorn attended by

James VI James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

, who stayed two nights.

Notable residents

James Somervell James Somervell (1845–1924) was Conservative MP for Ayr Burghs. He won a by-election in 1890, but he lost his seat to William Birkmyre, the Liberal candidate, in the 1892 general election. He had earlier contested the 1885 general elec ...

James Gordon McIntyre, Lord Sorn James Gordon McIntyre, Lord Sorn, (1896–1983) was a Scottish law lord who served as a Senator of the College of Justice. He was also a decorated war hero from the First World War. He was generally known by his middle name, Gordon. Life H ...

References

External links

Sorn Castle websiteSorn
East Ayrshire Council website {{Castles in East Ayrshire Castles in East Ayrshire Category A listed buildings in East Ayrshire Listed castles in Scotland Country houses in East Ayrshire