The Castles of Scotland by Martin Coventry | Goblinshead | A comprehensive guide to 4,100 castles, towers, historic houses, stately homes and family lands
The Castles of Scotland by Martin Coventry | Goblinshead | A comprehensive guide to 4,100 castles, towers, historic houses, stately homes and family lands
The Castles of Scotland
The Castles of Scotland 

Craigie Castle

Ayrshire: About 4 miles south of Kilmarnock, on minor road north of B730 1 mile east of junction with A77, just east of Craigie Mains.

 

Ruin or site   NS 408317   OS: 70   KA1 5PG

Craigie Castle, an impressive but quite ruinous medieval castle, a property of the Wallaces of Craigie, in a scenic location some miles from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Craigie Castle (© Martin Coventry)

Standing on a ridge, Craigie Castle consists of the ruins of a 13th-century groin-vaulted hall house and later castle. The hall house was vaulted in the 15th century, and remodelled into a tower house with ranges of outbuildings. The castle had two courtyards, and was defended by ditches.

Craigie Castle, an impressive but quite ruinous medieval castle, a property of the Wallaces of Craigie, in a scenic location some miles from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Craigie Castle (© Martin Coventry)

The groin-vaulted hall was once a fine chamber, and there is a carved panel from the castle at Craigie Mains Farm [NS 406317].
  ‘Kragy Cast.’ is prominently marked and depicted as a castle with two towers in a large enclosed and wooded park.

Craigie Castle, an impressive but quite ruinous medieval castle, a property of the Wallaces of Craigie, in a scenic location some miles from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Criagie Castle (MacGibbon and Ross)

The lands were held by a Walter Hose around 1150, but the original castle was probably built by the Lindsay family between 1230-40. The property was held by the Craigies when it passed by marriage to the Wallaces of Riccarton in 1371, who had Blind Harry collect together stories and compile a poem about William Wallace, the famous freedom fighter. William Wallace of Craigie is on record in 1464.

Craigie Castle, an impressive but quite ruinous medieval castle, a property of the Wallaces of Craigie, in a scenic location some miles from Kilmarnock in Ayrshire. Craigie Castle (© Martin Coventry)

The castle was abandoned about 1600 when the Wallaces moved to Newton upon Ayr (Newton Castle and Craigie House). Hugh Wallace of Craigie was made a baronet of Nova Scotia in 1669. The property passed by marriage to the Dunlops and was sold in 1783.

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