Greenan Castle

Greenan Castle is a 16t-yearhunner touer hoose, aiblins on the steid o an auncient fort, aroon 2.5 mile sooth-wast o Ayr in Sooth Ayrshire, Scotland. Situatit at the tap o a sea crag, it wis originally a promontory fort chynged intae a motte-an-bailey in the 12t yearhunner. In the 15t yearhunner a touer hoose wis biggit bi the Lords o the Isles that wis syne passed intae the hauns o the Kennedy faimily. History The launds o Greenan war gied up bi John, Earl o Ross an Lord o the Isles, in 1476 fur treason agin James III. In 1493 James IV gied the Launds o Greenan tae William Douglas, son o Archibald, Earl o Angus. The first kent defensive structur on the steid wis a promontory fort, kiverin aroon 1 acre (0.4 hectare). Fower concentric curved ditches, ilk aroon 3 metre (10 ft) wide, cut aff the heidland wi the exception o wan causeway tae gie access. It isnae kent hou lang this dounset wis bidit on, but the steid wis re-uised in the twelt yearhunner. Aside the touer are traces o a wawed courtyaird an ootbiggins, aiblins stables an a kitchen block, as the smaw touer haesnae git a kitchen athin its waws. In this courtyaird on the mornin o 12 May 1602, Sir Thomas Kennedy o Culzean an his servant, Lancelot Kennedy, ettled flittin taewart Edinburgh, haein steyed yestreen wi Thomas's hauf-brither, John Kennedy o Baltersan. Juist a puckle mile awa in the wids o St Leonards (nou a suburb o Ayr), thay war ambushed bi Thomas Kennedy (o Drummurchie), Thomas Kennedy (brither tae the Laird o Bargany), Walter Muir o Cloncaird, Thomas M'Alexander, Thomas Wallace, a boy cried Gilbert Ramsay an a borderer, Williame Irrwing. Sir Thomas wis murthered in retaliation fur the deith o the young Laird o Bargany in December 1601 at the Battle o Brockloch, nearby Meybole. Years efter, the Muirs o Auchindrain (faither an son) war killt fur thair "airt an pairt" in this murther. The story inspirt Sir Walter Scott tae scrieve a short play, "An Ayrshire Tragedy". The castle wis gied doon throu mony memmers o the clan afore endin up in the hauns o Thomas Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis in 1766. Aroon this time the residential uise o the castle wis stapped; the structur is a ruin the day. Kenspeckle features The entrance lintel haes the inscription, JK 1603 FMD, fur John Kennedy o Baltersan an his third wife, Florence MacDowell, wha haudit the launds, Greenan Mill, an salmon fishin richts on the River Doon at the time. Soorces