page_title: Seagate Castle
section_title: Mary Queen of Scots and Marymass
hierarchical_section_title: Seagate Castle / Mary Queen of Scots and Marymass
caption_attribution_description: English: Plaque at Seagate castle, Irvine, North Ayrshire, Scotland
context_page_description: Seagate Castle is a castle in North Ayrshire, in the town of Irvine, close to the River Irvine, Scotland. The castle was formerly a stronghold, a town house, and later a dower house of the Montgomery Clan. The castle overlooks the oldest street in Irvine, which was once the main route between the town and the old harbour at Seagatefoot, which by 1606, was useless and abandoned due to silting. The remains of the castle are protected as a scheduled ancient monument.
context_section_description: It is recorded on the plaque at the entrance that Mary, Queen of Scots, stayed at the castle in 1563. The 3rd earl was a great supporter and he is said to have entertained the queen and her four Marys; Mary Seton; Mary Beaton; Mary Fleming; and Mary Livingston at the castle. This visit to the castle is said to be the origin of the town’s Marymass celebrations, held in August of each year; however, it is more likely that Marymass has its origins in the dedication of the church to the Blessed Virgin Mary whose festival of Assumption is on 15 August. Saint Inan's festival was on 18 August. It has even been suggested that the festival was named after Lady Mary of Eglinton, from the family crest, who decapitated a Viking who had tried to kidnap her. This one of several versions of the story.
  In the 1880s at the Marymass Fair, the carters, freemasons, and others on their return from the parade on the racecourse, came back via the Seagate, stopped and arranged themselves in front of the old Castle to sing " Auld Lang Syne."
caption: The commemorative plaque on the castle wall
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