page_title: Dunure Castle
section_title: Demise
hierarchical_section_title: Dunure Castle / Castle / Demise
caption_attribution_description: English: Dunure Castle and headland from neart the labyrinth. South Ayrshire, Scotland.
context_page_description: Dunure Castle is located on the west coast of Scotland, in South Ayrshire, about 5 miles south of Ayr and close to the village of Dunure. Today the castle stands in ruins on a rocky promontory on the Carrick coast, overlooking the small harbour of Dunure.
context_section_description: This began in the mid-17th century and by 1694 the castle is described as "wholly ruined". It is not clear whether this can be linked to the Civil War period, although local tradition suggests that Dunure had been burnt and / or blown up. A major collapse of the SE part of the keep could perhaps be linked to such activity. Recovery of building materials for the construction of the Cromwellian citadel in Ayr may also account for its ruination, as at Ardrossan Castle. Much evidence exists for the systematic dismantling of the structure for recoverable building materials including the orderly removal of slates, stone and glass. The windows were dismantled and comprehensively stripped of their lead. Remains of a localised fire and associated deposits of coal suggested that smelting of the lead took place within the room. Those dismantling the castle seem to have occupied part of the structure during their work.
  The ruin subsequently saw periodic robbing of its sandstone dressings. A range of castle buildings to the S of Area 4 remained in occupation until c. 1860. Census records and reuse of some rooms demonstrate that some of the occupants were fishermen. A large midden of mussel shell gave evidence for the baiting of cod lines. Domestic refuse of the later 18th and early to mid-19th century was also recovered. The only relatively late recorded military action at Dunure consists of a short siege in 1570. A Civil War action or slighting is a further possibility, although the castle may have been abandoned by that time. The route of a stone-lined water course was located at the S end of the trench as it ran into the entrance of the Area 4 kitchen range. Groundworks to the S of the ruins located a further, well preserved section of the same water course.
caption: Dunure Castle and headland from the south.
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