page_title: Craigie Castle
section_title: The Wallaces of Craigie
hierarchical_section_title: Craigie Castle / The Wallaces of Craigie
caption_attribution_description: English: An engraving of the ruins of Craigie Castle, South Ayrshire, Scotland.
context_page_description: Craigie Castle, in the old Barony of Craigie, is a ruined fortification situated about 4 miles southeast of Kilmarnock and 1 mile southeast of Craigie village, in the Civil Parish of Craigie, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The castle is recognised as one of the earliest buildings in the county. It lies about 1.25 miles west-south-west of Craigie church. Craigie Castle is protected as a scheduled monument.
context_section_description: John Wallace of Riccarton in the reign of David II had a charter of lands of Moorlecere in Forfarshire and was styled 'Wallayis of Richardtoun'. John married the heiress of Lindsay of Craigie circa 1371 and from this date Craigie was the chief residence of the family.
  John Wallace was Lieutenant-General to James II, and fought at the Battle of Sark in 1447, killing the English General Magnus with his own hands. John was injured on the battlefield and died of his wounds at Craigie Castle about three months later.
  In the second half of the 15th century the Wallace family had Blind Harry write his poem The Wallace, which recorded the story of Sir William Wallace, albeit 150 years after his death.
  An Adam Wallace was Comptroller of the Household of James III in 1468. John Wallace was killed at the Battle of Flodden in 1513; his brother Adam inherited and became oversmen of Prestwick in addition to Bailie of Kyle Stewart. In 1515 he was made alderman of Ayr and controlled the Royal Burgh for a decade.
  In 1559 Sir John Wallace accompanied the Earl of Glencairn, the Lords Boyd and Ochiltree, the Sheriff of Ayr, the Laird of Cessnock and others, with a body of 2500 men to Perth in support of the Covenanters or reformers.
  Sir William Wallace commanded a cavalry under James VII (James II of England) and went into exile in France with him. He was at the Battle of Killiecrankie and died circa 1700; his brother succeeded to the estates, much impoverished by Sir William's adherence to the Jacobite cause.
  The Wallaces of Craigie became hereditary Bailies of Kyle Stewart and as such were the chief local representatives of the Crown. In 1489 John Wallace obtained a lease to mine coal near Kingcase in Prestwick.
  In 1527 Gilbert Kennedy, 2nd Earl of Cassillis was ambushed and murdered on the sand dunes at Prestwick. Adam Wallace was implicated in this essentially Campbell inspired feud, as his wife, Dame Isabelle, was said to have planned the assassination. The controversy resulted in a loss of prestige and influence.
  Sir Hugh Wallace was a supporter of the Royalist cause of Charles I and II, for which his estate was sequestered and only returned when Charles II came to the throne. Sir Hugh had raised a regiment of foot at his own expense, resulting in great debts, sale of lands and in 1626 the disposal of the heritable Kyle bailieship to the Crown for £10,000 Scots. Sir Hugh Wallace, the laird referred to below, was knighted by Charles I and in 1669 Charles II conferred a Baronetcy upon him. All his sons predeceased him and Thomas, a grandnephew inherited. He was most liberal in his ideas, fought with Montrose at the Battle of Philiphaugh and died about 1650.
  In 1770 Sir Thomas Wallace died and the baronetcy was inherited by his grandson Thomas Dunlop, who sold off the estate of Craigie in 1783, moved to England and died within three years. He adopted the name Wallace, his mother being Frances Anne Wallace of Dunlop, Sir Thomas's daughter and sole heir; his father was John Dunlop of that Ilk. His son was Major-General Sir John Alexander Wallace who fought in India, Egypt, Spain and France and died in 1857.
  The Wallaces married into a number of local aristocratic families, notably the Campbells of Loudoun and the Blairs of Blair. At Blair Castle above a door are the armorial bearings of the Blairs Of Blair and the Wallaces of Craigie, dated 1617. Bryce Blair married Annabel Wallace.
  In the 1560s the Wallace family acquired Fail Monastery, however it was later granted to Walter Whytford and passed out of their hands.
caption: Craigie Castle in the 1860s
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