Barony and Castle of Kilbirnie The remains of the old castle and manor house of Kilbirnie lie west of the town of Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire , Scotland , on the lower slopes of the Glengarnock Hills , in the old Barony of Kilbirnie . The building is also variously known as the Place of Kilbirnie , The Place , or Kilbirnie House . A later house called Place was located nearby , now demolished . The site lies close to a stream and small ravine . The castle is now in the grounds of the Kilbirnie Place Golf Club , which was laid out in 1925 . History . The name " Kilbirnie " is derived from the Gaelic language , and means " Church of St Brendan " . The parish was divided into three baronies : Kilbirnie , Ladyland , and Glengarnock . The barony of Kilbirnie was the largest , at around 5500 acres , and had the most fertile quarter with 3000 acres of arable , pasture and woodland . Kilbirnie Castle is said to be the site where in 1263 the Scots mustered under Alexander III before fighting Norwegian forces in the Battle of Largs . The castle ' s location is on high ground in the bend of a deep ravine , giving the site protection along its west and north sides . The word " place " in Scots refers to a landed proprietor ' s mansion house , and is equivalent in meaning to the English word " palace " , although the term " palace " only acquired its present connotations at a later date . The dwelling is in two quite distinct parts : one a tower built in about 1470 for Malcolm Crawfurd and his wife , Marjory Barclay , an heiress and the last of her line ; the other part is dated to 1627 . The entrance to the new wing has a very unusual projecting porch on the south front . Timothy Pont ' s map , c . 1604 , as published by Joan Blaeu in Amsterdam ( 1654 ) , shows Kilbirnan Castle ( sic ) , as this date precedes the building of the mansion house . John Adair ' s map of c . 1685 shows a castellated structure recorded as Kilburny . Roy ' s map of 1747 shows the castle and the avenue . A Mains Farm is shown located near to Kilbirnie Kirk . The 1832 Thomson map records ' Killbirny House ' and shows a lane running directly from the house to the kirk . The Honourable Patrick Lindsay purchased the castle and estate of Glengarnock in 1677 from Richard Cuninghame , the last of the Cuninghames of Garnock . In 1707 both baronies were united in the Barony of Kilburnie , with the Manor House of Kilbirnie as the principal messuage . Keep . This impressive 15th - century structure measures 42 feet by 33 feet , with walls between 7 feet and 8 feet in thickness . A cellar was present and a sleeping loft under a vault . Another vault had a hall , lit by three ordinary windows in the south wall and a window high up in the north wall , a private room lay beneath . The tower was four storeys high . In the north - west corner a " starving pit " prison was entered by a hatch from a passage from the stair at loft level . Gun ports are not present . In 1602 the Place of Kilbirnie was broken into whilst the laird " was furth of this realme " and his wife Margaret was at Greenock . A John Crawfurd of " Auchinbothe " was arrested and tried , however he was found innocent despite having returned some of the stolen items to Lady Kilbirnie . The charter chest was one of the items broken into and items removed from . Mansion . This was constructed in 1627 at right angles to the old keep using rubble dressed with sandstone ashlar . A door was broken through from the hall to a staircase in the mansion house . The mansion was a fine specimen of 17th - century architecture . It had turrets corbelled out at hall level and these contained closets . The front door was set in an unusual shallow projection and a narrow back door at the north facing aspect led into a court . Two cellars existed with a passage between them that connected with the main staircase . The hall in the old tower may have been used as a dining area and the large room in the mansion house utilised as a drawing - room . Fire . The building was destroyed by fire early in the morning of 1 May 1757 during construction works , and never rebuilt . The 19th Earl of Crawfurd , his infant daughter Jean ( later a Countess of Eglinton ) , and domestics had little time to escape . The family moved to the Barony manse at first and later to Bourtreehill House near Irvine . Lady Crawfurd was the eldest daughter and heiress of Robert Hamilton of Bourtreehill . The story goes that before going to bed , a lady of the house threw the melted grease from the socket of a candlestick into a fire grate in a lower storey of the house . The ensuing flames set alight the unswept chimney flue and the fire entered the new mansion wing through windows in the garret that had been left open by workmen . The keys had been taken offsite by carpenters and access to control the fire was impossible . Large numbers of people turned out to help , but their assistance was to no avail . Until the death of the earl in 1781 the cause had been carefully concealed and supernatural forces held to blame . Some of the buildings were retained as a hunting lodge . Pleasure gardens . The approach to the building from the south was a long straight avenue twenty yards wide , bordered by high walls and once enclosing large gardens . The section down to Causewayfoot was bordered by walls and the section down to the termination at Fudstone ( now demolished ) was tree - lined only . The remnants of the ' Grand Avenue ' are still discernable . A substantial walled garden ran down from the castle to the top of the glen , long abandoned , and shown on the OS maps . Paterson records that the pleasure - grounds were " torn up by the plough " . The gardens once contained flowers and shrubs , potatoes , turnips , and orchards . Estate . The mains farm is recorded as Place Farm and sometimes , confusingly , as Kilbirnie Place . The old castle site is recorded as Kilbirnie House . A lane ran up to the Largs Road from Causewayfoot , via a dwelling at Parkfoot , now demolished , crossing the Paduff Burn rivulet by a ford . Birnie ' s well was a spring that supplied excellent water . It was about a quarter of a mile north of the Kilbirnie Castle ruins and water was carried to the castle by pipes . The well no longer exists . Ordnance Survey ( OS ) maps show that a sandstone quarry was located at Causewayfoot , overlooked by the old but now demolished dwelling at Selsy , with cottages and the farm of Causewayfoot standing nearby . A small ironstone pit was also present . The OS 6 in . of 1897 , 1911 , 1938 show a trapezoidal curling pond south - west of Kilbirnie Castle and records show that a match was played between Kilbirnie v . Dalry 3 rinks each , on 20 February 1895 . The curling pond built below the Causewayfoot is now drained and overgrown , shown as already abandoned in 1938 . A lozenge - shaped curling pond at Fudstone south - west of the dwelling is shown on OS 6 in . 1st ed . ca . 1860 , 1897 and 1911 . Auld Kirk of Kilbirnie . The arms of the Barclays , impaled with those of Crawfurd are carved on a panel located on the tower of the kirk . The Crawfurds added the Crawfurd Aisle to the Auld Kirk with its fine Renaissance - style carvings of 1642 . A private apartment is located behind with the family burial vaults lying beneath . The numerous heraldic shields were carved for John , first Viscount Garnock , and represent the armorial bearings of his ancestors . Associated families . Barclays . The castle passed from the Barclays to the Crawfurds through the marriage of Marjory , an heiress , to Malcolm Crawfurd . Marjory was the daughter of Sir John Barclay of Kilbirnie and Craufurd - John . These Barclays of Kilbirnie are thought to have been a branch of the ancient family of the Barclays of Ardrossan . Sir Walter Barclay was Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland in 1174 and married Margaret Crawfurd of Craufurd - John . Marjory was descended from this line . Crawfurds . In 1470 Thomas Crawfurd , sometimes written as Crauford or Crawford , obtained the castle through marriage . He was descended from the Crawfurds of Loudoun Castle . Sir John Crawfurd had been knighted by Charles I in 1642 and fought in the Civil Wars , but died without any heirs in 1661 . John Crawfurd married Margaret , daughter of John Blair of that Ilk , although Dobie records her as being the daughter of James , Earl of Glencairn . Cornelius Crawfurd of Jordanhill was the closest relative , however his youngest daughter Maragaret Crawfurd inherited the estate of Kilbirnie . In 1810 John Crawfurd assumed the name Lindsay and claimed to be descended from the Hon . James Crawfurd , third son of the first Viscount Garnock . After much expense and deliberation the story was found to be entirely false and the claim rejected . To add some credibility to the claim he had claimed that his forbear had been the eldest son and heir and had been forced to flee to Ireland after having murdered a man in a duel by firing before the signal . This duel he claimed had been over a matter of honour relating to the Lady Susanna Kennedy , with whom he was entirely smitten . The Crawfurd - Pollocks of Pollok and Kilbirnie were granted a baronetcy that was extinct by 1885 . Lindsay Crawfurds . Margaret Crawfurd had been married to Patrick , second son of John , 15th Earl of Crawfurd and 1st of Lindsay . Her husband took the title and armorial bearings of Crawfurd of Kilburnie as per the entail to the estate . The couple died only three days apart in 1680 from a malignant fever that also carried off her sister , Lady Blackhall , when she came down for the funeral . Records show that a significant number of mourners travelled down from Glasgow to the funeral . The eldest son of their seven children , John , inherited in 1690 . John Crawfurd became the commander of the Fencible men of Cuninghame in 1689 and in 1693 he was chosen as the Ayrshire member of the Scots Parliament . In 1705 he was created Viscount Mount Crawfurd , by Queen Anne , later changed to Viscount Garnock , and died in December 1708 . He married Margaret Stewart , daughter of the first Earl of Bute , and the couple had two sons and three daughters . The line continued until George Lindsay Crawfurd inherited , the 20th Earl of Crawfurd , 6th Earl of Lindsay , and 4th Viscount Garnock , who died unmarried in 1808 and the estates passed to his sister , Lady Mary Lindsay Crawfurd who also died unmarried in 1833 . Boyles . In 1833 George Boyle , 4th Earl of Glasgow , inherited the ruins of the fire - gutted castle and house from Lady Mary Lindsay Crawfurd . George was descended from Margaret , eldest daughter of Maragret Crawfurd and Patrick Lindsay , who had married David , 1st Earl of Glasgow . Knoxes . At the break up of the Earl of Glasgow ' s estates the castle and lands were purchased by Sir James Knox . Place House . Kilbirnie Place , or Place House , was built between 1892 and 1894 for Sir James Knox . The house was designed by Henry Lord of Manchester . The building was demolished and only the outbuildings now survive .