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The Union between Scotland and England
in 1707, made Scotland a safer place, and
the last Battle on the Scottish mainland
was the Battle of Cullodon Moor 16th
April 1746. This safer environment,
allowed landowners to start re-modeling
their Tower Houses, into grand Mansions,
or Castellated Mansions.
Robert Adam designed the new Culzean
Castle for David Kennedy (10th Earl of
Cassillis), that was completed in 1792.
At that time, Adam was also designing the
new Castle of Dalquharran, 8 miles east
by the village of Dailly, for Thomas
Kennedy. Dalquharran was completed in
1790.
There seemed to have been a
competition to see who could build the
grandest Castle. Who won, you have to
decide yourself.
Culzean Castle is expensive to
maintain, due to erosion with it being
close to the sea. This forced the
Kennedy's to hand the Castle over to the
National Trust for Scotland in 1945. The
Kennedy's then moved back to Cassillis
House, and their town house of Maybole
Castle. The Kennedy's lived at Cassillis
House until they sold the house and
estate to Confused.com founder Kate
Armstrong in 2009.
Culzean Castle . Large Image
In 1560, the Scottish Parliament
passed an Act abolishing the Roman
Catholic Church within the realm, this
seeing most of the Abbey's in Scotland
destroyed, and their stonework carried
off for the construction of other
buildings. A Commendator was appointed to
each abbey at that time, to oversee the
finances, and to let the monks live out
their lives.
The Kennedy name was disgraced in
1570, when Gilbert Kennedy (4th Earl of
Cassillis) had the Commendator of
Crossraguel Abbey taken to
Dunure Castle, which is
situated 7 miles up the coast from
Culzean. At the Kennedy stronghold of
Dunure, the Commendator was roasted over
a fire in an attempt to get him to sign
Abbey land over to the Kennedy's, setting
off a murderous feud over the following
years.
The Kennedy's were descendants of the
De Carrick's, who had funded the building
of Crossraguel Abbey, and gifted the
Abbey large areas of land. The 4th Earl,
no doubt, believed he was just taking
back what was rightfully his.
The Commendator's brother in law,
Kennedy of Bargany, from Bargany Estate, about 10 miles
east, had to raise a small army to rescue
the Commendator.
The feud that followed, led to Kennedy
of Bargany being killed in a skirmish
with the 4th Earl and his men, in the
area just north of Maybole, in 1601.
Bargany Kennedy's funeral was said to be
vast, showing just how unpopular the 4th
Earl had become.
The Mure's of Auchendrane estate, just
across the river from Cassillis estate,
relations of Kennedy of Bargany, vowed to
carry on the feud in the name of Kennedy
of Bargany. The Mure's had a long running
hatred of their neighbours, the Cassillis
Kennedy's.
The Mure's ambushed and killed Sir
Thomas Kennedy of Culzean (uncle of the
Earl of Cassillis) when he was traveling
to Edinburgh, 11th May 1602 . After Mure
of Auchendrane and his son were
eventually found guilty of the murder of
Kennedy of Culzean, they were beheaded at
the Cross of Edinburgh, in July 1611.
Clan Kennedy Page . Ayrshire
Castles
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