Culzean Castle ( , see

yogh The letter yogh (ȝogh) ( ; Scots: ; Middle English: ) is a Latin script letter that was used in Middle English and Older Scots, representing ''y'' () and various velar phonemes. It was derived from the Insular form of the letter ''g'', Ᵹ ...

; ) is a

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

overlooking the

Firth of Clyde The Firth of Clyde, is the estuary of the River Clyde, on the west coast of Scotland. The Firth has some of the deepest coastal waters of the British Isles. The Firth is sheltered from the Atlantic Ocean by the Kintyre, Kintyre Peninsula. The ...

, near

Maybole Maybole (, ) is a town and former burgh of barony and police burgh in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It had an estimated population of in . It is situated south of Ayr and southwest of Glasgow by the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The town is ...

, Carrick, in

South Ayrshire South Ayrshire (; , ) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. South Ayrshire had an estimated population in 2021 of 112,45 ...

, on the west coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of

Clan Kennedy Clan Kennedy is a Scottish clan of the Scottish Lowlands.Way, George and Squire, Romily. ''Collins Scottish Clan & Family Encyclopedia''. (Foreword by The Rt Hon. The Earl of Elgin KT, Convenor, The Standing Council of Scottish Chiefs). Publishe ...

, but is now owned by the

National Trust for Scotland The National Trust for Scotland () is a Scottish Building preservation and conservation trusts in the UK, conservation organisation. It is the largest membership organisation in Scotland and describes itself as "the charity that cares for, sha ...

. The clifftop castle lies within the Culzean Castle Country Park and is opened to the public. From 1972 until 2015, an illustration of the castle was featured on the reverse side of five pound notes issued by the

Royal Bank of Scotland The Royal Bank of Scotland Public Limited Company () is a major retail banking, retail and commercial bank in Scotland. It is one of the retail banking subsidiaries of NatWest Group, together with NatWest and Ulster Bank. The Royal Bank of Sco ...

. As of 2021, the castle was available for rent.

History

Culzean Castle was constructed as an

L-plan castle An L-plan castle is a castle or tower house in the shape of an L, typically built from the 13th to the 17th century. This design is found quite frequently in Scotland, but is also seen in England, Ireland, Romania, Sardinia, and other location ...

by order of the 10th Earl of Cassillis. He instructed the architect

Robert Adam Robert Adam (3 July 17283 March 1792) was a British neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam (architect), William Adam (1689–1748), Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and train ...

to rebuild a previous, but more basic, structure into a fine

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

to be the seat of his

earldom Earl () is a rank of the nobility in the United Kingdom. In modern Britain, an earl is a member of the peerage, ranking below a marquess and above a viscount. A feminine form of ''earl'' never developed; instead, ''countess'' is used. The titl ...

. The castle was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. It incorporates a large drum tower with a circular saloon inside (which overlooks the sea), a grand oval staircase and a suite of well-appointed apartments. The castle was the venue, on 14 November 1817, when the 1st Marquess of Ailsa's daughter, Margaret Radclyffe Livingstone Eyre, married Thomas, Viscount Kynnaird. Margaret would become a noted philanthropist. In 1945, the Kennedy family gave the castle and its grounds to the National Trust for Scotland (thus avoiding

inheritance tax International tax law distinguishes between an estate tax and an inheritance tax. An inheritance tax is a tax paid by a person who inherits money or property of a person who has died, whereas an estate tax is a levy on the estate (money and pro ...

). In doing so, they stipulated that the apartment at the top of the castle be given to

General of the Army Army general or General of the army is the highest ranked general officer in many countries that use the French Revolutionary System. Army general is normally the highest rank used in peacetime. In countries that adopt the general officer fou ...

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

in recognition of his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War. The General first visited Culzean Castle in 1946 and stayed there four times, including once while President of the United States. The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick's Own) Yeomanry, a British

Yeomanry Yeomanry is a designation used by a number of units and sub-units in the British Army Reserve which are descended from volunteer cavalry regiments that now serve in a variety of different roles. History Origins In the 1790s, following the ...

cavalry regiment, was formed by the Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle in about 1794. On 24 June 1961, the regiment returned to the castle to be presented with its first guidon by

General A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...

Sir Horatius Murray, KBE, CB, DSO. The castle re-opened in April 2011 after a refurbishment funded by a gift in the will of American millionaire William Lindsay to the

. Lindsay, who had never visited Scotland, requested that a significant portion of his $4 million go towards Culzean. Lindsay was reportedly interested in Eisenhower's holidays at the castle. Culzean Castle received 333,965 visitors in 2019.

Features

The armoury contains a propeller from a plane flown by

Leefe Robinson William Leefe Robinson Victoria Cross, VC (14 July 1895 – 31 December 1918) was the first British pilot to shoot down a German airship over Britain during the World War I, First World War. For this, he was awarded the Victoria Cross (VC), ...

when he shot down a German airship north of London in 1916. To the north of the castle is a bay containing the ''Gas House'', which provided

town gas Coal gas is a flammable gaseous fuel made from coal and supplied to the user via a piped distribution system. It is produced when coal is heated strongly in the absence of air. Town gas is a more general term referring to manufactured gaseous ...

for the castle up until 1940. This group of buildings consists of the gas manager's house (now containing an exhibition on

William Murdoch William Murdoch (sometimes spelled Murdock) (21 August 1754 – 15 November 1839) was a Scottish chemist, inventor, and mechanical engineer. Murdoch was employed by the firm of Boulton & Watt and worked for them in Cornwall, as a steam engin ...

), the Retort House and the remains of the

gasometer A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is natural gas storage, stored near atmospheric pressure at room temperature, ambient temperatures. ...

. There are

sea caves A sea cave, is also known as a littoral cave, a type of cave formed primarily by the wave action of the sea. The primary process involved is erosion. Sea caves are found throughout the world, actively forming along present coastlines and as rel ...

beneath the castle which are currently not open generally, but are open for tours throughout the summer. The castle grounds include a walled garden, which is built on the site of the home of a former slave owned by the Kennedy family, Scipio Kennedy.

Ghosts

The castle is reputed to be home to at least seven ghosts, including a piper and a servant girl.

Film and television appearances

*Culzean Castle is used as the castle of Lord Summerisle (played by Christopher Lee) in the 1973

cult film A cult film, also commonly referred to as a cult classic, is a film that has acquired a cult following. Cult films are known for their dedicated, passionate fanbase, which forms an elaborate subculture, members of which engage in repeated ...

The Wicker Man ''The Wicker Man'' is a 1973 British folk horror film directed by Robin Hardy (film director), Robin Hardy and starring Edward Woodward, Britt Ekland, Diane Cilento, Ingrid Pitt and Christopher Lee. The screenplay is by Anthony Shaffer (writer ...

''. The scenes here were filmed between October and November 1972.Culzean Castle, Ayrshire & Arran, WhichCastle.com
/ref> *Culzean Castle featured in the 1997

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

documentary series ''Castles of Scotland''. *Culzean Castle and Country Park featured in the 2001

Bollywood Hindi cinema, popularly known as Bollywood and formerly as Bombay cinema, is primarily produced in Mumbai. The popular term Bollywood is a portmanteau of "Bombay" (former name of Mumbai) and "Cinema of the United States, Hollywood". The in ...

film '' Pyaar Ishq Aur Mohabbat''. *The '' Most Haunted'' team led by

Yvette Fielding Yvette Paula Fielding (born 23 September 1968) is an English television presenter, producer, actress, writer and paranormal investigator. In 1987, aged 18, she became the youngest presenter on the BBC television programme '' Blue Peter''. With h ...

, Karl Beattie and medium Derek Acorah explored Culzean Castle's paranormal stories and reported sightings of ghosts for an episode of the first series, broadcast on

Living TV Sky Witness is a British pay television tv channel, channel owned and operated by Sky Limited, Sky, a division of Comcast. The channel primarily broadcasts procedural dramas from the United States aimed at the 18–45 age demographic. Sky Ital ...

in 2002. *The

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

TV ''

Coast A coast (coastline, shoreline, seashore) is the land next to the sea or the line that forms the boundary between the land and the ocean or a lake. Coasts are influenced by the topography of the surrounding landscape and by aquatic erosion, su ...

'' programme visited in series 2 episode 3 first shown in November 2009. *Culzean Castle appeared on the programme '' The Little Couple'' from

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

, where the family visited the castle on the Series 9 pilot episode in 2016. *It was the location for two episodes of

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

’s ''

Antiques Roadshow ''Antiques Roadshow'' is a British television programme broadcast by the BBC in which antiques appraisers travel to various regions of the United Kingdom (and occasionally in other countries) to appraise antiques brought in by local people ( ...

'' filmed in 2020 and transmitted in February and April 2021.

Gallery

References

External links

Culzean Castle – visitor information
at the NTS website.

* ttp://digital.nls.uk/74582316 Engraving of Cullean castleby James Fittler in the digitised copy o
Scotia Depicta, or the antiquities, castles, public buildings, noblemen and gentlemen's seats, cities, towns and picturesque scenery of Scotland
1804 at

National Library of Scotland The National Library of Scotland (NLS; ; ) is one of Scotland's National Collections. It is one of the largest libraries in the United Kingdom. As well as a public programme of exhibitions, events, workshops, and tours, the National Library of ...

Video footage of the Culzean Coal Gas WorksVideo footage of the Culzean caves
{{Coord, 55.3544, -4.7895, display=title Castles in South Ayrshire Category A listed buildings in South Ayrshire Listed castles in Scotland Reportedly haunted locations in Scotland Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes Robert Adam buildings National Trust for Scotland properties Gardens in South Ayrshire Historic house museums in South Ayrshire Country houses in South Ayrshire Clan Kennedy Firth of Clyde Buildings and structures completed in 1792 1792 establishments in Scotland Museums established in 1947