Description:

Glengarnock Castle sits on a dramatic promontory, cut off by a deep ditch, with its tower tucked at the back of the courtyard. The tower’s ruins are striking, hinting at a double-height vault on the ground and first floors, but they’re also fragile, with cracks in the vault letting in daylight. The courtyard once held towers and buildings, some of which still remain, and the site may have been damaged by landslip over time.

Located in Cunninghame, Ayrshire, the area came under Scottish royal control in the late 12th century. The Riddell family, retainers of the de Morvilles—hereditary Constables of Scotland—once held it. By the 13th century there might have been a timber fortification here, but the surviving stonework dates no earlier than the mid-14th century. The Cunninghame family acquired it in 1477 and kept it until laird James fled to Ireland after a murder, selling it to George Erskine in 1609. The later history is murky, but the castle likely fell into ruin in the 17th century and was derelict by the mid-18th. A storm in 1839 caused part of the tower to collapse, prompting stabilisation work intended only to halt further decay rather than restore it.