A Little Piece of Maybole

The town of Maybole was one of our destinations on our recent Doors Open Day tour of South Ayrshire.  It has a long history - it was erected a Burgh of Barony in 1516, in the reign of King James V (in his minority, even!).

It's always been strongly linked with the Kenney family.  Maybole Collegiate Church was endowed by the Kennedies - unfortunately, I was too sore to go exploring there after the Goat Fell Extravaganza, and even though it's a Guardianship Monument, it's always locked up.  Only the local neds are capable of scaling its not very extensive walls - it's probably being vandalised into oblivion as I write this!

Our destination in Maybole was Maybole Castle.  It's another Kennedy edice, which was used as the townhouse of the Earls of Cassilis in the 16th century.

Here's a view of the castle, which sits in the middle of the town:-
 

 

The oriel window in the upper storey's particularly fine.

The main sixteenth century structure was extended in the 'Jacobethan' style.  It's peculiarly Scots, with its crow-stepped gables and strapwork embellishments:-

 

The low section to the right was built in the early nineteenth century.  The interior of the castle was reworked at the same time.  I don't know the identity of the architect, but the style is very reminiscent of Thomas Hamilton, an Edinburgh architect who was reponsible for similar buildings at a similar point in time.  He was very active in Ayrshire - my first building survey job was at Dunlop House, which was one of his projects, and the similarity with Maybole Castle is striking...

Here's a detail of the ornate strapwork over the windows and doorways in the nineteenth century portion of the structure:-

 

Not the best of photos, I'm afraid - I'm going to blame the sore legs for that!  Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the interior views...

A Little Piece of Maybole

The town of Maybole was one of our destinations on our recent Doors Open Day tour of South Ayrshire.  It has a long history - it was erected a Burgh of Barony in 1516, in the reign of King James V (in his minority, even!).

It's always been strongly linked with the Kenney family.  Maybole Collegiate Church was endowed by the Kennedies - unfortunately, I was too sore to go exploring there after the Goat Fell Extravaganza, and even though it's a Guardianship Monument, it's always locked up.  Only the local neds are capable of scaling its not very extensive walls - it's probably being vandalised into oblivion as I write this!

Our destination in Maybole was Maybole Castle.  It's another Kennedy edice, which was used as the townhouse of the Earls of Cassilis in the 16th century.

Here's a view of the castle, which sits in the middle of the town:-
 

 

The oriel window in the upper storey's particularly fine.

The main sixteenth century structure was extended in the 'Jacobethan' style.  It's peculiarly Scots, with its crow-stepped gables and strapwork embellishments:-

 

The low section to the right was built in the early nineteenth century.  The interior of the castle was reworked at the same time.  I don't know the identity of the architect, but the style is very reminiscent of Thomas Hamilton, an Edinburgh architect who was reponsible for similar buildings at a similar point in time.  He was very active in Ayrshire - my first building survey job was at Dunlop House, which was one of his projects, and the similarity with Maybole Castle is striking...

Here's a detail of the ornate strapwork over the windows and doorways in the nineteenth century portion of the structure:-

 

Not the best of photos, I'm afraid - I'm going to blame the sore legs for that!  Tomorrow, I'll show you some of the interior views...