Cunninghamhead Estate

Cunninghamhead Estate lies near Irvine in North Ayrshire, on ground once called Woodhead. A private estate since the early 15th century, it passed through the Cuninghame, Snodgrass and Kerr families before becoming a residential caravan park in the 21st century. The 18th-century mansion, reckoned among the most elegant in Scotland when built in 1747, was lost to fire in the early 1960s. Its stables still serve as a residence, while the gardener’s cottage survives as ruins. Cunninghamhead Moss carries an Ayrshire legend of the warlock Laird of Auchenskeith who set the Devil to build a road across the bog in one night. The estate’s owners played notable parts in Scotland’s religious and political life. Sir William Cuninghame sat in the 1560 Parliament that ended popery as Scotland’s state religion, and his brother Sir John served in the 1565 General Assembly. In the 1640s Alasdair Mac Colla, sent by Montrose, exacted a penalty of 1,200 merks from Cunninghamhead after plundering the countryside. In 1678 the Crown billeted Highland troops there for a month, causing damage valued at £1,505 17s 0d in nearby parishes. Visitors find a quiet caravan park set among the estate’s old farm buildings. The restored stables now house private homes, while the gardener’s cottage remains a picturesque ruin. The moss still bears its old name, Kinnicumheid, and local stories recall the Devil’s road. The park occupies land once covered by the mansion and its policies, now planted with modern caravans. The only surviving grand structure is the stable block, a reminder of the estate’s former elegance.