Stanecastle

Stanecastle stands in North Ayrshire, Scotland, on ground once part of a medieval barony first recorded in 1363. It lies close to the modern districts of Bourtreehill and Girdle Toll, now absorbed into Irvine New Town. The estate’s name points to stone buildings, though later study shows this need not mean Roman or Norman origins. A small chapel dedicated to Saint Bridget once stood near the Annick Water, with a graveyard now buried beneath a turnpike road. The keep of the original castle still rises above the landscape, altered in the 18th century with mock-Gothic windows and a modern roof.

The barony passed through the Francis and Montgomery families before joining the Eglinton estate in the 15th century. In 1520 the Montgomeries built the present castle, later turned into a folly by the 10th Earl of Eglinton in 1750. He added pointed windows for show and placed an armorial panel on the west side, though its symbols were arranged incorrectly. A spiral stair in the north-east corner remains from the original structure. Robert Burns is said to have walked these grounds on his return from Irvine, passing Saint Bride’s Well and the old Toll Road.

Today the keep and gatehouse mark what remains of the estate. The gate was once the southern entrance to the vast Eglinton Castle grounds, now Eglinton Country Park. The site has been fenced off and repaired, with the keep stabilised by Irvine Development Corporation. A rare Rusty-Back Fern grew on the castle walls in the early 1900s, though searches in 2002 found none. The Montgomery Society once hoped to use the keep as a clan museum, but plans did not proceed.