Auchans Castle

Auchans Castle stands in South Ayrshire, about a kilometre west of Dundonald. It is a ruined mock military mansion built mainly of whinstone on a slightly elevated knoll. The castle began as a T-plan structure in the late 16th century and was later converted to an L-plan in the 17th century. The Wallace, Cochrane and Montgomerie families once held the estate at different times. James Wallace added a square stair-tower in 1644 with a viewing platform and broken pediments. The building’s design once reminded an 18th-century observer of old Glasgow College. The castle is worth visiting for its historical layers and surviving details. The Wallace family occupied the estate from 1527 until Colonel James Wallace left for exile in 1678. Sir William Cochrane, later Earl of Dundonald, took over in 1640 and lived there with his mother after the Restoration. Marriage stones dated 1644 and 1667 bear the initials of Cochrane and his wife Eupheme Scott. By the mid-19th century the castle was ruinous and partly inhabited by workmen’s families. Visitors find the remains of the main block and later wings amid woodland and stone-walled parks. The western wing once housed the kitchen, and the first floor contained a wood-panelled dining room with an ornate marble fireplace. The second floor had bedrooms, and the third floor featured a long gallery lit by dormer and traceried windows. A vaulted cellar survives in the north wing, while the south side shows traces of a balustraded terrace and courtyard. The surrounding policies include the site of a former deer park and an artificial loch once stocked with fish.