Kenmure Castle - in all its glory!

Picture of Kenmure Castle - in all its glory!.

This picture of castle Kenmure Castle - in all its glory! is taken from Flickr.com. Here you can see a wallpaper, picture or photograph of Kenmure Castle - in all its glory! castle. Kenmure Castle - in all its glory! images can be found on Flickr.
It's nay bonnie!

While the building is not a pretty sight, it is at least interesting to compare what there is to see today, with the various engravings that have been made of it over the last two hundred years.

Without a doubt, the oldest surviving part of the castle is the part of the west wing (on the right) that is supported by buttresses. As will be seen, this part of the ground floor still contains vaulting, and can therefore be assumed to be late 16th century.

We know that the tower on the right, the north-west tower, was there as far back as 1790, because it appears in Francis Grose’ engraving – although the small extension to the right of it is more modern.

In my opinion, the entire south wing was rebuilt in the late 19th century. One description of the castle states that the entire ground-floor was vaulted – which the south wing no longer is, so the whole thing must have been pulled down and rebuilt. This is further supported by the apparent differences between the south-west tower we see today and old views of it

As well as the small extension to the right, what was a window in 1890, in the ground-floor level of the stair-tower, has been converted to a door, and the old door in the south-wing, has been converted into a window!

So in summary, the Lords of Galloway had a castle here, nothing of which remains. The Gordons (more on them later) must have rebuilt the castle but it was destroyed during the time of Mary Queen of Scots and destroyed again during the time of Oliver Cromwell, leaving it in the semi-ruinous condition it was drawn in by Francis Grose in 1790. During the 19th century most of the castle was demolished and rebuilt, and during the 20th century, a few further additions and alterations were made, to convert it into a hotel.

I don’t know why it now stands empty.

Image by arjayempee