Bedlay Castle

The lands of Bedlay or Ballayn were possession of the Bishops of Glasgow. The grant of land to the diocese was confirmed by David I and again by William I in 1180. Bishop Cameron is reported to have had a castle or house on this site. In 1580, James Boyd of Trochrig, then the titular Protestant Archbishop of Glasgow, granted the lands to his kinsman, Robert Boyd, 4th Lord Boyd of Kilmarnock. He built the original Bedlay Castle soon after, on the end of a volcanic crag above the Bothlyn Burn. The Boyds held the castle until 1642, when James, 9th Lord Boyd sold it to the advocate James Roberton, grandson of John Roberton, 9th Laird of Earnock, later Lord Bedlay. The Robertons extended the…

Bedlay Castle stands on a natural defensive point, protected on three sides by watercourses, with the approach from the south. The original castle, built soon after 1580, was a simple tower house of two storeys and an attic. The tower house was around 13 by 7.5 metres, and had a square stair tower protruding from the north-east corner. On the ground floor were two vaulted cellars, with a hall above. The stair tower was later modified by the addition of an extra storey, reached by a spiral stair corbelled out from the join of the stair tower and the main block. The second phase of building at Bedlay took place in the late 17th century, with a large extension added to the west. This extension…