Blairquhan Castle

Four different families have lived at Blairquhan or on its lands. The McWhirters built the first tower house in about 1346. The Kennedys then inherited the estate through marriage and built the remainder of the old castle in about 1573. In the early 17th century the Whitefords took over, but in 1798, suffering the effects of a bank crash, they sold Blairquhan to Sir David Hunter Blair, 3rd Baronet, the second son of Sir James Hunter Blair, 1st Baronet who had married Jean Blair, the daughter and heiress of John Blair of Dunskey in Wigtownshire in 1770. When Jean Blair inherited her father's estate in 1777, the family adopted the additional surname of Blair. Sir David Hunter Blair made some…

Blairquhan is approached from the north via a 3 mi drive along the River Girvan. The late James Hunter Blair (1926–2004), younger brother and heir presumptive of Sir Edward Hunter-Blair, 8th Baronet (1920–2006), was a noted horticulturalist and forester who spent most of his life restoring the castle and preserving the estate grounds, which include veteran trees and a walled garden. An ancient sycamore which stands in the shadow of the castle is thought to be a Dule Tree or gallows tree, planted early in the 16th century during the reign of King James V of Scotland. The once-spreading crown was heavily pruned in 1997, saving the much-weakened trunk from total collapse.