Qualla: Eglinton Castle

Eglinton Castle: Introduction

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Public domain. On 28 August 1839, the 13th Earl of Eglinton attempted to restage the Middle Ages. Knights in full plate, gentlemen disguised as their medieval ancestors, ladies in flowing damask, a young Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (the future Napoleon III of France) - all of them gathered at Eglinton Castle for a three-day Victorian medieval tournament. And then it rained. Not a Scottish drizzle but a torrential, sustained downpour that turned the lists into mud and reduced the proceedings to a kind of damp, gallant absurdity. The participants gamely went on jousting. The tournament cost the Earl a fortune. Within ninety years, the castle itself was abandoned and stripped for lead. By the end of World War II, it lay in ruins - and not the romantic kind.

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Image: Public domain

Eglinton Castle: The Most Notable Post-Adam Castle in Ayrshire

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit John Singleton Copley, Public domain. The Eglinton family had held land here since the Middle Ages. The original castle was burnt by the Earl of Glencairn in 1528, and a more modest fortified house occupied the site through the early modern period. The 1691 Hearth Tax records show 25 hearths in use at Eglinton - the ...

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Image: John Singleton Copley | Public domain

Eglinton Castle: The 1839 Tournament

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Griffith, Public domain. Eglinton is best remembered for the Eglinton Tournament of 1839 - an elaborate, ill-fated medieval-revival event organised by Archibald Montgomerie, the 13th Earl. The preparations became news across Scotland, and the railway line to Eglinton was opened in advance of its schedule...

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Image: Roger Griffith | Public domain

Eglinton Castle: Abandonment, Auction, and a Hidden Skeleton

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Unknown author, Public domain. The cost of keeping a 25-hearth Gothic mansion running, combined with the death duties that hit the great estates in the early twentieth century, broke the Eglinton finances. In December 1925 the castle's contents went to auction. Dowell's Limited sold 1,960 lots for £7,004 19s 6...

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Image: Unknown author | Public domain

Eglinton Castle: Eglinton Country Park

Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Roger Griffith, Public domain. In the 1970s the local authority made what remained safe by demolishing most of the structure. A single tower, a wing facade, foundations, and parts of the castle wings were retained. The 988 acres of grounds were opened to the public as Eglinton Country Park - free entry, one of...

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Image: Roger Griffith | Public domain