Dalquharran Castle

A trip to Dailly to explore the current state of the newer Dalquharran Castle, a Manor House designed by Robert Adam (who also designed Culzean Castle).
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Narration:
Dalquharrran Castle is a Category A listed building near Dailly, South Ayrshire.
Access to the castle is from Dailly main street opposite the primary school, follow the Dalquharran Walks. Part of the yellow route.
There is a bridge over the Water of Girvan taking you in to the Dalquharran estate.
There are two castles, but I was only interested in the newer one today and didn’t take the route past the old one.
The castle starts to come into view.
The castle is considered an unsafe area and is barriered off, although there are increasingly more and more gaps within the barrier.
The estate was purchased in the 17th Century by Sir Thomas Kennedy, Lord Provost of Edinburgh and the old castle was occupied by his son Thomas Kennedy of Dunure. The ‘new’ castle was designed for Thomas Kennedy by Robert Adam and completed around 1790, based on a similar design to Culzean Castle which was also designed by Adam. It was habitable until the 1960’s.
The castle has four floors including the basement used for the services. The round bastion turret faces south with a drawing room on the ground floor and a library above with views over Girvan Water.
The castle was abandoned in the 1960’s on financial grounds and the lead roof removed in 1967 to avoid paying taxes. However, it became a listed building in 1971. It is now, however, a total ruin.
The two outer wings were added in 1880 when the castle was extended by Thomas Kennedy’s grandson for his large family.
The stairway next to the turret has totally collapsed as have all intermediate floors in the turret.
Another explorer can be seen in the outer wing.
The property was sold by the Kennedy family in 1930 and leased to the Scottish Youth Hostel Association and later occupied by the evacuated Glasgow Deaf and Dumb institution in the 2nd World War.
After the war it was bought and occupied by John Stewart a product merchant, who farmed the estate.
Subsequently a 1990 redevelopment with two golf courses, a hotel, conference centre and holiday homes was abandoned as was an early 2000’s simpler schemes for a hotel.
The ruins have been fenced off but subsequently the fencing has deteriorated, even since 2021 when I last visited.
The interior has now deteriorated badly although the external walls still look structurally sound.
This 4th floor fireplace looks like it’s ready to be cleaned out and relit. The fireplaces of any value on the lower floors have been removed.
There are some remnants of window casings on upper levels and this 4th flour cupboard still has a wooden interior.
To the north of the castle Adam designed a long stable range, although actually built in a simpler style than his design. Although I didn’t fully explore this area it looked to have deteriorated significantly since my last visit.
On the internet I discovered an old postcard photo from the castle’s grander days.
For now we leave the castle but I intend to explore the older, original castle in the future.