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Auchans Castle,〔Adamson, Page 85〕 House, House of Auchans〔Paterson, Pages 432〕 or Old Auchans, is a mock military mansion, Category A listed,〔(British Listed Buildings. ) Retrieved : 2010-09-09〕 T-plan building of a late 16th century date converted to the L-plan during the early-to-mid-17th century; its ruins stand about 1 km W of Dundonald, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Parish of Dundonald. It was held at various times by the Wallace, Cochrane and Montgomerie families. ==Description== McKean refers to Auchans as being amongst Scotland's principal châteauxs which he defines〔McKean, Page 3〕 as the ''dwelling of the owner of a great property, a large and beautiful pleasure house in the countryside'', and records that James Wallace added the fashionable square stair-tower in the re-entrant angle,〔Campbell, Page 121〕 with its viewing platform and broken pediments in 1644.〔McKean, Pages 238-9〕 The spelling on Joan Blaeu's map of 1654 is 'Aghans'.〔(Bleau's Map )〕 The castle stands on a slightly elevated knoll and is constructed mainly of whinstone.〔 Cummell recorded in the 18th century that the building reminded him of the old Glasgow College buildings.〔Service, Page 108〕 The original house, with its high gables, had three principal storeys; the basement was vaulted and a stair-tower was situated externally, central to the South side. The balustraded terrace on the South side of castle was at one time enclosed within a courtyard. A new wing, three storeys and a garret in height, was at a later date added at the West end of the North wall, and a stair-tower, with a Renaissance-style doorway, was built, still visible in today's ruins (2009). This new wing was extended still further on the North by the addition of a block with two towers. The basement of the block was vaulted; one of the towers was corbelled, square in section and its gables crow-stepped. Domestic buildings were added on the South and East sides of the courtyard.〔(RCAHMS Canmore Website )〕 The kitchen stood in the western wing; the first floor contained a suite of principal rooms, that in the western wing being known as the dining room in the 1860s, probably originally being the private room and bedroom of the proprietor. It was wood panelled and had an ornate marble fireplace.〔Macgibbon. Page 174〕 The second floor contained bedrooms and the third floor, partly in the roof, was chiefly occupied by a long gallery. This was lit by dormer windows and by a large traceried window in the east gable, long built up.〔Macgibbon, Page 176〕 The entrance was in the square balustraded tower and was of the Renaissance style.〔Macgibbon, Page 178〕 The main block of the castle was not vaulted and only the cellars in the North wing had vaults. Only a few gun-loops were provided as by 1644 such defensive structures were largely redundant.〔Tranter, Page 7〕 The now greatly ruined castle stands in its woodland policies amidst a series of stone-walled parks, the walls of which are mainly in a state of collapse. The building and the park walls were in the main constructed using stone robbed from Dundonald Castle.〔Billings, Volume 1〕 A vast number of valuable Eglinton family papers were discovered in one of the apartments in the 1880s, rescued as the building was in a terminal state of decay. Many had already been destroyed through neglect.〔Paterson, Page 433〕〔Millar, Page 14〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Auchans Castle, Ayrshire」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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