Blairquhan Castle

Coordinates: 55°18′58″N 4°34′39″W / 55.3161°N 4.5776°W / 55.3161; -4.5776
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Blairquhan Castle
Hunter-Blair family
ArchitectWilliam Burn
Architectural style(s)Tudor revival
Listed Building – Category A
Designated14 April 1971
Reference no.LB19094
CriteriaHistorical
Horticultural
Architectural
Designated1 July 1987
Reference no.GDL00063
Blairquhan Castle is located in South Ayrshire
Blairquhan Castle
Location within South Ayrshire

Blairquhan (

Hunter-Blair Baronets and remained in the family's possession until 2012, when it was sold to a Chinese company.[2]

Blairquhan is protected as a Category A listed building,[3] and the grounds are included in the Inventory of Gardens and Designed Landscapes in Scotland, the national listing of significant gardens.[4]

History

Four different families have lived at Blairquhan or on its lands. The

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 took the additional surname of Blair. Sir David Hunter Blair made some of his money in Jamaica and was joint-owner of Roselle Estate, St Thomas-in-the-East.[5]

In 1820, Sir David commissioned Scottish architect William Burn to design a new house on Blairquhan. The old castle, which had become ruinous due to previous fires and neglect, was torn down for a new the Tudor-style castle, which nevertheless incorporated some of the decorative mouldings and sculpted stones from the old castle into the kitchen courtyard of the new house.[3] The new mansion was completed in 1824, and contains many antiques and an important collection of paintings by Scottish artists. In late 2012, Sir Patrick David Hunter-Blair, 9th Baronet, sold Blairquhan to Ganten Scotland, a subsidiary of a Chinese company which bottles mineral water for distribution around the world.[2]

The estate and grounds

Blairquhan is approached from the north via a three-mile (five-kilometre) drive along the

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.

As a tourist attraction

To help offset operating costs, James Hunter Blair opened the 2,000-acre (800-hectare) estate as a venue for private functions such as weddings, corporate outings and filming. The current owners continue this operation, offering the castle as an exclusive use venue. Blairquhan was seen in the UK television programme

Oscar-winning 2006 film The Queen, starring Helen Mirren.[6]

References

Notes
  1. ^ The Online Scots Dictionary
  2. ^ a b "Ayrshire estate sold". Daily Record. 17 October 2012.
  3. ^ a b Historic Environment Scotland. "BLAIRQUHAN (Category A Listed Building) (LB19094)". Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  4. ^ Historic Environment Scotland. "BLAIRQUHAN (GDL00063)". Retrieved 7 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Details of Estate, Legacies of British Slave-ownership". www.ucl.ac.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2019.
  6. Internet Movie Database
    .
Bigliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Blairquhan House.
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