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Summary

Description

1793-4. 2-storey, 4-bay gabled former gothic kennel with 4-bay single-storey section to W with battlemented screen wall and with separate kennels. Rubble with cement pointing; painted ashlar margins. Roll-moulded architraves to gothic window openings. Simple bargeboarding. Later lean-to extension to rear (N).

S ELEVATION: off-centre flat segmental-arched entrance doorframe with glass and timber double entrance door. Triple gothic window to right; single gothic window to left. Upper storey with windows to each gable.

Predominantly 6- over 6-pane timber sash and case windows to upper storey with timber gothic tracery windows to ground floor. Grey slates. Coped ridge stacks with polygonal cans.

KENNELS: to S. Symmetrical. Single-storey, 5-bay building with advanced 2-storey piended roof central block. Low coped rubble walls to S surmounted by iron railings, forming dog runs.

Timber doors. Grey slates. Single ridge stack.

Statement of Special Interest

These former kennels and house have fine gothic detailing and are a good example of a decorative kennels building, built for a major country estate. Built in 1793-4, they form an important part of the wider, internationally recognised Culzean Estate. The kennels have significant presence and were built for the 12th Earl of Cassillis.

Culzean Estate is acknowledged as the epitome of the Picturesque movement in Scotland, in its own right and is a work of international importance. Culzean, at one time the largest estate in Ayrshire, has been associated with the Kennedy family since the Middle Ages. It was gifted by Gilbert the 4th Earl of Cassillis to his brother Thomas Kennedy, in 1569. In the 1660s, the barmekin around the tower house was breached to create the terraced gardens, orchards, and walled garden for which Culzean was notable, while the caves beneath the castle (a Scheduled Monument) were fortified to serve as secure stores. Culzean Castle became the principal family seat when Sir Thomas Kennedy (1726-75) became the 9th Earl of Cassillis, in 1759. A continuing programme of improvements was undertaken by Sir Thomas and his successors during the 18th and 19th centuries. The 10th Earl began rebuilding the Castle to designs by Robert Adam. This work was continued by Archibald (1770-1846), the 12th Earl, later the 1st Marquess of Ailsa. From about 1810 onwards he commissioned numerous structures, both practical and ornamental, and several important architects and landscape designers were engaged to embellish the gardens and grounds with ponds, gates, lodges and pavilions, resulting in several key works of the Picturesque era. The 3rd Marquess undertook the modernisation and enlargement of the Castle in the 1870s. In 1945, the 5th Marquess of Ailsa divided the property, making over the Castle, and the policies immediately surrounding it, to the National Trust for Scotland. The kennels remain in private ownership.

List description updated, 2012.

References

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