Description
The castle consists of a rectangular main block, with a rectangular stair tower projecting from the NE corner. The entrance is in the re-entrant angle and was secured, in the usual fashion, with an outer wooden door and inner iron yett.
The accommodation is typical of a late-16th century tower, with ground-floor vaulted cellarage and a kitchen, accessed via a vaulted corridor running most of the length of the main block. On the first floor, the hall took up the majority of the main block, and was accessed from the main stair within the stair tower and service stair rising in the SE corner. The hall fireplace was in the north wall, but all that survives is a large gap showing where it has been robbed. The upper floors are divided into two, the second floor chambers each supplied with a latrine and fireplace, and are served by the main stair and a secondary stair raising from the hall in the SW angle.
Baltersan has may features typical of tower houses dating to the second half of the 16th century, including its plan which has similarities with Scalloway Castle, Shetland. However, Baltersan does exhibit some unusually sophisticated features including sliding shutters at the second floor level, a rooftop water collection system which served the kitchen and a fine oriel window to the caphouse above the main stair (similar to oriels at Gylen Castle, Argyll and nearby Maybole Castle). The mouldings and details of the tower are also of unusually high quality.
History
Baltersan was a possession of a branch of the Kenndy family from the late 15th century, when it was recorded that James Kennedy of Baltersan, Lord of Row, married Egidia Blair. Egidia died at her 'dwelling-house' of Baltersan in 1530; a predecessor building to the present tower.
On the 28 March 1574, confirmatory Precept of Clare Constat by Alan, Commentator of Crossraguel, makes mention of 'the three merkland of Baltersan of old extent, with mansion and orchards'. A now illegible inscription on the lintel of the entrance to the tower was recorded in the 19th century and read 'This house was first begun the First day of March 1584 by John Kennedy of Pennyglen and Margret Cathcart his spouse'. John Kennedy was a grandson of James and Egidia Kennedy.
Baltersan has received considerable attention from travellers, antiquarians and architects over the centuries. In his 'Description of Carrict', written in 1696, the Rev. William Abercrombie describes Baltersan, which was still occupied, as 'a stately, Fyne house with gardens, Orchards and parks around it'. The house was sketched by Robert Adam, and his brother-in-Law, Clerk of Eldin, in 1762 as part of a drawing of Crossreguel Abbey and was drawn by Charles Rennie Mackintosh in 1895.
Status
The castle stands at the side of the A77 Glasgow/Stranraer Road within sight of Crossraguel Abbey. The owner is currently marketing the castle as a restoration project. There is an extant planning permission for accommodation over five floors.
Conservation Options
The shell of castle is largely complete to the wall head, although it is fragile. The W gable and oriel are incomplete and the E gable has collapsed (although photographs from the 1940s survive). Internally, the vaults over the cellars and kitchen are missing, perhaps robbed.
Although the castle has some very interesting and even unique features (the sliding shutters), it shares many characteristics with other tower houses of this date. It is therefore considered that it would be possible to restore it for modern occupation without detracting from its significance. It is also considered that the planning of the castle would lend itself to modern requirements quite easily, particularly with two separate staircases serving the rooms on the upper floors.
Bibliography
Brown J, (2000) 'Baltersan: a stately tower house in Ayrshire' Proc Soc Antiq Scot, 130, (2000) 725-742 MacGibbon, D and Ross, T 1892 The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland, 5 vols. Edinburgh, vol 3, 502.