Castle and Barony of Robertland

The Castle and Barony of Robertland (NS 4428 4693) is located near Stewarton, off the B769 road, in the old district of Cunninghame, Parish of Stewarton, and now part of East Ayrshire, Scotland.

Robertland Castle, in the barony of that name, was held by a cadet branch of the Cunninghames and is now a ruin with a few stone features visible. Timothy Pont records the name as 'Over Robertland' in the 17th century and states that the castle is entirely removed. In 1800 the remaining stones from this tower were used to build the walls of the walled garden at Robertland House, across the Swinzie Burn. This feature still exists (2009).

The old castle had been a massive square structure six storeys high. Cattle and horses were accommodated on the ground floor, the servants on the second, and the family occupied the upper storeys. This defensive keep was surrounded by a moat which could be easily flooded by the nearby Swinsey Burn.

The Montgomeries are believed to have burnt the castle down following the murder of the 4th Earl of Eglinton at Stewarton in 1586.

In 1962 the RCAHMS visited and recorded that the castle and its courtyard remnants stood on the steep, natural, South bank of the Swinzie Burn, with steep slopes on all sides. The whole length of the retaining South wall was discernible, about 1.6m wide. The castle interior was thought to be divided into two compartments by an earth-and-stone bank 3.0m wide and 0.7m high. A low bank to the west, 2.0m wide and 0.3m high, may have been the course of the West wall of the castle. The retaining East wall of the courtyard was entire and stood approximately 0.5m in height and 1.6m thick. Ditches on the South and West sides of the castle were considered to be natural.

Many carved stones have been recovered from the moat and are preserved in the wall surrounding the garden. These stones include a Gargoyle, a rounded projectile of sandstone, and also a stone with a mason's mark. The garden wall has a stone with the date 1597 and the Latin sentence, Vita post fine eraverit (There will be life after the end).

In the gable of the home farm are the letters D.M.C. and apparently the date 1018. A dovecot was a feature of the mansion house outbuildings. The estate had been enclosed with hedges and ditches in about 1764.

In 1607 Over, Nether Castleton and Fulshaw were part of the estate of Robertland, being held by David Cunninghame, his son Sir David, and his son, in 1628, also David. Over Lochrig (sic) near Stewarton was at one time a part of the estate. In 1628 Waterland in the Parish of Dunlop was part of the estate.

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