Clonbeith Castle

The Castle of Clonbeith is in the old feudal Baillerie of Cunninghame

Cunninghame

Cunninghame is a former comital district of Scotland and also a district of the Strathclyde Region from 1975–1996.-Historic Cunninghame:The historic district of Cunninghame was bordered by the districts of Renfrew and Clydesdale to the north and east respectively, by the district of Kyle to the...

, near Auchentiber

Auchentiber

The hamlet of Auchentiber is in North Ayrshire, Parish of Kilwinning, Scotland. Auchentiber is NE of Kilwinning on the Lochlibo Road, from the hamlet of Burnhouse and from the village of Barrmill. Grid Ref. NS3647. Some new housing has been built, but the settlement is still very much a hamlet...

, on a sideroad off the B778, in what is now North Ayrshire

North Ayrshire

North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South...

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

It was a simple oblong mansion, about forty feet by twenty-three feet with walls two and a half feet thick. The ground floor was vaulted and the entrance was central, leading into a passage with a straight staircase branching off to the right up to the first floor hall. A wheel-stair in a square chamber led to the upper floors. The hall was lit by windows in three of the walls and had a large fireplace on one side, and a circular bow window on the opposite side, boldly projected on a series of corbels (see photograph). The Renaissance

Renaissance

The Renaissance was a cultural movement that spanned roughly the 14th to the 17th century, beginning in Italy in the Late Middle Ages and later spreading to the rest of Europe. The term is also used more loosely to refer to the historical era, but since the changes of the Renaissance were not...

style door bears the date 1607. The name 'Clonbeith' is said to be derived from the Celtic words 'Cluan', grazing land and 'Beithe', birch.

The lairds of Clonbeith

Given as 'Klonbyith' by Pont in the 1690s it was then the property of William Cunningham, scion

Kinship

Kinship is a relationship between any entities that share a genealogical origin, through either biological, cultural, or historical descent. And descent groups, lineages, etc. are treated in their own subsections....

of this cadet branch of the Glencairn Cuninghames through those of Aiket Castle

Barony of Aiket

The Barony of Aiket with its castle, lay within the old feudal bailiary of Cunninghame. The barony lands equate to the extant Parish of Dunlop, East Ayrshire, Scotland.-Aiket castle:...

. He was married to Agnes who died in 1612.

In 1691 the Hearth Tax records show that 'Clonbeith House' had five hearths and nineteen other dwellings were associated with the house.
Alexander Cuningham (sic) is said to have assaulted a professor in the College gardens at Glasgow and was forced to make an open acknowledgment of his faults in front of an assembly of his friends.

Together with around thirty other participants, it was John Cuningham shot and killed, the coup de gras, Hugh, the fourth Earl of Eglinton in 1586 and was caught hiding in a chimney at Hamilton Palace

Hamilton Palace

Hamilton Palace was a large country house located north-east of Hamilton, South Lanarkshire, Scotland. The former seat of the Dukes of Hamilton, it was built in 1695 and subsequently much enlarged. The house was demolished in 1921 due to ground subsidence despite inadequate evidence for that...

and was 'cut to pieces' by Robert, brother to Hugh and his supporters. Robert in the language of the time is said to have "honourably revenged" his brother's death, killing John Cunningham, in Hamilton

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire

Hamilton is a town in South Lanarkshire, in the west-central Lowlands of Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It is the fifth-biggest town in Scotland after Paisley, East Kilbride, Livingston and Cumbernauld...

, possibly at Hamilton palace.

James Cunningham of Clonbeith and Darnmuyle (1581) was the father of John Cunningham of Corsehill.

Robertson points out that the various branches of the family spell their name differently; as Cunningham for Baidland and Clonbeith, Cunninghame for Glencairn and Corsehill, Cuninghame for Caddel and Monkredding

Monkredding House, North Ayrshire

Monkredding formed a small estate in the Parish of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire lying between Kilwinning and Auchentiber on the B778. The property was originally held by the Tironensian monks of Kilwinning Abbey and was the 'Monk's Garden', the rest home for the brothers. Monkcastle near Dalgarven...

, and finally Cuningham for Glengarnock. The Cunninghams of Clonbeith are usually referred to as being of 'Clonbeith and Darnmyule,' with Darmule being nearer Kilwinning.

Daniel Cunningham, whose wife was Mary Wallace, with the consent of his son William, sold the property to James Scott, Provost of Irvine in 1633. In 1691 Walter, brother of James, sold the lands to Patrick Warner, Minister of Irvine.

William Cunninghams wife was Jean; in 1717 a reference is made to a George Cunningham of Clonbeith.

In 1698 the Monkredding estate

Monkredding House, North Ayrshire

was sold to Hugh Cuninghame of Clonbeith, Writer to the Signet, and became the family seat.

The Lady of Clonbeith

The 'Leddy o'Clumbeith' is a ghost story told by Dr. Duguid in the 1820s. A servant girl from the farm of Clonbeith was making her way to the Blair Tavern to keep a tryst when she fell into a mine shaft, horse and all, and was killed. Others say that her 'lad' killed her and then jumped into the shaft after her. Her ghost haunts the fields around Auchentiber.

The Lady in the peat

Dr. Duguid in around the 1840s records that near Clumbeith (Clonbeith) on the way to 'Meg'swa's' he met Pate Glunch cutting peats. Pate was normally a still, dour man, but on this occasion he was highly animated and took the doctor to see the long dead corpse of a 'bonnie lady' lying in a hole in the peat. She was around 18 to 20 years of age, had rosy cheeks, a sweet smile playing around her lips and blonde hair. Her identity was unknown, but a rumour linked her to the family of Montgreenan.

Micro history

In around 1691 the Rev Patrick Warner, having purchased Clonbeith and likewise purchased Scott's lands in Irvine, went on to drain much of the 'Loch of Irving' or Trindlemoss, later called Scott's Loch, after returning from exile in Holland.

The Cowlinn Burn runs down to join the Lugton Water at the site of Montgreenan castle or the Bishop's Palace

Auchentiber

. A dwelling called Cowlinn is marked on the Thomson's 1820 map and a Clonbeith Mill was nearby.

A limestone pit and workers row existed near the castle in the 19th century, providing a constant supply for the local limekilns.

A finely-shaped round and oval stone implement was found at Clonbeith or Clonkeith by Mr. Baird Kirkland in the 19th-century.

External links

http://geo.nls.uk/roy/ General Roy's Military map of Scotland.
http://www.futuremuseum.co.uk Details of the De Soulis, De Morville and other Cunninghame families.
http://www.scran.ac.uk/000-000-339-159 A photograph of Clonbeith castle.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.