Crosbie Castle and the Fullarton estate
Encyclopedia
Crosbie Castle and the Fullarton estate lie near Troon
in South Ayrshire
. The site was the home of the Fullartons of that Ilk for several centuries. Crosbie Castle eventually became an ice house after a new Fullarton House mansion was built. The mansion was demolished and the area set aside as a public park and golf course. The lands were part of the feudal Barony of Corsbie Fullartoune.
Over the centuries the castle was rebuilt three times, in the same typical square design as seen at Dundonald Castle. The remains today mainly represent the Castle's dungeon. In the days of the laird's right of pit and gallows
criminals would be held there before sentence was passed on them by the barony court. Many of Crosbie Castle's stones were used in the construction of the first Fullarton House. The old castle dungeon had an underground stream, making it the ideal cold storage cellar or ice house.
Close sees it as having similarities with Monkcastle
near Dalry.
Another Crosbie Castle or tower is located in West Kilbride
, North Ayrshire
.
was born in Alloway
and it was left as a ruin.
It was disjoined from the parish of Dundonald in 1651 and annexed to the united parishes of Monkton and Prestwick. In 1688 Crosbie was joined again with Dundonald parish; after which it was rarely used. One of the graves, recarved in the 19th century, is that off David Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, son of, James, alleged assassin of the good Regent Moray, bastard son of James V. This event occurred in 1570 and David died in 1619. In 1545 John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley, feued to David Hamilton his kinsman, the lands of Monktonmains near Prestwick. The family lived at Overmain House for three generations, the house later being renamed 'Fairfield'
. David Fullarton of that Ilk had married David's sister.
The inscription reads:
Janet McFadzean was buried in Crosbie cemetery in 1761 and the front of her tombstone reads: Here lyes the corps of Janet McFadzean, Spous of William McFadzean, Quarter-Master Sergean in Lovetenan General Homs Regiment of Sol., who died August 22, 1761, aged 27 years.
The reverse side reads:
Carvings on a recess within the North wall record that this is also the burial place of the family and lairds of Fullarton of that Ilk until the family established a family burial plot at Irvine's Old Parish Church. Colonel Fullarton was buried in Isleworth
Church in Surrey
, but he is commemorated at Irvine.
Constructed on the site of the original chapel, this was a chapel-of-ease of the Fullartons, the name Crosbie itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'Crossbye', signifying the dwelling place of the cross; a fairly common placename; a Crosbie Tower survives near West Kilbride, a Crosby is near Maryport in Cumberland, also Crosby upon Eden, and High and Low Crosby in that county; Little Crosby in Lancashire; Crosby Garret (Westmorland), etc. Crosby is also a fairly common surname.
The cemetery dates from circa 1240 and was held by Fullarton of Crosbie in the 14th century after being passed on from relatives. Records indicate that this ground was used by a holy order before the Fullartons arrived in the area. The chapelry of Crosbie, together with that of Richardstoun (Riccartoun
) were attached to Dundonald and were granted by the second Walter the Steward to the short lived Gilbertine Convent which he had founded at Dalmulin in 1238. The convent was dis-established in 1238 and the chapel passed to the monks of Paisley Abbey
.
Robert Burn was the last Carmelite prior in Fullarton and is recorded as a post-reformation 'reader at Dundonald and Crosbie'.
A village once clustered around the church. The cemetery was the burial ground for Troon until 1862 and family lairs were still in use until after the First World War. On the other side of the road, the remains of the church manse can still be seen (2009). The 'Wrack Road' was the Fullarton Estate estate road used by tenants who took their carts down to the shore to collect seaweed or wrack as fertilizer and it was the main road from Troon for funerals going to Crosbie.
Fullarton House was built by William Fullarton of that Ilk in 1745 and altered by his son, however it was demolished in 1966 by the council who had been unable to maintain the building after purchasing it in 1928. The stables had been built in the 1790s and were converted to flats in 1974.
The entrance route had been changed by William Bentinck, Duke of Portland and the house design altered so that the back became the front, with grand views opened up of the Isle of Arran and Firth of Clyde. Originally there were four pillars at the rear of the polices, two of which were gate posts, and the two others are said to have held stone hawks which were a sign of the fowlers' profession. After centuries of occupation the Fullarton lines possession had thus come to an end when the Duke of Portland purchased the property in 1805. He lived here for a while as his principal residence in Scotland, however he had a greater interest in developing Troon harbour and the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
.
The grounds are now a park with some signs of the old house still apparent, such as the magnificent stable block, the ornamental pediments, walled gardens, doocot fragments and an ice house. A thatched lodge called Heather House stood at the entrance to the house until it burned down in the 1950s.
to supply him with wild-fowl at his castle of Forfar.
Alanus de Fowlertoun was in possession of the lands shortly before his death in 1280 and the family continued in a nearly unbroken line from father to son. The family house had originally been located in the area closer to the shore, presently named Fullarton Drive, however as the population of the village started to grow, the decision was made to relocate 2 miles east. The family had given lands, the Friars Croft, to the Carmelite friars and George Foullertoun held the lands from 1430 to 1471 and was often known as the Laird of Crosbie; he may have moved the family to Crosbie prior to Fullarton House being built.
James Fullarton of Fullarton and Crosbie, received on November 20th, 1634, a commission under the great seal, from King Charles I, appointing him sheriff of the bailiary of Kyle Stewart. William Fullarton, the builder of the house, inherited the estate from his grandfather in 1710, he having inherited it from his brother in turn.
Orangefield and Fairfield near Monkton, Ayrshire
had been part of the Fullarton Estate, however they were sold by Colonel William Fullarton circa 1803, prior to his taking up an official appointment in Trinidad
as one of the Government's Commissioners.
Colonel Fullarton died in 1808, the last Fullarton of that Ilk laird. He wrote in 1793 the seminal A General View of the Agriculture in the County of Ayr and was one of the few on record to praise Robert Burns
's skills as a farmer, commenting favourably on a method of dishorning cattle which the poet had demonstrated. Burns is said to have visited Fullarton. Napoléon III, as Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) stayed at the house whilst attending the Eglinton Tournament of 1839. Burns made a complimentary reference to Colonel Fullarton in 'The Vision'. The Colonel certainly visited Burns at Ellisland in 1791.
Colonel Stewart Murray Fullarton of Bartonholm, a second cousin, married Rosetta, said to be the daughter of the Colonel Fullarton, and their two sons continued the line, however the estate had been sold in 1805 to the Duke of Portland as stated.
or the 'Temple on the Hill'. It was demolished to allow for the construction of a new harbour road.
This area of the Ayrshire coast was particularly noted for smuggling activity in the 18th century and a story is extant of a time in April 1767 when customs officials tried to obtain the use of the Temple, however Mrs Fullarton was away and the servants were 'unable' or unwilling' to hand over the keys.
in 1833. The surface of the Garnock was seen to be ruffled and it was discovered that a section of the river bed had collapsed into mineworkings beneath. The river was now flowing into miles of mineworkings of the Bartonholm, Snodgrass, and Longford collieries.
Attempts were made to block the breach with clay, whin, straw, etc with no success. The miners had been safely brought to the surface and were able to witness the sight of the river standing dry for nearly a mile downstream, with fish jumping about in all directions. The tide brought in sufficient water to complete the flooding of the workings and the river level returned to normal. The weight of the floodwater was so great that the compressed air broke through the ground in many places and many acres of ground were observed to bubble up like a pan of boiling water. In some places rents and cavities appeared measuring four or five feet in diameter, and from these came a roaring sound described as being like steam escaping from a safety valve. For about five hours great volumes of water and sand were thrown up into the air like fountains and the mining villages of Bartonholm, Snodgrass, Longford and Nethermains were flooded.
The 13th Earl of Eglinton
purchased all the lands concerned in 1852 and cut a short canal at Bogend, across the loop of the river involved, bypassing the breach and once the river course had been drained and sealed off he was able to have the flooded mineworkings pumped out.Macdonald, Page 24
Troon
Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services...
in South Ayrshire
South Ayrshire
South Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway....
. The site was the home of the Fullartons of that Ilk for several centuries. Crosbie Castle eventually became an ice house after a new Fullarton House mansion was built. The mansion was demolished and the area set aside as a public park and golf course. The lands were part of the feudal Barony of Corsbie Fullartoune.
Crosbie Castle
Robert II granted the old Crosbie estate to the Fullartons in 1344 and by the 18th century the old castle was partly demolished and converted into an ice house for Fullarton House, with a doocot nearby. In 1969 more of the ice house was demolished to make it safe and the doocot was raised to ground level. The building had been known as Crosby Place and later became Fullarton House, not long before the new building of the same name replaced it.Over the centuries the castle was rebuilt three times, in the same typical square design as seen at Dundonald Castle. The remains today mainly represent the Castle's dungeon. In the days of the laird's right of pit and gallows
Moot hill
A moot hill or mons placiti is a hill or mound historically used as an assembly or meeting place. In early medieval Britain, such hills were used for "moots", meetings of local people to settle local business. Among other things, proclamations might be read; decisions might be taken; court cases...
criminals would be held there before sentence was passed on them by the barony court. Many of Crosbie Castle's stones were used in the construction of the first Fullarton House. The old castle dungeon had an underground stream, making it the ideal cold storage cellar or ice house.
Close sees it as having similarities with Monkcastle
Monkcastle, North Ayrshire
Monkcastle, sometimes known as Old Monkcastle formed a small estate in the Parish of Kilwinning, North Ayrshire lying between Kilwinning and Dalry on the A737. Originally the property was originally held by the Tironensian monks of Kilwinning Abbey and was probably the site of the Abbot's 'Country...
near Dalry.
Another Crosbie Castle or tower is located in West Kilbride
West Kilbride
West Kilbride is a village in North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the water to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran...
, 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...
.
Crosbie church and cemetery
The church, at the edge of Fullarton Park (NGR NS 34427 29488) was first recorded in 1229, the present structure dates from 1691. William Roy's map records the name as Crosbay and Corsby is another variant. Tradition claims that the roof blew off and the gable damaged on the same day in 1759 that Robert BurnsRobert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
was born in Alloway
Alloway
Alloway is best known as the birthplace of Robert Burns, and as where he set his poem "Tam o' Shanter"....
and it was left as a ruin.
It was disjoined from the parish of Dundonald in 1651 and annexed to the united parishes of Monkton and Prestwick. In 1688 Crosbie was joined again with Dundonald parish; after which it was rarely used. One of the graves, recarved in the 19th century, is that off David Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, son of, James, alleged assassin of the good Regent Moray, bastard son of James V. This event occurred in 1570 and David died in 1619. In 1545 John Hamilton, abbot of Paisley, feued to David Hamilton his kinsman, the lands of Monktonmains near Prestwick. The family lived at Overmain House for three generations, the house later being renamed 'Fairfield'
Monkton, Ayrshire
Monkton is a small village in the Parish of Monkton and Prestwick in South Ayrshire, Scotland.The nearest town is Prestwick and the settlement borders upon Glasgow Prestwick Airport.- History :The village was originally known as Prestwick Monachorum....
. David Fullarton of that Ilk had married David's sister.
The inscription reads:
Heir lye corpis of ane honorabel man callt David Hamiltoune of Bothelhaughe, spous to Elesone Sinclar in his time, quha desist the 14th of Merche, 1619. |
Janet McFadzean was buried in Crosbie cemetery in 1761 and the front of her tombstone reads: Here lyes the corps of Janet McFadzean, Spous of William McFadzean, Quarter-Master Sergean in Lovetenan General Homs Regiment of Sol., who died August 22, 1761, aged 27 years.
The reverse side reads:
Twenty-four years i lived a maiden life, And three years i was a married wife, In which time i lived a hapie life, I trevld with him from toun to toun, Until by death i was cut down. In my sister's hous did die, And here at Crosbie Kirk i ly, Where i my rest and sleep will take, Until at last i be awaked. It will not be with tuk of drum, But it will be when the trumpet sound, And while ile my Redeemer see, Who shed his preshios blood for me. |
Carvings on a recess within the North wall record that this is also the burial place of the family and lairds of Fullarton of that Ilk until the family established a family burial plot at Irvine's Old Parish Church. Colonel Fullarton was buried in Isleworth
Isleworth
Isleworth is a small town of Saxon origin sited within the London Borough of Hounslow in west London, England. It lies immediately east of the town of Hounslow and west of the River Thames and its tributary the River Crane. Isleworth's original area of settlement, alongside the Thames, is known as...
Church in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
, but he is commemorated at Irvine.
Constructed on the site of the original chapel, this was a chapel-of-ease of the Fullartons, the name Crosbie itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'Crossbye', signifying the dwelling place of the cross; a fairly common placename; a Crosbie Tower survives near West Kilbride, a Crosby is near Maryport in Cumberland, also Crosby upon Eden, and High and Low Crosby in that county; Little Crosby in Lancashire; Crosby Garret (Westmorland), etc. Crosby is also a fairly common surname.
The cemetery dates from circa 1240 and was held by Fullarton of Crosbie in the 14th century after being passed on from relatives. Records indicate that this ground was used by a holy order before the Fullartons arrived in the area. The chapelry of Crosbie, together with that of Richardstoun (Riccartoun
Riccarton, Ayrshire
Riccarton is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies across the River Irvine from Kilmarnock. The river Irvine divides the parishes of Riccarton and Kilmarnock and the river used to form the boundary between the districts of Kyle and Cunninghame.- History :The village became a...
) were attached to Dundonald and were granted by the second Walter the Steward to the short lived Gilbertine Convent which he had founded at Dalmulin in 1238. The convent was dis-established in 1238 and the chapel passed to the monks of Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey
Paisley Abbey is a former Cluniac monastery, and current Church of Scotland parish kirk, located on the east bank of the White Cart Water in the centre of the town of Paisley, Renfrewshire, in west central Scotland.-History:...
.
Robert Burn was the last Carmelite prior in Fullarton and is recorded as a post-reformation 'reader at Dundonald and Crosbie'.
A village once clustered around the church. The cemetery was the burial ground for Troon until 1862 and family lairs were still in use until after the First World War. On the other side of the road, the remains of the church manse can still be seen (2009). The 'Wrack Road' was the Fullarton Estate estate road used by tenants who took their carts down to the shore to collect seaweed or wrack as fertilizer and it was the main road from Troon for funerals going to Crosbie.
Views of the cemetery
An epistle by John Laing suggests that Crosbie Kirk is haunted:But sir, sin' I maun let you know Langsyne when I was forced to go By Crosby Kirk to meet my Joe When it was dark, I feared that spunkies wad bestow On me their mark. An' comin' hame, the truth to tell, An' fast upon the hour o' twal, Nae mortal seen but just mysel', I shook wi' fear, Lest ghaist or aught wad skirl an' yell, An' cause a steer. Deed Sir, I've often heard it tell, By folk much aulder than mysel', There ghaists an' spunkies used to dwell In days gane by, An' aften they've been heard to yell, An' groan an' sigh! |
Fullarton House and estate
The entrance route had been changed by William Bentinck, Duke of Portland and the house design altered so that the back became the front, with grand views opened up of the Isle of Arran and Firth of Clyde. Originally there were four pillars at the rear of the polices, two of which were gate posts, and the two others are said to have held stone hawks which were a sign of the fowlers' profession. After centuries of occupation the Fullarton lines possession had thus come to an end when the Duke of Portland purchased the property in 1805. He lived here for a while as his principal residence in Scotland, however he had a greater interest in developing Troon harbour and the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
Kilmarnock and Troon Railway
The Kilmarnock and Troon Railway was the first railway line in Scotland authorised by Act of Parliament, in 1808; the engineer was William Jessop. It was the first railway in Scotland to use a steam locomotive; and it was the only one in Scotland for fourteen years...
.
The grounds are now a park with some signs of the old house still apparent, such as the magnificent stable block, the ornamental pediments, walled gardens, doocot fragments and an ice house. A thatched lodge called Heather House stood at the entrance to the house until it burned down in the 1950s.
The Fullarton family
The name is thought to come from the office of 'Fowler to the King', the purpose of which was to supply wild-fowl to the King as required. The dwelling which came with the post was called Fowlertoun and the family may have eventually adopted the name. The Fullarton's of Angus had been required by Robert IRobert I of Scotland
Robert I , popularly known as Robert the Bruce , was King of Scots from March 25, 1306, until his death in 1329.His paternal ancestors were of Scoto-Norman heritage , and...
to supply him with wild-fowl at his castle of Forfar.
Alanus de Fowlertoun was in possession of the lands shortly before his death in 1280 and the family continued in a nearly unbroken line from father to son. The family house had originally been located in the area closer to the shore, presently named Fullarton Drive, however as the population of the village started to grow, the decision was made to relocate 2 miles east. The family had given lands, the Friars Croft, to the Carmelite friars and George Foullertoun held the lands from 1430 to 1471 and was often known as the Laird of Crosbie; he may have moved the family to Crosbie prior to Fullarton House being built.
James Fullarton of Fullarton and Crosbie, received on November 20th, 1634, a commission under the great seal, from King Charles I, appointing him sheriff of the bailiary of Kyle Stewart. William Fullarton, the builder of the house, inherited the estate from his grandfather in 1710, he having inherited it from his brother in turn.
Orangefield and Fairfield near Monkton, Ayrshire
Monkton, Ayrshire
Monkton is a small village in the Parish of Monkton and Prestwick in South Ayrshire, Scotland.The nearest town is Prestwick and the settlement borders upon Glasgow Prestwick Airport.- History :The village was originally known as Prestwick Monachorum....
had been part of the Fullarton Estate, however they were sold by Colonel William Fullarton circa 1803, prior to his taking up an official appointment in Trinidad
Trinidad
Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands and numerous landforms which make up the island nation of Trinidad and Tobago. It is the southernmost island in the Caribbean and lies just off the northeastern coast of Venezuela. With an area of it is also the fifth largest in...
as one of the Government's Commissioners.
Colonel Fullarton died in 1808, the last Fullarton of that Ilk laird. He wrote in 1793 the seminal A General View of the Agriculture in the County of Ayr and was one of the few on record to praise Robert Burns
Robert Burns
Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and a lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland, and is celebrated worldwide...
's skills as a farmer, commenting favourably on a method of dishorning cattle which the poet had demonstrated. Burns is said to have visited Fullarton. Napoléon III, as Prince Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte (20 April 1808 – 9 January 1873) stayed at the house whilst attending the Eglinton Tournament of 1839. Burns made a complimentary reference to Colonel Fullarton in 'The Vision'. The Colonel certainly visited Burns at Ellisland in 1791.
Colonel Stewart Murray Fullarton of Bartonholm, a second cousin, married Rosetta, said to be the daughter of the Colonel Fullarton, and their two sons continued the line, however the estate had been sold in 1805 to the Duke of Portland as stated.
Free-traders
Colonel Fullarton's father, also William, died in 1759 when he was only five years old. The absence of an active laird may have encouraged the smugglers or free-traders; certainly Customs officials in Ayr at the time noted that Revenue officers could not rent property in the area because Mrs Fullarton could make much more money letting to smugglers. Some of these houses may have been 'Brandy Pots', safe houses with basements dug out to store contraband.The Temple
This observatory, octagonal, with a domed roof, was located on the isthmus at Troon. This temple or pagoda had eight pillars arranged around it and was built by William Fullarton; it is marked on old maps of the area as far back as Roy's map of circa 1747. Colonel Fullarton may have altered it at some point as it was said to have some Indian design characteristics and he spent some years there in his army days. It had an inscription on it : Baccho laetitiae datori, amacis et otio sacrum, which translates as Erected to Bacchus, the giver of happiness, for friends and for leisure. The Templehill area of Troon recalls this structure, also known as Fullarton's follyFolly
In architecture, a folly is a building constructed primarily for decoration, but either suggesting by its appearance some other purpose, or merely so extravagant that it transcends the normal range of garden ornaments or other class of building to which it belongs...
or the 'Temple on the Hill'. It was demolished to allow for the construction of a new harbour road.
This area of the Ayrshire coast was particularly noted for smuggling activity in the 18th century and a story is extant of a time in April 1767 when customs officials tried to obtain the use of the Temple, however Mrs Fullarton was away and the servants were 'unable' or unwilling' to hand over the keys.
Coal mines
Colonel Fullarton owned the estate of Bartonholm, which had various mine workings, steam pumping engines and early plateways. The workings were inundated when the coal workings broke through the bed of the River GarnockRiver Garnock
The River Garnock, the smallest of Ayrshire's six principal rivers, has its source on the southerly side of the Hill of Stake in the heart of the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. About a mile and a half south of this starting point the untested stream tumbles over the Spout of Garnock, the highest...
in 1833. The surface of the Garnock was seen to be ruffled and it was discovered that a section of the river bed had collapsed into mineworkings beneath. The river was now flowing into miles of mineworkings of the Bartonholm, Snodgrass, and Longford collieries.
Attempts were made to block the breach with clay, whin, straw, etc with no success. The miners had been safely brought to the surface and were able to witness the sight of the river standing dry for nearly a mile downstream, with fish jumping about in all directions. The tide brought in sufficient water to complete the flooding of the workings and the river level returned to normal. The weight of the floodwater was so great that the compressed air broke through the ground in many places and many acres of ground were observed to bubble up like a pan of boiling water. In some places rents and cavities appeared measuring four or five feet in diameter, and from these came a roaring sound described as being like steam escaping from a safety valve. For about five hours great volumes of water and sand were thrown up into the air like fountains and the mining villages of Bartonholm, Snodgrass, Longford and Nethermains were flooded.
The 13th Earl of Eglinton
Earl of Eglinton
Earl of Eglinton is a title in the Peerage of Scotland.Some authorities spell the title: Earl of Eglintoun In 1859 the thirteenth Earl of Eglinton, Archibald Montgomerie, was also created Earl of Winton in the Peerage of the United Kingdom, which gave him an automatic seat in the House of Lords,...
purchased all the lands concerned in 1852 and cut a short canal at Bogend, across the loop of the river involved, bypassing the breach and once the river course had been drained and sealed off he was able to have the flooded mineworkings pumped out.Macdonald, Page 24