OS1/3/46/67
| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NEWARK CASTLE | Newark Castle Newark Castle Newark Castle Site of Fort |
J.G.Hannay Alexander Henderson Rev'd [Reverend] William Menzies |
039 | This Castle, property of the Marquis of Ailsa, is built upon a rock. The original building was a single square tower, date of erection uncertain. It has since been much improved & enlarged principally in 1687 and eight years ago. It is now a small elegant quad-rangular building four stories high. There is an old Spanish Chestnut tree about a hundred yards from the house believed to be the finest in Scotland - 16 feet in girth. A large old ash - named the Dule tree stands near the Grand stair of the Castle. About eight years ago the remains of an encampment were still traceable on one of the higher ridges near the Castle. The breastworks unusually extensive, ran in parallel lines along the heights, the space between varying from fifty to one hundred yards, according to the form of eminence. Origin unknown, but is sometimes supposed to have been Norwegian. |
Continued entries/extra info
[Page] 67 -- Parish of MayboleNewark Castle - Johnston's County Map
"Newark Castle is still in a habitable condition, though the feudal pomp
"of former times has long departed from it.***The castle, originally a single
"square tower, in the style of those places of strength which began to spring up
"throughout the country in the eleventh century, is built on a rock, rising
" gently above the surrounding surface, but at the sametime affording ample
"means of defence, according to the system of warfare which then prevailed.
"It was surrounded by a moat - only recently filled up - with a drawbridge;
"and a small streamlet, which now winds past the knoll, supplied
" the fosse with water. The tower, including the arched keep, consists of four
" stories, and was ascended, prior to the improvements subsequently made
"by an inside spiral stair of very narrow dimensions. The entrance from
"the drawbridge appears, in older times, to have been through
"a portion of the rock. Of the age or history of the building,
" few particulars, we believe, are extant"
Patterson's History of Ayrshire (1847)
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