DEAN CASTLE was the family seat of the Boyds for over 400 years. Known as Kilmarnock Castle until about 1700 it was described by Pont in Dobie’s Pont’s Cuninghame, pp. 292-3:
“Killmernock Castle, it is a staitly faire ancient bulding arysing in tuo grate heigh towers and bult arround courtewayes vith fyne low buildings. It [sic] is veill planted and almost environed vith gardens, orchards, and a parke, it belonged first to ye Locartts, Lordes thereof, then to the Lord Soulis, and now the chieffe duelling almost for 300 zeirs of ye Lords Boyde.”
It is a 14th century defensive ‘keep’ structure similar to Craigmillar Castle, and located in a dean (a wooded glen) at the meeting of the Borland and Craufurdland Waters (now Kilmarnock Water) about a mile north-east of Kilmarnock.
The Keep – which is thought to contain earlier work from c.1350 – was built c.1460. Being a defence structure, the walls are 3 metres thick, with battlements at the top.
The Gatehouse, with two rounded towers, loophole gun ports and half-leaded glass windows, was built 1935-36 and is similar to that at Rowallan Castle, built in 1567.
The Palace was built by Lord Boyd c.1467 when he was raised to the Peerage. The two seriously eroded coats of arms carved on the west gable are those of Princess Mary, sister of King James III, and Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran.
In 1735 the Palace was gutted by fire and was abandoned for nearly 200 years. The estate and the castle was sold in 1748 by James Boyd, son of the Earl, to William Cunningham, 13th Earl of Glencairn. His son James, the 14th Earl of Glencairn, sold the estate to Henrietta, ‘the rich Miss Scott’, eldest daughter of General John Scott of Balcomie, Fife in 1786. Henrietta married the Marquis of Titchfield – later the 4th Duke of Portland – in 1795. The Kilmarnock Estate inheritance passed to Henrietta’s daughters, her direct descendants.
One of her daughters, Lady Lucy Cavendish-Bentinck, married Charles Austus Ellis, the 6th Lord Howard de Walden, in 1828. When she died in 1899 her grandson and direct descendant, Thomas Evelyn Ellis, the 8th Lord Howard de Walden and 4th Lord Seaford, inherited the Kilmarnock Estate and the Castle. He added Scott to his name, becoming Thomas Evelyn Scott-Ellis. The genealogy of Lord de Walden can be seen here.
Lord Howard de Walden, with architect Henry Brown of Kilmarnock and later with Dr. James Richardson, Inspector of Ancient Monuments (and expert on Scottish historic architecture) restored the Keep by 1908 and the Palace by 1946. The 8th Lord de Walden (pictured right from a portrait in the Great Hall) died in November 1946, aged 66 years.
John Osmael Scott-Ellis, the 9th Lord Howard de Walden, gifted the Castle, 40 acres of land and the collection of arms, armour, tapestries and musical instruments to Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council in 1975. The District Council purchased an additional 160 acres of land in 1976. The Castle opened as a public museum in 1976, and the Country Park development was formally opened in 1980. Lord de Walden died in 1999 at the age of 86.
SUMMARY OF THE DEAN CASTLE AND ESTATE OWNERSHIP
* Locarts; de Soulis, pre 1300.
* Balliol; Robert Bruce, c.1300.
* Boyds, 1316 – 1469.
* The Crown, confiscated for alleged treason, 1469.
* Occupied by Princess Mary, sister of James III, 1469 – 1488.
* The Crown, 1488 – 1503.
* Queen Margaret, wife of James IV, 1503 – 1541 – leased to Boyds.
* The Crown, leased to Boyds 1541 – 1545.
* Boyds, restored by Mary Queen of Scots, 1545 – 1746.
* The Crown, confiscated 1746 – 1748.
* Boyds, restored 1748 – THE BOYD CONNECTION WITH KILMARNOCK ENDS 1748
* Cunningham, Earl of Glencairn 1748 – 1786, bought from Boyds.
* Scott, 1786 – 1795, bought from Glencairn.
* Cavendish-Bentinck, Duke of Portland, through marriage with Henrietta Scott 1795 – 1879.
* Scott-Ellis, Lords Howard de Walden, inherited by descent from Henrietta Scott (1879 – 1975)
* Kilmarnock & Loudon District Council, Castle and acreage gifted by 9th Lord de Walden 1975.
* Property investors, the remaining lands and Barony of Kilmarnock.
