Culzean Castle

Culzean Castle is a castle on the west coast of Scotland that overlooks the Firth of Clyde near Maybole and Carrick in South Ayrshire. The National Trust for Scotland presently owns the old residence of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy. The clifftop castle is available to the public and is located within the Culzean Castle Country Park. From 1972 until 2015, a depiction of the castle appeared on the back side of Royal Bank of Scotland five-pound notes. The castle was offered for rent as of 2021.

Culzean Fortress was built as an L-plan castle by the 10th Earl of Cassilis. He commissioned architect Robert Adam to transform a prior, but more basic, edifice into a splendid country home to serve as his earldom's seat. Between 1777 and 1792, the castle was erected in phases. It has a massive drum tower with an inside circular saloon overlooking the sea, a magnificent oval stairway, and a suite of well-appointed rooms. Margaret Radclyffe Livingstone Eyre, the 1st Marquess of Ailsa's daughter, married Thomas, Viscount Kynnaird on November 14, 1817, in the castle. Margaret would go on to become a well-known philanthropist.

The Kennedy family donated the castle and its gardens to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945. They requested that the apartment on the castle's roof be presented to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower in acknowledgment of his service as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII. The General visited Culzean Castle for the first time in 1946 and stayed there four times, including once when President of the United States.

Location: Culzean Castle, Maybole, Ayr KA19 8LE, Scotland