A visit to Portencross Castle in Ayrshire

I turn 50 in a few weeks, and so am now in a 'bucket list' mode! I have lived in North Ayrshire for 18 years, but despite constantly saying I want to see the inside of Portencross Castle, and despite many, many visits for walks beside it, I never somehow managed to accomplish that - until today!

Portencross Castle is situated close to the village of West Kilbride, and faces out towards Little Cumbrae on the Firth of Clyde - there is in fact a similar castle on the island (Little Cumbrae Castle), and between the two, the main approach to the Ayrshire north coast was guarded for centuries.

Portencross Castle was built in the 14th century (although it is believed there was an earlier fortification there from the 11th century), and is said to be where King Robert II, grandson of Robert The Bruce, signed some fifteen royal charters, with the castle also located at the caput of the historic barony of Ardneil.

Much of the building is now in ruin, but a great deal of restoration work by the Friends of Portencross Castle (FOPC) charitable trust has transformed the building, making it stable and safe for visitors. You can find out more about the history of the castle, and how to contribute to the work of the trust, at www.portencrosscastle.org.uk.

The castle has just re-opened to visitors, and the following is an announcement from the FOPC team about its current plans, if you fancy a visit:

Portencross Castle has re-opened

• Our supporters and all our volunteers and staff are delighted to share the news that Portencross Castle has now reopened.
• We will be open every day from 11.00am to 4.00pm until the end of August and then weekends until the end of September, including holiday Mondays when these occur. We will keep these times and dates under review in case government guidance imposes future restrictions due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
• We have put in place Covid-secure measures including additional volunteers and stewards in attendance, social distancing indicators and hand santisers. We have masks available if you haven’t brought one and simply ask for a voluntary contribution to cover the cost so that we can keep a stock available for our visitors.
• We have postponed our tenth anniversary of the opening the Castle as a public attraction and community educational resource until 2021. Watch this space.
• We have kept in touch with those who booked weddings and other events in advance and will be dealing with each booking individually.
• The FOPC Board is very grateful for the continuing support of our Guardians. If you would like to become a Castle Guardian by giving regular contributions, no matter how small, please download the Guardian leaflet from our website (http://www.portencrosscastle.org.uk/help.htm). You can also contact Ann on 01294 823799 or by email at fopc@portencrosscastle.org.uk.
• Friends of Portencross Castle (FOPC) is an entirely voluntary enterprise and is dependent on raising funds to keep the visitor centre open and to pay for maintenance, repairs and development. We are grateful for the Covid-19 government funding that we received via North Ayrshire Council which will go some way to see us through till next year.
• Once more, the FOPC Board would like to thank our supporters and benefactors including our stewards, volunteers, Guardians, visitors and all those who help at or attend our fund-raising events. Thank you.

It's a small building, but a truly wonderful place to visit, with a great view from the top and with great walks in the grounds on the shore also (somewhere where I have regularly had picnics in the past), so it was great to finally see the interior. It was especially nice also as it turned out that one of the team greeting us at the door was someone who I actually know, and who has been working there for a couple of seasons now, so a friendly face on hand as well!

Some further pics to set the scene...

And to show you how much I adore the place, this is a painting that my friend Martin Devlin did a couple of years ago, which I purchased from him, and which proudly adorns one of my sitting room walls:

Why not add Portencross to your list of places to visit also?!

Chris

My next 5 week Scottish Research Online course starts August 31st - see https://www.pharostutors.com/details.php?coursenumber=102. My book Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scottish2 is now out, also available are Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed) at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Irish1 and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records at http://bit.ly/ChrisPaton-Scotland1. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.