Scotland · Demolished
Barony and Castle of Giffen
Giffen Castle was a small 15th-century tower castle that stood on the summit of a whinstone ridge near Beith in North Ayrshire. By the 18th century it fell into disrepair, the roof was removed and stones quarried away, and the structure collapsed in the 19th century; by the late 20th century no substantial remains were in situ.
Its prime
1720
Today
Demolished
As it stood in 1720
What Barony and Castle of Giffen looked like in its prime.
A compact, roughly square tower approximately 30 ft by 30 ft in plan and about 40 ft high, rising directly from the 180-foot-high whinstone trap ridge; walls about 6 ft thick of coursed masonry matching the dark local stone. The tower presents a plain, vertical rectangular silhouette with narrow slit windows and a single main ground-floor entrance; at its prime it retained a complete roof and intact masonry, standing alone above a steep grassy approach with low farmland and a small hamlet to the south.
Its story
The story of Barony and Castle of Giffen.
The Barony of Giffen and its 15th-century castle lay in the parish of Beith in Cunninghame, the castle standing on the summit of a whinstone ridge. A hundred merk land covering about half the parish, the barony had the familiar feudal apparatus: a moot hill represented by Greenhills, a thirled mill, a gathering place known as the Borestone, an old chapel and a holy well.
In the 12th century the laird, William de Nenham, granted land to the monastery of Dryburgh, and a chapel was built south-east of the castle, possibly next to the spring still known locally as the Chapel Well; his son Richard granted more land, though Richard's brother Alexander inherited and wished the chapel held by the monastery of Kilwinning instead. Sir John Anstruther acquired the castle in the early 18th century and allowed it, with Giffen farm, to become a ruin.
The roof was removed and stones were quarried away; the castle met its final fall under Thomas White, who took the feu in 1816, a collapse that drew an indignant poem from the local poet James Wilson. In 1956 the Ordnance Survey recorded just three fragments of rubble masonry, and by the late 20th century no substantial remains stood in situ.
Step inside
8 places to explore in 1720.
The record describes 8 distinct spots at Barony and Castle of Giffen, including 2 interiors: interior: circular stair within the tower, barony chapel (south‑east) and chapel well. Create your own photoreal reconstruction and explore every one, more scenes means more rooms, more angles, and more of the place to stand in.
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Clans who held Barony and Castle of Giffen.
The families that held Barony and Castle of Giffen for a decade or more across its history, follow a name to its clan.
de Nenham
William de Nenham, 12th-century laird of Giffen, granted land to Dryburgh; his sons Richard and Alexander succeeded him.
Anstruther
Acquired by Sir John Anstruther in the early 18th century, under whom castle and farm fell into ruin.
Nearby
