Hunterston Castle

The original Hunters were Norman French in origin, granted the lands around Hunterston by King David I in the 12th century. In the Middle Ages the chief of Clan Hunter was granted the hereditary title of Royal Huntsman. The castle at West Kilbride in North Ayrshire is the historic home of the lairds of Hunterston and chiefs of Clan Hunter, and the heads of the clan have lived on the estate for the 900 years since that grant.

The tower dates from the late 12th or early 13th centuries, although earlier buildings existed nearby. In the 18th century a house was added to the tower to provide additional accommodation; in the 19th century this was considered insufficient, and a Neoclassical house, Hunterston House, was built to the north of the castle. Robert Lorimer undertook an extensive restoration of the castle in 1926. It was listed Category A on 14 April 1971.

The family has owned the castle ever since that 12th-century grant, although much of the estate was compulsorily purchased by the government in the 20th century to enable the construction of the Hunterston A and Hunterston B nuclear power stations. Between 1974 and 1985 the castle was open to the general public. That ended with new rules and legislation from the neighbouring power stations, which held that too many people in the area would be a security risk and impossible to evacuate quickly in the event of an emergency.

Access was afterwards by case-by-case advance request only, until in 1994 the castle became off limits to the public and only Clan Hunter members were allowed to visit. In the 2000s it opened one day a year as part of the open-days event, but the vicinity of the power stations caused the same problems and it was dropped from future events, reverting to clan members only. It can still be viewed from outside, standing next to a public right of way and a Sustrans cycle route.