Scotland · Restored
Law Castle
Law Castle is a 15th-century Scottish tower house on the lower slopes of Law Hill at the edge of West Kilbride, North Ayrshire. Built in the 1460s, it is a simple rectangular, multi-storey tower house now category A listed and restored in the early 21st century. The building sits close to the railway and is surrounded by trees and grassland.
Its prime
1470
Today
Restored
As it stood in 1470
What Law Castle looked like in its prime.
A tall, simple rectangular stone tower finished in a pale harl, rising several storeys with few and narrow windows set into smooth, flat walls. A corbelled string course supports a low castellated parapet; the roof behind slopes inward with multiple large rectangular chimneys projecting above. A small round turret with a conical roof caps one corner and flies a flag. The tower stands amid grass and trees on the lower slopes of a hill near a railway line.
Its story
The story of Law Castle.
A Wedding Gift for Princess Mary, 1467
The tower on the lower slopes of Law Hill, at the edge of West Kilbride, was built for Princess Mary, sister of James III, as a wedding gift on her marriage in 1467 to Thomas Boyd, Earl of Arran. It is a plain rectangular tower house, similar in character to others nearby such as Little Cumbrae and Skelmorlie.
Attainted in Denmark, 1469
In 1469, two years after the wedding, Thomas sailed to Denmark to escort James III's bride, Margaret of Denmark, and while he was gone he and his father, Lord Boyd, were attainted for treason. He could not come home. The marriage was annulled, and Thomas died a few years afterwards, possibly at Antwerp.
Roofless to Restored, 1980s–2005
From the later 19th century the castle was recorded as roofless but otherwise intact. A Mr Philips bought it in the late 1980s and began restoring it, but the work was unfinished when the castle was repossessed in 2002, and Historic Scotland went to law to recover £116,000 of grant funding from him. David Hutton bought the tower after that and completed the restoration in 2005.
Step inside
5 places to explore in 1470.
The record describes 5 distinct spots at Law Castle, including the full exterior approach. 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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Recreate Law Castle with AI to explore it.
The artist rebuilds it as it stood in 1470, a photoreal reconstruction that belongs to you alone. Pay with coins, no subscription needed.
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Law Castle on paper: the measured plan and period views.
The survey plan and photographs below are the ground truth this page's reconstructions are checked against, drawn and photographed while the castle was still a working garrison. Every image is public-domain or openly licensed, with its source named.
FIRST FLOOR
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
GROUND FLOOR
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
SECOND FLOOR
1889 · MacGibbon & Ross, vol. 3 (1889)
Public domain
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