The Castles and Mansions of Ayrshire.
Click to view attachmentLOUDOUN CASTLE.
LOUDOUN CASTLE is linked with the annals of a house which gathers into itself the history of many families, each boasting a long line of historical ancestors going back to the Norman Conquest. The Lords of Loudoun can trace their lineage back as far as the year 1200; the hereditary Sheriffdom of Ayrshire, which came to them through a cousin of Sir William Wallace, was vested in the family for more than five hundred years. The House of Rawdon, whose head became the husband of the heiress of Loudoun in 1804, is heard of before Stephen's time, and amongst their titles was one, the Earl of Huntingdon, which had often been conferred on Scottish monarchs. Through Katherine Pole's marriage to Francis Hastings, the blood of the Plantagenets was in their veins; and her son Henry came within the shadow of the throne, being at one time thought of as the successor of Elizabeth.The Baroness Loudoun, the wife of the Earl of Moira, could match the proud traditions of her husband's family; her own name, Flora Mure, indicated the fact that she was the chief representative of the House of Rowallan, one of whose daughters was the wife of Robert 2nd and a mother of kings. Loudoun Castle, both as to its site and aspect, can Well sustain the dignity of all this rich accumulation of family renown. It is, indeed, not unworthy of the name of the Scottish Windsor.
Four hundred years ago the original seat of the Loudoun family was destroyed by fire in a raid of the Kennedies; and a fragment of that Mediaeval structure, now called the Old Place, with a portion of the moat, is still to be seen about a quarter of a mile to the north-cast of the present Castle. In shape the latter is nearly a square, and it contains upwards of ninety apartments. Its principal builders were the great Chancellor, the first Earl of Loudoun, who died in 1652, and the Marquis of Hastings, who made additions in the first decade of the present century which cost not less than £100,000, even though the plans were not completed. The large tower is arched on the three lower stories; the three upper stories are all modern, and were built at the same time as the front. The arms of the Craufurds of Loudoun, with the motto "I bide my time," are to be seen on an old stone, taken, doubtless, from the ancient Castle and built into its successor. The plans of the Marquis of Hastings included a large banqueting-hall, which was never begun. He so impoverished himself that he could not afford to reside in the palace which he had erected; in less than two years after his return from India, where he had held sway as Governor-General for ten eventful years, he was compelled to seek a new appointment, and in a few months thereafter he died abroad while acting as Governor of Malta. Norman Macleod, who owed his first living to the Marquis's widow, tells us that his lordship's ample fortune "absolutely sank under the benevolence of his nature." A portrait of the Marquis, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, hangs in the billiard-room, along with portraits of his parents; his mother was a daughter of the pious Lady. Huntingdon.
In the dining-room is a portrait of Charles I, with marks (though it has been mended within the past seven years) of the ill-usage it received from Cromwell's soldiers when they seized the Castle; the Roundheads cut out the nose of the King with their swords. The same appartment contains a portrait oby Lely of Lady Margaret Dalrymole, wife of the Earl Hugh, the only daughter of the first, and sister of the great Earl of Stair- a notable woman who died at Sorn Castle in 1777, in her hundreth year. Four years before her death, Dr Johnson was introduced to her at Loudoun Castle, she had all her faculties unimpaired, which says Boswell, "was a very cheering sight to Dr Johnson who had an extraordinary desire for long life". A melancholy interest attaches to the portrait of this centurian lady's son, Earl John, who, being revoked from his position as Commander in Chief of the British forces during the American War, shot himself in the library at Loudoun in 1782. The exquisitely carved fire-place in the dining room is of Irish marble, from the quarries at Moira.
The entrance-hall, 70 feet long by 30, is open to the roof, from which it is lighted by a large circular window; the galleries surrounding it are supported by eight immense scagliola columns of great beauty. At the head of the first stair hangs the two-handed sword of Sir William Wallace, which has been in the possession of the family for centuries. When George IV visited Scotland, the sword was carried to Dalkeith Palace to be shown to the King. Since then it disappeared from view for thirty years; no one knew what had become of it, till it was accidentally discovered in the charter closet a few years ago. Another notable relic is an ancient clock from Rowallan Castle; the oaken case, less than a foot in width, is upwards of eight feet in height. On the panel are the initials of Sir William Mure, most likely the old Puritan poet of the seventeenth century. In the drawing-room there is a portrait of Gideon Loudoun, the Austrian Field-Marshal, who was one of Maria Theresa's most successful generals, and a special object of aversion to Frederick the Great. A portrait of Allan Ramsay, by his son, recalls the fact that the poet was a guest in the Castle of the fourth Earl, where, at his lordship's suggestion, he wrote his song of The Lass 0' Pane's Mill. The latest additions to the artistic treasures are the portraits of Mr Charles Frederick Abney-Hastings (now Lord Donington) and of his late wife, the Countess of Loudoun, mother of the present Earl. In the library, a pillared room a hundred feet in length, whose walls belong to the ancient portion of the Castle, but the ceiling of which is new, is a portrait of the Earl of Huntingdon, who was spoken of as Queen Elizabeth's successor, and some other portraits of members of the same illustrious house. The books, which number about 8000, include many folios that belonged to the great Chancellor.
The Policies, which were laid out from plans of the Earl of Mar before 1715, include hundreds of acres of fine woodland that owes its existence mainly to John, the fourth Earl, who planted upwards of a million of trees, many of which were brought from America and the Continent by himself. He formed one of the most extensive collections of willows ever made in this country. The most remarkable of all the trees is a yew growing close to the south side of the Castle, which would have been made the front but for the sake of the venerable king of the forest; it is 13 feet 9 1 / 2 inches in girth, and of unknown antiquity. There is good reason to believe that it is at least eight centuries old. One of the family charters is said to have been signed under its branches in the reign of William the Lion; one of the Articles of Union was also subscribed in its shade by Earl Hugh; and in the Covenanting times, Lord James, while an exile in Holland, addressed the letters for his lady, "To the Gudewife at the Auldton at the Old Yew Tree of Loudoun, Scotland." In the garden may be seen the first "Ayrshire rose;" it was brought hither by Lord John from America, and is yet growing fresh and vigorous. The family vault at Loudoun Kirk, a quarter of a mile to the west of the Castle, is visited by many pilgrims, from respect to the memory of Lady Flora Hastings; in her mother's grave was interred the right hand of her husband, the Governor-General.
Loudoun Castle, with the estates appertaining to it, was sold by the last Marquis of Hastings, the year before his death, to his cousin the Marquis of Bute. Two years afterwards the Castle and estates were purchased from the latter for the sum of £300,000 by the late Countess of Loudoun; and on her death, in 1874, these devolved on her husband, Mr Abney-Hastings (now Lord Donington), while their eldest son, the young Earl of Loudoun, succeeded to the family inheritance of Rowallan.