Kenmure

Kenmure Castle rose on a knoll near the head of Loch Ken in Galloway. The Gordons of Lochinvar built a courtyard house there during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Its western range combined domestic rooms with gunloops, while vaulted ground-floor stores and an octagonal stair tower gave practical form to a fortified aristocratic residence.

The castle was rebuilt after a siege in 1568 and faced another siege by Cromwell's forces in 1650. These episodes left a structure repeatedly altered and incorporating reused stonework. A view made in 1790 showed two tall corner towers standing roofless, although other parts continued to change. Kenmure's architecture thus recorded both the demands of defence and the changing requirements of its owners. Its courtyard, storage spaces and decorated entrance placed household life and family display within a building that also had to withstand armed conflict.