Eglinton Country Park is located on the grounds of the old Eglinton Castle estate in Kilwinning, North Ayrshire, Scotland (map reference NS 3227 4220). Eglinton Park is situated in the parish of Kilwinning, part of the former district of Cunninghame, and covers an area of ([] of which are woodland. The central iconic feature of the country park is the ruined Eglinton Castle, once home to the Eglinton family and later the Montgomeries, Earls of Eglinton and chiefs of the Clan Montgomery. Eglinton Country Park is managed and maintained by North Ayrshire Council and its Ranger Service.
Spier's Parklands
Spier's Old School Grounds on Barrmill Road, Beith is an amenity for the communities of the Garnock Valley (Dalry, Glengarnock, Kilbirnie, Longbar, Beith, Auchengree, Greenhills, Burnhouse, and Barrmill). Pedestrian access is 24x7.
The Spier's parklands are patrolled by the NAC Ranger Service. The Friends of Spiers (FoS) are a group based at the parklands, dedicated to the enhancement, maintenance, and utilisation of the old Spier's School Grounds. Spier's is owned by the Spier's Trust and leased by NAC. It has a network of wheelchair-friendly paths and informal routes which are surfaced with bark chips. A series of events are held at the grounds each year.
Stevenston Beach and Ardeer Quarry
These wildlife sites have public access at all times and are regularly patrolled by the NAC Ranger Service who also carry out basic conservation tasks aided by volunteers and local groups. The Stevenston sand dunes are a designated local nature reserve and work here is linked to the priorities within the site's Conservation Management Plan.
Activities
Two children's playparks are provided. There are wet weather shelters. The Rackets Hall can be hired for birthday parties, conferences, exhibitions, and other events. A soft play facility is located for hire within the Rackets Hall.
Equestrian rides (bridle paths)
Within the park there is an extensive bridle path network extending to around 11 km. Of this route a shared paths makes up about 5 km of the route on which riders must give way to walkers and cyclists. The track meanders pleasantly beside fields and woodlands.Bridle paths within Eglinton Country Park.
Eglinton loch and the Lugton Water
The Lugton Water meanders through the park, and several weirs were built at intervals along the river to raise the water level for ornamental reasons. Several mills were powered by the Lugton Water as shown by names such as 'North and South Millburn', situated near the hamlet of Benslie. The 12th Earl (1740–1819) altered the course of the Lugton Water.Landscape of the Knights, page 27.
The 6.5 ha loch, 6 metres deep, was created in 1975 through the extraction of materials used in the construction of the A 78 (T) Irvine and Kilwinning bypass. It is marked on old maps as being an area liable to flooding and was the site of the jousting matches at the 1839 Eglinton Tournament. It is well stocked with coarse fish, and is a popular spot for anglersEglinton Fishing Forum Retrieved : 2011-08-14 and bird watchers.
The Irvine New Town Trail
The Irvine New Town Trail is a long cycle path used by many joggers, walkers, dog walkers and cyclists in the area. The route forms a ring as there are no start and end points. The trail passes through Irvine's low green, and goes up to Kilwinning's Woodwynd and Blackland's area. The route passes through the Eglinton Country Park, carries on to Girdle Toll, Bourtreehill, Broomlands, Dreghorn and carries on to the Irvine Riverside and back to the Mall and the Low Green again.
The Belvedere Hill and other pedestrian areas A plantation is situated on 'Belvedere Hill' (the term 'Belvedere or Belvidere' literally means 'beautiful view') (until 2011 it also had a large classical central 'folly' feature) and vistas radiating out from a central hub, technically termed 'rond-points' (plantations located on rising ground with several vistas radiating from a central point). This style of woodlands and vistas or rides is a restoration of the layout of the entire area surrounding the castle in the 1750s prior to the remodeling which was completed by 1802. General Roy's map of 1747 - 52 shows that the ornamental woodlands were a series of these radiating rond-points of different sizes, sometimes overlapping each other.General Roy's Maps. The 'old' Eglinton Park farm, circa 1950s, lies to one side of this feature. Many other footpaths are present, a number of which are not shared with cyclists or horses.
Views within Eglinton Country Park
Wildlife
Birds
Recent resident breeding species include: the robin, finch, tit, thrush, pheasant, grey partridge, tawny owl, kestrel, sparrowhawk, great spotted woodpecker, skylark, yellowhammer and tree-creeper.
Resident (but non-breeding) species include: the buzzard and winter visitors: the fieldfare, redwing, occasionally the waxwing and sightings of the hen harrier and kingfisher.
Wildfowl include: the goldeneye, wigeon, tufted and mallard duck with whooper swan and goose on passage. There are also woodcock, snipe, curlew and lapwing.
Summer migrant species include: the swift, swallow and martin; willow, sedge and grasshopper warbler, blackcap and chiffchaff. Exotic sightings include cuckoos, white stork, black swan and a flamingo.
Mammals Hedgehogs, foxes, moles, otters, pipistrelle bats, mink and roe deer are found in the park and may be seen with luck or by being patient and silent.
Other wildlife Surveys carried out by the Scottish Wildlife Trust and others have shown that the park also has a good variety of mushroom, bracket, jelly and other species of fungi. The park has a good gall diversity, such as knopper on acorns, tongue on alders, robin's pincushion or rose bedeguar gall on wild rose, cola nut on oak and witch's broom on birch.
The 'Old Wood' containing the ice house has a good plant diversity due to the fact that it is long established and relatively undisturbed, unlike the park's plantations which are of a comparatively recent origin. Chapelholms wood shows a similar high biodiversity. Plants such as dog's mercury, tussock grass, bluebells and honeysuckle are indicators of old deciduous woodlands. Snowdrops are a highlight of spring in the park. A few specimen trees from the estate days survive, especially sycamores (Acer pseudoplatanus) or plane trees as they are traditionally known in Scotland. The park is one of the relatively few sites in Scotland where the upright hedge bedstraw (Galium album) grows.
Species conservation
The park is acting as a part of the conservation effort to ensure the survival of three species of the rare indigenous and endemic trees commonly called the Arran whitebeams, native to that island and found nowhere else in the World. Chapelholms Wood has been designated as a Wildlife Site by the Scottish Wildlife Trust in recognition of the quality of its habitats and the species diversity it exhibits.
The History of Eglinton Country Park
The castle, gardens and estate
The castle
The original castle of the Eglintons may have been near Kidsneuk, Bogside (NS 309 409) where a substantial earth mound or motte stands and excavated potteryKidsneuk Motte pottery was found tentatively dating the site to the thirteenth century.Simpson, page 23.RCAHMS. Kidsneuk. NMRS: NS34SW7.
The earliest known castle, which even then was the chief seat of the Montgomeries, was burned by the Cunninghames of Glencairn in 1528 and rebuilt afterwards. The mill was also destroyed as well as the muniment chests containing the Montgomerie charters, etc.Robertson, page 205. The older castle was completely demolished in 1796; having been first modified by the 9th Earl who commissioned William Adam (1689–1748) to build a kitchen block and associated back court.Love, page 11. An 1840 engraving shows three arches, and other differences to the later Tournament bridge built further downstream.Leighton, Facing page 229. The usual spelling is 'Eglinton', however Eglintoun, Eglintoune or Eglintown are encountered in old books and maps. The Eglinton Castle ruins, despite their appearance, are of a relatively modern building, the mansion having been completed as recently as 1802. Eglinton was the most notable post-Adam Georgian castle in Ayrshire.Sanderson, page 18.
One of the side wings of the 1802 castle was known to the servants as Bedlam, this being where the Montgomerie's children had their rooms. The central saloon of the castle was in diameter and reached up the whole height of the castle, some .Groome, page 530. The Category B Listed 1802 castle was un-roofed in 1929, being in poor structural condition after the contents sale of 1925,Dowells Ltd. Catalogue of the Superior Furnishings, French Furniture, etc. Tuesday, 1 December 1925, and Four following days. and fell into ruins.
Amongst many items of interest, the castle contained a chair built from the oak timbers of Alloway kirk and the back of the chair was inlaid with a brass plaque which bore the whole of Burn's poem 'Tam o' Shanter'.Aikman. This was sold, together with much of the family paintings, the Earl's suit of armour, etc. at the 1925 sale of contents.
4 Commando and the Royal EngineersLove, Dane (2005), page 35. used it for exercises during the second world war, destroying two of the towers, and it was also used for naval gunnery practice. In the 1950s further damage was done and the remains were finally demolished to the level they are today (2007) in 1973.Eglinton Castle historyCampbell, Page 177 The house reputedly had 365 windows, one for each day of the year.Eglinton archive, Eglinton Country Park archive.
Groome in 1903 had stated that "Everything about the castle contributes to an imposing display of splendid elegance and refined taste." An escape tunnel is said to run from the old castle to the area of the rockery on the castle lawns. The appearance of the old waterfall may have inspired this story as it looks like a sealed doorway.Barr, Allison (2008), Five Roads / Corsehillhead resident.
The park and gardens
The park was used as a training camp; for vehicle maintenance and as a preparation depot for the Normandys and North Africa landings during World War II. The remnants of this era are visible in the form of Nissen huts, still in use today and the foundations of other wartime buildings.Sharp, page 32. The army left the estate in a very dilapidated condition with abandoned vehicles left in a number of places. The partly buried remains of vehicles still exist in places.Janet McGill (2008) of Auchenwinsey Farm. Oral information.
The architect had been John Paterson (1796–1802) and John Baxter designed the Redburn Gateway & lodges; the cast-iron Tournament bridge may have been originally designed by the famous architect David Hamilton. An older bridge with three arches, the one actually used for the 1839 Tournament, had stood further up the river towards the castle as described and shown in several contemporary prints, books and mapsAitken.
The landscape gardens, were designed by John Tweedie (1775–1862), and laid out for Alexander, the 10th Earl, together with extensive tree plantings. The earl was a noted agricultural reformer and pioneer. The landscaping works were finished by 1801 and replaced an older style, now represented by the replanted Belvedere Woods.Millar, page 74. The gardens were laid out by John Tweedie (1775–1862), a native of Lanarkshire who also worked at Blairquhan Castle in 1816, Castlehill in Ayr; in 1825 he emigrated to Argentina where he became a leading agriculturist and plant-hunter.
At their peak the policies (from the Latin word 'politus' meaning embellishedAyrshire. A Survey of Gardens and Designed Landscapes. Peter MCGowan Associates with Christopher Dingwall.