Greenan Castle (1)

Captain Francis Grose was one of the first systematic recorders of architectural and archaeological remains in Britain. His six volume Antiquities of England and Wales published between 1773 and 1787, was followed by Antiquities of Scotland in two volumes published in 1789 and 1791. Robert Burns met him while he was undertaking the latter, and became a friend – writing three pieces about him including On Captain Grose’s Peregrinations through Scotland. This is a plate from Antiquities of Scotland showing Grennan Castle.   Grose writes: "This view shews the castle of Greenand, as it appears on the road from Ayr to Maybole".   "The Grenand is a high house upon the top of a rock hanging over upon the sea, with some lower new work, lately added to it, but never finished; it is too open to the cold and moisture arising from the sea to be a desirable habitation, and has been designed to be the owners security against a surprize, rather than a constant residence.  It is within the parish of Maybole".