At Kilmarnock, in East Ayrshire, Dean Castle was for more than four centuries the stronghold of the Boyd family. Its political apogee — the guardianship of a king of Scotland — falls just at the dawn of our period, and the family remained influential throughout the sixteenth century.
The stronghold of the Boyds
The keep of Dean was built around 1350 by Sir Thomas Boyd, and the castle remained the seat of the Boyd family for more than 400 years. The political apogee of the Boyds falls in the 1460s-1470s, just before our window: they then held the guardianship of the young King James III, and a sister of the king married a Boyd — a dizzying summit for an Ayrshire family, closest to the throne. This favour then fell brutally, but the Boyds remained an influential family of western Scotland through the sixteenth century, coming through the period as great local lords.
A castle with two towers and collections
Dean Castle presents two main blocks: the medieval keep and the 'Palace' or Laigh Tower, forming a coherent castle ensemble. Today, the castle is famous above all for its collections — a remarkable gathering of European arms and armour in the Great Hall, and of early musical instruments in the solar (a 1975 gift). Although these collections are not contemporary with the place, they evoke the material world of the warrior and cultivated nobility of the Renaissance: the knight's armour and the gentleman's lute. Dean Castle thus offers, for want of a leading Renaissance link, a living evocation of the aristocratic culture of the time. To see: the keep and the Palace/Laigh Tower, the collection of European arms and armour in the Great Hall, the early musical instruments in the solar.
Did you know?
The Boyds of Dean knew one of the most spectacular reversals of fortune in Scottish history: masters of the realm in the 1460s (guardians of King James III, allied to the royal family by marriage), they fell from favour almost as quickly as they had risen, one of them being executed. This dazzling rise-and-fall — from the keeping of a king to the scaffold in a few years — sums up the brutality of fifteenth-century Scottish politics, where royal favour could make and unmake a house in an instant.
Notes
Dean Castle lies at Dean Park, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire; castle and country park open to the public (local council). Hours to check.
Quiz
- Which family held Dean Castle for 400 years?
- The Boyds
- The Campbells
- The Douglases
- Which king did the Boyds hold in guardianship (1460s)?
- James III
- James VI
- Henry VIII
- What is Dean Castle famous for today?
- Its collections of armour and musical instruments
- A hoard of jewels
- A royal library