Blairquhan Castle

Many thanks to a friend of Balintore Castle called Peter for sending me these scans of a 1971 Scottish Field magazine article on Blairquhan Castle in Ayrshire, Scotland. Blairquhan was completed in 1824 to the design of William Burn, the architect who also designed Balintore. Stylistically the buildings are different: Blairquhan is Tudor-Gothic and Balintore is Baronical. Internally, however, Burn's layouts are often very similar in order to provide extremely practical living accommodation for his wealthy clients.

Peter rewired Blairquhan in 1968/1969, so has a close connection with the building. My own connection is rather shameful: I grew up just 17 miles from Blairquhan and yet I have never visited. The name "Blairquhan", of course, has been in my consciousness since childhood.

The article makes for interesting "period" reading with the implicit assumption that the Hunter-Blair family, who originally commisioned the building, would go on living there for ever. Now we know differently, Blairquhan was sold to a Chinese Company in 2012.

Click on the scans below to read the article. I felt that putting Peter's much treasured article on this blog would preserve it for posterity.

Scottish Field January 1971, Page 33 

Scottish Field January 1971, Page 34 

Scottish Field January 1971, Page 35

Scottish Field January 1971, Page 36

Scottish Field January 1971, Page 37