Barony and Castle of Giffen - The History of Giffen Castle

The History of Giffen Castle

The 40 ft high tower castle of Giffen lay near to the existing Mains of Giffen site on the 180 ft high summit of a whinstone trap ridge at (NS 37727 50718). MacGibbon and Ross suggest that Giffen Castle was built in the 15th-century, although the 13th-century (1233) land grant to Walter de Mulcaster and the prior existence of a chapel, suggest that a defensive structure of some sort was present at that date. At the time of Pont's survey (J Dobie 1876), it was a tower 30 ft (9.1 m) square, 40 ft (12 m) high, with walls 6 ft (1.8 m) thick. It fell into disrepair soon after 1726 and finally collapsed in 1838. It has also been recorded as 'Griffen' on some old maps of the district.

The castle was acquired by Sir John Anstruther in the early 18th-century and he is responsible for allowing it to become a ruin, together with the associated Giffen farm. The sundial originally in the Giffen castle garden was sold and was moved eventually to Crummock house, Beith, now demolished. This sundial had its horizontal plane divided by volutes, between which a lion's head alternates with a rose; it was made in 1719 and repaired in 1810. Local farm houses were built using stone from the front wall of the castle, which was consequently entirely removed. Above the entrance door, with its strong iron door, there had been a carving of a man shooting with a crossbow at what has been called a wild boar. It is not unlikely that this commemorates a feat of bold hunting by a member of the family of Giffen. A similar carving at Linton parish church commemorates just such a feat, for which William the Lion knighted the bowman and bestowed upon him the lands and barony of Linton.

In 1837 the castle's south wall fell and finally on 12 April 1838, during the silence of the night, the north and east walls of the old castle fell leaving little more than a disorderly heap of stones. The adjacent Mains of Giffen farm had been feued by Anstruther to Robert Craig in 1726. John King of 'Giffin Miln' built his house using stone from the castle and this is probably how the old carvings came to be incorporated into the walls of this building. The door jambs are also said to have come from the old castle. Thomas Craig, grandson of Robert, passed on the feu to Thomas White in 1816, during whose possession the castle met its final fall, inspiring the following indignant poem by James Wilson, the local poet:

In August 1956 the OS reported that the remains of Giffen Castle now consist of three fragments of rubble masonry, the largest portion measuring 4.0 m long by 2.0 m thick and 1.9 m high. The remainder of the castle was demolished in about 1920 when the adjoining quarry was dug.

In June 1983 the OS visited the site again and stated that there are no remains of the castle in situ. The three fragments of masonry are in fact large tumbled blocks, and together with a mass of loose shaped stone, also from the castle, form a garden rockery. A marriage stone lintel above the doorway of the adjacent Mains house is inscribed RC MC 1758. This appears contemporaneous to the single story house and of doubtful association with the old castle.

Mr. Robert King, the farmer of the lands near Giffen castle reported in the 1890s that when digging drains to the north-east of the castle he came across a large number of bones which tradition says were there as a result of a battle fought by the lord of the castle, his retainers and an attacking party. The bones were in a hollow to the west of the castle, and between it and the high ground on which the castle and hamlet of Giffen stood. Metal detectorists found a number of musket balls in this area.