Others, seen at a market this morning:
Even the eminent Enlightenment philosopher David Hume was up to some hijinks.
Four colorful pots of paella, each capable of serving 50, at the Stockbridge market.
We left Edinburgh this morning and headed west to a village on Firth of Clyde.
He's proudly displaying the insignia on his jacket.
Some of the home team welcomed us and explained a bit about the game. They had a nice clubhouse with a full service bar, and a locker room. We watched the bowling match for a while before heading up the coast.
It was fun finding all things Fairlie.
We parked at the little train station to explore further...
And eventually found our destination, Fairlie Castle, up the hill on an unpaved road.
The tower castle was "recently purchased", or as we found out later, in 1999. But recent is relative in the life of a 500 year old castle. It is securely fenced in while being renovated, with the only open section along a steep creek with several waterfalls that certainly discouraged us from attempting that access route.
In one of the most serendipitous breaks I've had while traveling (and I've had a few), up the rough road came a truck carrying the new owner of the castle. He'd decided to come work on the building with his son, Oliver, for just 30 minutes or so. We went over to introduce ourselves, and he gave us a quick summary of the castle's history, fired up a generator and invited us inside.
Billy Kirkland is a builder experienced in historic restorations. He purchased the castle from British peer Patrick Boyle, the 10th Earl of Glasgow, whose seat is Kelburn Castle in Ayrshire (a bit north of Fairlie). After renovating the castle, Billy is planning to build a connecting addition where he and his wife will live and friends and visitors can stay in the castle. He called it Oliver's inheritance.
The stonework is beautiful. Dental molding runs along the tops of the walls, and large flat circular stones embellish the top corners.
Billy told us that the castle was built in the 1520s by Sir Robert Fairlie, a member of the Ross clan. The family had held the land and Fairlie barony since the 14th century and adopted the name Fairlie from their region. Several generations of Fairlies lived in the castle until it and the barony were sold around 1660 to the Boyle family of Kelburn, who became holders of the Earl of Glasgow peerage.
Fairlie Castle then served as a buffer between the Boyle stronghold at Kelburn Castle and another clan's fortress further south. It was abandoned in the late 1600s; the roof eventually collapsed. Billy believes the castle was only another 15-20 years away from total collapse when he acquired it, as a tree was growing through the wall and gradually breaking it apart. His work has progressed slowly due to regulations and approvals required by the Scottish "Hysterical" (his word; not mine) Society, but he's optimistic about soon having permission to start moving forward more rapidly on the restoration. Archeological digging on the site hasn't turned up much: a French coin, some pottery fragments.
The walls are 41 feet high, and 5 feet thick at the base. There were originally 4 stories, including the vaulted rooms described below.
The ground floor, which used to be below ground level, has two barrel arched rooms which support the walls and floors above. The rooms were originally used to hold livestock and for cold storage. Now they are damp and dripping. Billy plans to point the walls and, after they dry out, put in proper flagstone floors.
We carefully climbed up a dark, low-ceilinged spiral stairwell to the second floor. (Not this one, which did not go down to ground level, but another that was too dark to photograph.)
The main level is open to the sky. The single room was larger than I'd expected from the outside. At one end was the cooking hearth (added in the late 16th century), with a bread oven and storage alcove to the sides.
(Bread oven and storage behind the arch)
The longer side walls had gun ports on the lower level, and small windows, some bricked up, above.
The opposite wall housed a fireplace (originally for cooking) and tall chimney. This is the wall infiltrated by the tree. Although the wall has been stabilized, the web of vines is still entwined in the upper story and larger roots can be seen in the lower right. It will require further work.
Some original flagstones remain, but are of course overgrown. Billy plans to install electricity, plumbing and heating beneath the floors so that the castle can retain as much of its character as possible. When I joked about coming back to see it in 20 years, he laughed and said he hoped to be done in 2 or 3 years. He gave me his email address and said he'll send photos as the work progresses.
Billy and Oliver Kirkland. Oliver starts university next week.
Here is a link to a brief video of the castle, made before the scaffolding went up and the vegetation removed from the exterior:
https://youtu.be/lxpPpakjkuA
The castle enjoys a lovely view over the village of Fairlie and the Firth of Clyde.
I hope I DO get to visit the castle after its restoration is complete! It will be a beautiful place.
This was a memorable way to end our exploration of Scotland, and a fitting close to this blog series. Home to Pennsylvania tomorrow!
