Famous visitors
This is a list of people whose lives, one way or another have touched Baltersan Castle. Since the house fell into ruin about the middle of the 17th century, visitors have of course not been calling in for a social chat but instead, curiosity would have drawn them from neighbouring Crossraguel Abbey, the main reason they would have been in the area.
Charles Rennie Mackintosh (1868-1928)
In 1895 during a holiday based at Dunure, Ayrshire, Charles Rennie Mackintosh, arguably Scotland's greatest architect/designer, sketched Baltersan Castle's west elevation and its unique recessed seat in the south-east corner of Level 3. That same year he started work on his most famous architectural commission, the Glasgow School of Art. Famous for his capacity to draw upon a multitude of design sources, there are features of the Art School and other Mackintosh works which appear to have been inspired by Baltersan. A short walk from the School of Art are Mackintosh's famous Willow Tearooms in Sauchiehall Street, which are still open to the public.
Download an account of Mackintosh in Ayrshire (first published in the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society Journal No. 92, summer 2007):
WORD file CRM in Ayrshire
Robert Bryden (1865-1939)
The son of a colliery manager in Coylton, Ayrshire (12 miles from Baltersan), Robert Bryden served in the office of Hunter & Morris, architects in Ayr. He lived in London for 15 years, studying, fulfilling commissions and teaching art. Between 1894 and 1897 he visited Italy, Spain and Egypt, experiences which enriched his art. He was a prolific artist, working in paint, print and later in carving and sculpture. In 1899 he gained the title of Royal Engraver, the same year he published the first of three volumes of etchings illustrating Ayrshire castles, including Baltersan. (See self portrait above, left)
Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894) - Travelling in the opposite direction to Keats, Stevenson recorded eloquent details of the people and places he encountered in an essay "A Winter's Walk in Carrick and Galloway". The walk, which started in the fishing village of Dunure, took him by Maybole, on to Kirkoswald, Girvan and Ballantrae. The Galloway portion of the walk was not published. Sadly, he dismissed Baltersan with one word - "dilapidated". (See portrait above, right)
John Ruskin (1819-1900)
One of the greatest Victorians; his range of interests and achievements were immense. He was an artist, art critic, amateur geologist, a teacher, writer, social critic and philosopher. Ruskin was descended from the Kennedies of Baltersan but it is highly unlikely that he would have visited the area.
James Nasmyth (1808-1890)
A member of an extremely talented family, James, son of the artist Alexander Nasmyth who painted a famous full-length portrait of Robert Burns, is recognised as the inventor of the steam hammer. He was also a talented artist in his own right and he sketched Crossraguel Abbey and Baltersan in 1832 in the company of John Taylor. Nasmyth's autobiography is available here: http://www.bibliomania.com/2/9/70/117/frameset.html
John Keats (1795-1821)
One of the second generation of the English Romantic poets and recognised as the greatest. He undertook an arduous walking tour of Northern England, Northern Ireland and Scotland with his artist friend, Charles Brown. They reached Baltersan in July, 1818 en route to Burns' cottage in Alloway and mentioned in his journal that they visited the castle and the abbey.
Francis Grose (1731?-1791) and Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Burns wrote his famous narrative poem, Tam o Shanter as a "witch story" to accompany an illustration of Alloway Kirk which was published by his friend, Captain Francis Grose in his "Antiquities of Scotland". Robert Burns and Francis Grose met and became friends whilst Grose was researching this book which included Crossraguel Abbey. Grose commented on the abbey precincts being in the "... Barony of Baltersan ... of which the Mansion House, a fine, old building, is still remaining, though in ruins ..." Scotland's national poet, Robert Burns attended school in Kirkoswald 2 miles from Baltersan and is known to have explored the abbey ruins so the ruined castle would have been irresistible.
Robert Adam (1728-1792)
Born to an architect father, Robert and his brothers, James, William and John also went into the profession. They were noted for their designs of fine country mansions. In Ayrshire, the three most prominent works are Culzean Castle for the Marquis of Ailsa, Dalquharran Castle for the Kennedies of Dunure and Dumfries House, by Cumnock for the Marquis of Bute. Adam's watercolour painting of Crossraguel Abbey and Baltersan is now in the University of Glasgow. It is the same view as that done by his brother-in-law, John Clerk of Eldin.
John Clerk of Eldin (1728-1812)
An antiquarian who, from 1747 - 1754 went on sketching expeditions with Paul Sandby (from whom he learned etching techniques) and Robert Adam, the neo-classical architect. He was interested in geology, music, and art and even developed a theory of naval tactics. One of the Clerks of Penicuik, he married Susannah, younger sister of Robert Adam. His 1762 etching of Crossraguel Abbey is shown here.
John Slezer (c.1650-1717)
A military engineer of Dutch/German origin who, from his permanent establishment in Scotland from 1671, produced a series of drawings, most of which were collected together, engraved and published in a book entitled 'Theatrum Scotiae' (c.1693 and later editions). This included Crossraguel Abbey and two views of Ayr.
Alexander "Prophet" Peden (1626-1689)
When, in the 1660s the great Covenanting preacher was evading government troops, Peden was able to conduct sermons by a thorn tree on Mains of Baltersan farm, no doubt under the protection of the then inhabitant of the castle, Major Thomas Kennedy.
Almost certainly Thomas would have enlisted in the Earl of Cassillis' Regiment which was raised in 1643. It fought at Hylton, Marston Moor and Newcastle before returning to Scotland in 1645. On 2nd July that year the army of the Covenant was defeated by Montrose, with the Earl of Cassillis' Regiment losing about 300 men. The remnants (about 100 soldiers) went on to fight at the battle of Kilsyth on 15th August where again, they were on the losing side.
Alexander Peden's exploits became the stuff of legend, so much so that even 100 years later his thorn tree was a significant enough to be marked on Armstrong's Map of Ayrshire.
Timothy Pont (fl. 1574-1611)
Scotland's greatest map maker and chorographer, Pont visited Carrick about the last decade of the 16th c. His original manuscript has been lost but his work was eventually published in 1654 by Joan Blaeu of Amsterdam. With over 90% of its territory appearing in the Atlas Novus, Scotland became the best-mapped country in the world. Pont's written record of the Cunningham region of north Ayrshire survives and his writing style is in accord with an early description of Baltersan as "... a stately fine house with gardens, orchards, parks and woods about it lying from Mayboll about ane myles distance". A number of Pont's original manuscripts are in the care of the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh. They may be viewed online here: http://www.nls.uk/pont/index.html
Sir Thomas Kennedy of Culzean (d. 1602)
A portrait of Sir Thomas, probably commissioned to mark his knighthood, can be seen today in Culzean Castle. He was the third son of the 3rd Earl of Cassillis and half-brother to John Kennedy of Baltersan, with whom he spent his last night alive, in Greenan Castle in 1602. When he rode out next morning with his servant Lancelot Kennedy, on their way to Edinburgh, he was murdered by Thomas Kennedy of Drummurchie in revenge for the killing of the Laird of Bargany the previous year. The gang involved with Drummurchie in the killing was Thomas Kennedy, brother to the Laird of Bargany, Walter Muir of Cloncaird, Thomas M'Alexander, Thomas Wallace, a boy called Gilbert Ramsay and a Borderer, Williame Irrwing.
Gilbert Kennedy (1541-1576)
4th Earl of Cassillis and self-styled King of Carrick; he was half-brother to John Kennedy of Baltersan. His most notorious exploit was the roasting of the commendator of Crossraguel Abbey, Alan Stewart in a vault of Dunure Castle to force Stewart to sign over abbey lands to Kennedy. He fought for Mary, Queen of Scots at the battle of Langside in Glasgow on 13th May, 1568.
Quintin Kennedy (1520-1564)
Brother to Gilbert (3rd Earl of Cassillis) and Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey from 1548 to 1564. Educated at St Andrews (1540) and Paris (1542) universities and returned to Scotland by 1547, possibly much earlier. He wrote several works condemning abuses in the Catholic Church and defending it against the Protestant Reformers. His Compendius Tractive was published in 1558 and his Litil Breif Tracteit was probably written two years later. Quintin Kennedy was an ambassador for the Regent of Scotland, Mary of Guise (mother of Mary, Queen of Scots) to the courts of England and France.
Further reading: Quintin Kennedy (1520-1564): Two Eucharistic Tracts by C.H. Kuipers, Nijmegen, 1964.
John Knox (1513-1572)
A leading Calvinist figure of the Reformation in Scotland and nemesis of Mary, Queen of Scots, Knox held a famous three-day debate in Maybole in 1562 with Quintin Kennedy, Commendator of Crossraguel Abbey. The argument, in front of dozens of supporters for each side, centred on transubstantiation and word spread that Kennedy won. However Knox's contrary opinion has left us a virtual verbatim account of the dispute. Although there is no record of him having crossed the threshold of Baltersan (the present tower-house may not have been built then) it is highly likely that he would have been in the proximity of the abbey at some point in time.
George Buchanan (1506-1582)
Renaissance poet, humanist and scholar, tutor to the Earl of Cassillis, Queen Mary and James VI. He received the royal gift of a pension from the revenues of Crossraguel Abbey but had such difficulty obtaining his money from the Kennedies (he outlawed David Kennedy of Baltersan at one point for non-payment) that he sold it on at a loss to Kennedy of Bargany.