Auchencruive Castle

The stately mansion of Auchencruive is situated in the parish of St Quivox, not far from one of the winding links of the Water of Ayr. It dates probably from the latter half of the last century, and has been built with a thorough regard to comfort and accommodation. The exterior is devoid of all attempts at meretricious ornamentation ; and the structure has grown to its present extent through the independent additions made by succeeding Lairds, as their requirements and rent-rolls increased. No trace of an earlier dwelling has been found, though the records of the estate carry its history back to the beginning of the thirteenth century. Richard Wallace of Hackencrow appears in a charter dated 1208, and though there is no clear proof of his identity, it has been surmised, with some show of probability, that he belonged to the family of the Wallaces of Riccartoun. The lands of Auchencruive gave the principal territorial title to this branch of the Wallaces, until Sir Duncan Wallace acquired the heritage of Sundrum, and assumed the latter in  preference to the former designation. This well-known knight, who was married to Eleanor de Brus, Countess of Carrick, died without male issue about 1380, and the property of Auchencruive fell to his sister’s son, Alan de Kathkert, ancestor of the present Earl Cathcart. With the exception of a short period during the sixteenth century, when the house and lands of Auchencruive were in the possession of the Craufurds of Drongane, they remained in the hands of the Cathcart family until they were acquired by Richard Oswald, the ancestor of the present proprietor, about 1760. 

Of this remarkable man, the first of the Oswalds of Auchencruive, no adequate biography has been written, although he figured largely in the political history of his time, and his career was a most romantic one. According to the late Right Hon. Sir John Sinclair of Ulbster, who was probably acquainted with him personally, he derived his origin from Thurso, one of his ancestors  having been a bailie in that burgh during the seventeenth century. Regarding Richard Oswald, Sir John relates that “he was, in his younger days, an unsuccessful candidate, upon a comparative trial, for the office of master of the parochial school of Thurso, whereof the salary was small, and took his disappointment so much to heart that he left the country in disgust, and never more returned to it. But for that circumstance, it is probable, he would have lived and died in obscurity.” Removing to London, Richard Oswald embarked at once upon the career of a merchant, and had risen to fortune and reputation as an Army-contractor before 1 763. With the wealth thus won, he purchased the estate of Auchencruive about this period, though he continued to reside in London, and to take part in politics, leaving it under the care of his brother, the Rev. Dr James Oswald. His capacity for business was so great that it attracted the notice of the leading politicians, and he became an object of suspicion to the followers of Fox, and of hope to that statesman’s opponents. When the rebellion of George Washington had been crowned with success, and the British Government found it impossible to ignore a Republic which had accredited ambassadors at the principal European Courts, they resolved to make terms of peace with the revolted states; and on 25th July 1782, a Commission was granted to Richard Oswald of Auchencruive to proceed to Paris and confer with Benjamin Franklin and the other representatives of ” certain colonies in North America,” as to the conditions of a pacific agreement. The voluminous correspondence betwixt the plenipotentiary and Lord Shelburne is still in preservation amongst the documents of the Marquess of Lansdowne ; and the story of the long conflict which he had to secure reasonable terms may be learned from his private letters to Sir Henry Strachey, which are among the family papers at Sutton Court. The Provisional Articles for a pacification were signed by the Commissioners on 30th November 1782, by which the independence of the thirteen United States was formally acknowledged. The materials for a life of this eminent politician may be found in Lord Edmund Fitzmaurice’s Life of Lord She Iburne, Bancroft’s History of the United States, and amongst the manuscripts in possession of the Duke of Manchester. 

Dr James Oswald, who was de facto Laird of Auchencruive during his brother’s absence, died in 1819, and was succeeded by his son, George Oswald of Scotstoun and Auchencruive. The eldest son of the latter was Richard Alexander Oswald of Auchencruive, who was Member of Parliament for Ayrshire from 1833 till 1835, and closed his long career of usefulness and public spirit in 1 84 1. As his only son had predeceased him, he was succeeded by his cousin, James  Oswald-Oswald of Shield-hall, a merchant in Glasgow, and Member for that burgh from the meeting of the first reformed Parliament of 1833 almost continuously till 1847. He died unmarried in 1855, and a statue to his memory has been erected by his fellow-citizens in George Square, Glasgow. The estate went to his nephew, Alexander Haldane Oswald, who sat as Member for Ayrshire from 1843 till 1852, and died in 1868. He was succeeded by his brother, George Oswald, the father and immediate predecessor of the present proprietor, Richard Alexander Oswald of Auchencruive, who came into the estate in 1871.