Auchendrane Castle

Some confusion is apt to arise from the fact that two separate houses on the banks of Doon are called alike by the name of Auchendrane, although the difficulty is capable of a simple explanation. The property now in the possession of Miss Cathcart, the mansion-house of which stands close by the river side, about four miles from Ayr, is upon that portion of the old estate of Middle Auchendrane, for some time called Blairstoun ; and the proprietor of this place was formerly known as the Laird of Blairstoun, to distinguish him from the Laird of Auchendrane proper, after Mure of the “Barony of Auchendrane,” to which it was attached, had sold this part of the estate to one of the family of Blair of Blair. Hew Blair of Blairstoun appears as proprietor in 1645, having been accused by the Presbytery of Ayr of complicity with the great Marquis of Montrose in his Royalist rising. James Blair of Blairstoun obtained permission to bury his family within the precincts of Alloway Kirk about the year 1694. The property was bought back by John Mure  in 1698. He was a scion of the ancient family of the Mures of Auchendrane, and was uncle and guardian of the then young Laird of the Barony lands. John Mure was Provost of Ayr in 1687- 1697, and did much to preserve the liberties of his fellow-citizens. He represented the burgh of Ayr in the Convention from 1689 till 1702. There are still some fine old silver fir trees at Auchendrane which were planted by this John Mure. The Cathcart family came into possession of it through the marriage of David Cathcart, Lord Alloway, with Mary Mure, daughter of Robert Mure of Blairstoun. Of the first Cathcart of Blairstoun some notice is due. 

David Cathcart was the son of Elias Cathcart, who was grandson of Cathcart of Carbiston, a successful wine merchant in Ayr. He was at one time Provost of that burgh, and latterly purchased the estate of Greenfield (now Cambusdoon)from the Magistrates of Ayr, and spent the closing years of his life there. Having obtained the elements of his education at’Ayr, the place of his nativity, David Cathcart proceeded to Edinburgh, to prosecute his studies for the legal profession, and soon won distinction at the Bar. In 1793, when he was twenty-nine years of age, he married Mary Mure of Blairstoun, whose estate adjoined that of Greenfield, and thus became Laird of Middle Auchendrane. He took much delight in the improvement of these two properties ; and to him must be attributed the principal work of reconstructing the ancient mansion-house. When raised to the Bench he took the title of Lord Alloway, from the locality with which his earliest and most pleasant recollections were  associated; and when he died at Blairstoun in 1829, his remains were deposited within the ruined Kirk of Alloway, in accordance with the territorial right obtained more than a hundred and twenty years before. Lord Cockburn records his estimate of him as “an excellent and most useful man ; kind in private life, and honest in the discharge of his public duties ; without learning or talent, and awkward in expressing himself either orally or in writing, he was a good practical lawyer, and remarkably knowing in the management of the common business of life ; and having more sense and modesty than to aim at objects he could not reach, experience and industry gave him no competitor within this not very high but most useful range.” A classical monument, copied by permission of the late Earl of Elgin from a sarcophagus at Broomhall, has been erected at the Kirk as a memorial of Lord Alloway. 

He was succeeded by his son, Elias Cathcart, who also followed the profession of law, was admitted as an advocate in 181 7, and had the degree of LL.D. conferred upon him. His translation of Charles von Savigny’s History of Roman Law, which appeared in 1830, received the commendation alike of the original author and of the critics, and is now the accepted version of this oft-quoted work. He changed the name of his residence to the ancient local title of Auchendrane, under which it is now known, having bought back the Barony lands from the late Sir Charles Fergusson, and completed the building which his father, Lord Alloway, had begun. He afterwards sold in 184  that portion of the land on which stood the ruins of the Old Castle of Auchendrane to Mr Fergusson of Monkwood, and on this site the mansion of Sir Peter Coats is now erected. (See Old Auchendrane?) 

The mansion-house is situated in a romantic spot near the brink of the river Doon, and is well sheltered by the fine old trees which surround it. The style is an adaptation of the Scottish Baronial architecture to the requirements of modern life, and the effect is very pleasing.