Sorn Castle

The date of the erection of the first castle at Sorn cannot be determined, though authorities are agreed that such a stronghold did exist from very early times. The first family that we find associated with the territory is Keith of Galston, which was a branch from the Keiths, afterwards Earls Marischal. Jonetta Keith, heiress of Galston, was married to Sir David Hamilton, third Lord Cadzow {ob. 1392), the progenitor of the ducal house of Hamilton; and in 1406 she bestowed the estate of Sorn upon her fourth son, Andrew, who became ancestor of the Hamiltons of Udston and of Barncluith. In 1533 Sorn was acquired by a descendant of the second Lord Cadzow, viz.. Sir William Hamilton of the Cambuskeith Hamiltons, and afterwards Lord High Treasurer to James V. He is usually termed Sir William Hamilton of Sanquhar, having purchased that estate in 1539; and was Captain of Edinburgh Castle, and one of the Senators of the College of Justice. His daughter Isabel was married to George, fifth Lord Seton—the “truest friend” of Mary, Queen of Scots—and the wedding is said to have been the occasion of special rejoicings at Sorn Castle. There is a romancing story told by the Rev. George Gordon, the author of the article on ” Sorn ” in the old Statistical Account, and repeated by later writers, to the effect that ” King James V. honoured his Treasurer with a visit at Sorn Castle on occasion of the marriage of his daughter to Lord Seton. The King’s visit at Sorn Castle took place in winter, and being heartily tired of his journey through so long a track of moor, moss, and miry clay, where there was neither road nor bridge, he is reported to have said, with that good-humoured pleasantry which was a characteristic of so many of his family, that ‘ were he to play the Deil a trick, he would send him from Glasgow to Sorn in the middle of winter.’ ” However humorous the story may be, it is absolutely without foundation, since King James was dead years before the marriage took place ; and it is expressly stated by Sir Richard Maitland, in his Historic of the House of Seytoune, that the union was devised to bring about an alliance betwixt the Setons and the Governor Arran, to whose house Sir William Hamilton belonged. Yet this marriage was considered to be of such political importance that a medal commemorating it was struck, bearing the initials of the bride and bridegroom: I. H.—G. S., and the motto Ung Dieu, ung toy, ungfoy, ungroy. The children of this marriage all rose to distinction, and amongst the family were Robert Seton, first Earl of Wintoun ; Sir John Seton of Barns ; Alexander, first Earl of Dunfermline ; and Margaret, mother of the first Earl of Abercorn. Lady Seton died in 1604, at the age of seventy-five., Robert Seton, first Earl of Wintoun {pb. 1603), succeeded to the estate on the death of his father in 1585 ; and his second brother, the third Earl, sold both the lands and Castle of Sorn to the Loudoun family, with whom they remained for over a century and a half. They were purchased in 1782 by Mr William Tennent of Poole, and sold by him shortly afterwards to Mr Graham of Limekilns and Mr Stevenson of Dalgain. Mr Somervell of Hamilton Farm acquired the Castle and estate in 1 795, and it came into the possession successively of his son and his two daughters. On the death of the youngest of this family, the estates fell to Mr Graham Russell, fifth son of the late Colonel James Russell of Woodside, Stirlingshire, who assumed the name of Somervell. He was married to his cousin, a daughter of the family of Stirling of Kippendavie, and was DeputyLieutenant and Convener of the county of Ayr from i860 till his death. His son, James Somervell, Esq. of Sorn, Captain of Ayrshire Yeomanry, is the present possessor of the estate, and resides at the Castle.