Culzean Castle
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Culzean Castle (pronounced cull-ANE: see yogh) is a castle near Maybole, Carrick on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa but is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The castle lies with the Culzean Castle Country Park and is opened to the public. The castle is also famous for appearing on the back of five pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.
Culzean castle was the constructed as an L Plan Castle by order of David Kennedy, 10th Earl of Cassilis. He instructed the architect Robert Adam to rebuild a previous, but more basic, stately house into a fine castle to be the seat of his earldom. The castle was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. It incorporates a large drum tower with a circular saloon inside (which overlooks the sea), a grand oval staircase and a suite of well-appointed apartments.
To the north of the castle is a bay containing the Gas House, which provided town gas for the castle up until 1940. This group of buildings contsists of the Gas Manager's house (now containing an exhibition on William Murdoch), The Retort House and the remains of the gasometer. [1]
The castle is available for accommodation and wedding ceremonies.
The castle was used as the ancestral home of Lord Summerisle (played by Christopher Lee) in the 1973 film The Wicker Man.
There are sea caves beneath the castle.
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