Godfrey de Ross was an early holder of the castle and lands of Corsehill, moving his seat here from the castle at
Boarland (also 'Borland') or Dunlop hill. The De Ross family are now represented by the
Earls of Glasgow. Andrew Cunningham, second son of William Cunningham, 4th
Earl of Glencairn, was the first of the House of Corsehill in 1532. He was a great supporter of the reform movement and had his lands forfeited, later returned and died in 1545. The spelling '
Cunningham' will be used throughout for consistency where it stands alone. Alexander Cunningham inherited and married Marion Porterfield of Duchal. Alexander's son, also Alexander, held the lands of
Lambruchton and Thirdpart in 1622 In 1691 the Hearth Tax records show the 'House of Corsehill' as having ten hearths and suggests that 83 other dwellings were in the barony. David Cunningham was the last to occupy Corsehill House and he then lived at
Doura Hall near Kilwinning where he had proposed building himself a new laird's house. In 1685, Alexander, the 2nd baronet, married Margaret Boyle, sister of the
Earl of Glasgow. Their son David married Penelope Montgomerie, daughter of Sir Walter Montgomerie of
Skelmorlie Castle. Their eldest son married the heiress of Sir David Montgomerie of Lainshaw and adopted the patronym Montgomerie-Cuninghame, however he predeceased his father and it was his son Walter, who never married, that inherited in 1770 and died in March 1814. His brother David became the 5th baronet and also died unmarried in 1814. James, the third brother, inherited and married Jessie, daughter of James Cuming of Earnside, Nairnshire. this being over £100,000. Some considerable confusion exists about the sites and naming of these 'castles' in
Stewarton. The printed name 'Revincraige' arose as a printed spelling error from the original manuscript's 'Reuinscraige' i.e. stone ruins, so it isn't a name, it's a description used in the locality. Dobie goes on to state that following the correction "
that the real and original name of this castle ... was Ruincraig cannot for a moment be entertained..." We know from historical records about Godfrey de Ross and his family of Corsehill Castle, they were Lords of Liddesdale in the Borders and later on the
Cunninghams became the holders. The later Corsehill (also Crosshill) House stood on the east side of the Corsehill or Clerkland Burn and only a few remains were said to exist to show its site, however the 1860 OS indicates no ruins of any description and nothing now remains on the site (2015). . Corsehill House is shown in one old print of 1791, drawn in 1789 by Grose with the comment that "
At a small distance from this ruin are some small remains of a more ancient building belonging to the same family." referring to the old Corsehill castle whilst drawing Corsehill House, the home of the laird at that time. Substantial remains of Corsehill House were thought to exist until the railway was constructed and that most of the ruins were used to build the embankment with the course of the burn also being partly altered at this time, however a contemporary record states that the Corsehill House site had been entirely robbed by circa 1800. have assumed that the surviving remnant of the typical tower castle equates to a distinctive part of Grose's engraving however the thickness at nearly 3 metres and the other features such as the lack of a fire-place and aumbry, of this clearly later building together with map evidence suggests otherwise and in addition the OS map evidence suggests a typical square or oblong tower castle shaped building rather than a relatively unfortified laird's house with relatively thin walls, many doors at ground level, large windows, etc. akin to buildings such as the Place of Auchinleck. Canmore gives measurements for the Corsehill Castle tower remnant as nearly 3m thick and 10m high. If the 'tower' in Frances Grose's engraving was that of the castle then the wall remnants associated with it would have to be at least 10m high and six or more stone courses thick, which the engraving does not show. With these measurements Corsehill House would have been a very large building indeed. The footprint of Corshill House as shown by the engraving also seems far too large for the knoll on which the surviving remnant of Old Corsehill Castle still stands. The 1779 map by Crawford does not indisputably show Corsehill as a ruin although by this time the
lands of Cocklebie have extended across the once prestigious avenue of trees. Fullarton in 1858 records that "
..the ancient castellated mansion of Coreshill has been wholly removed – not a stone now remaining to mark its site; nor does any vestige of its garden or other decorations remain to procalim its former state and fallen grandeur.". whilst Roy's map of 1747 shows a square shaped 'Old Crosshill' with a U-shaped 'Crosshill' to the west of the burn together with a 'mains' farm. Armstrong's 1775 map shows 'Ruins' and 'Corshill' depicted as a house standing to the west of it. Dobie categorically states that no records in Ayrshire exist of a 'Ravencraig Castle' and goes on to record that the building on the west side of the Corsehill Burn has been a ruin since 1608 and that the area it stands in was once called
Corsehill Park. It is worth noting that the Scots for a raven (
Corvus corax) is a 'Corbie'. The Blaeu map of 1654 based on
Timothy Pont's earlier map gives 'Reuinskraig on the west side of the Clerkland Burn and 'Corshill' on the east side. Both are depicted the same without any clear suggestion of 'Reuinskraig' being a ruin. The 1779 estate map of Lainshaw The 1776 map by Taylor & Skinner shows a 'Corsehill' only as a dwelling house held by Sir William Cunynhame (sic). is said to run from near Old Corsehill Castle down to the Annick Water just up stream of
Lainshaw Castle. The tunnel was supposedly crawled through by the grandfather of a local man. This tunnel may be related to the drainage of the nearby, flooded quarry, the Water Plantation area and other Lainshaw estate lands.
Templehouse fortalice An area opposite the site of Templehouses was known as 'The Castle'. and this may reflect the existence of the castle or fortalice here (Hewitt 2006). An old road also crossed the river here and ran up to Robertland Castle and Nether Robertland (Lainshaw 1779). Steven states that William Dean held the feu for the area of Templehouse, now more commonly called 'Darlington'. The 1860 OS map does record the site of this Templehouse which may have had a small fortalice associated with it. Its precise site was at Darlington on the road to
Kingsford before the East Burn. This area continued to be called Templehouses for many years after the buildings stones were removed by local people for building purposes.
The Baron-Court book A remarkable and fortuitous survival is the 'Baron-Court book of the Baron-Court of Corshill', having been in the possession of Mr John Brown of
Stewarton and published by the Ayr & Wigton Archaeological Association in 1884. The records start in 1666 and ends in 1719. In 1667 Hew Harper was fined and sentenced to be placed in the stocks at the 'Laird's pleasure'.
King's Kitchen An old thatched cottage at the top end of Stewarton, on the road to Glasgow, had the name of "King's Kitchen Head", more recently called Braehead. It was nearly adjacent to the old baronial residence of Corsehill and was part of that barony. Further along the road is Kingsford and further along still is King's Well and the King's Stable. The story is told of a King who whilst on his progress of administering justice was given hospitality, for some long forgotten reason, at this cottage. The wife of the house begged the King for the life of her husband who was one of those to be tried by the King. The others were hanged, but the King dismissed the husband with the admonition "
to be a better bairn.". ==Corsehill Castle and King Malcolm Canmore==