One of the ancestral homes of Clan Kennedy. Designed by the famous architect Robert Adams, and perched on a cliff high above the Firth of Clyde, Culzean Castle was built by the 10th Earl of Cassilis in 1772-90.

The Earls of Cassilis were the Chieftains of Clan Kennedy and they built this castle to surround and replace an earlier, more warlike building that had been the stronghold of the Kennedy clan.

Near Culzean is where the first Earl of Cassilis is said to have roasted the Abbot of Crossraguel in an attempt to make him surrender abbey lands in 1507.

This romantic castle is perched on the cliff edge above the Firth of Clyde with spectacular views of Arran and the Ailsa Craig. The Kennedys claim descent from the Earls of Carrick and the Bruce family. The earliest official mention of the Kennedys in south Ayrshire (or Carrick, its older name), was the granting of land to John Kennedy of Dunure in 1358. He was recorded as being Steward of Carrick in 1367, although as early as 1243 the steward of Carrick was Gillescop MacKenedi. There were other mentions of the name in various forms at around the same time (MacKenedy / Makenedy / MacKenede) as evidence of the rising importance of the family.

When the Kennedy family donated the castle to the National Trust for Scotland in 1945 they asked that the top floor be given to General Eisenhower as a thank you from the people of Scotland.

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