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Cosses Country House
Ballantrae
Ayrshire KA26 0LR
Scotland

Historic Sites, Ancient Castles & Scottish Heroes

South West Scotland is littered with Historic Sites of Great Battles, Ancient Castles and Scottish heroes such as William Wallace and Robert the Bruce.

Thankfully Cosses Country House has enjoyed a relatively peaceful past and dates from 1606 when it was a shooting lodge belonging to the Grahams of Knockdolian. In 1620 it transferred to the Kennedys of Blairquhan.

Covenanters cottage ruins in the grounds. In 1765 it was bought by John Allan of Kilphin and in 1916 it became the property of Earl of Inchcape, when Cosses became the 'home farm'.

A pond at Cosses was designed by Lady Inchcape. Cosses was sold privately in 1950 and major alterations were done to the house in 1963, being continued by Robin and Susan Crosthwaite who purchased Cosses in 1985.

Celebrating 800 years of the Royal Burgh of Ayr
Ayr Guildry, an association of local business people which itself dates back to 1325, is organising Ayr 800, a 12 month long calendar of events celebrating the 800th anniversary of Ayr throughout 2005.

www.ayr800.co.uk         www.historic-scotland.gov.uk

Scottish Heroes - William Wallace & Robert the Bruce

Outside Darvel stands the strangely shaped Loudoun Hill, core of an extinct volcano. Here in 1297 William Wallace, the proclaimed 'Guardian of Scotland', delivered a seismic shock to a heavy English force. In 1307 the site erupted again, when Robert the Bruce repeated the victory.

In the same year the king vanquished the English at Clatteringshaws Loch in the Galloway Forest Park. The scene is marked by a granite boulder. A stone also commemorates the area in Glen Trool where he won another battle.

If you want to see where Robert the Bruce was born, you have a choice of two spots. Lochmaben Castle and Turnberry have both been claimed as his birthplace and the cave in which he was reputedly inspired by the tenacity of a spider is located either on Arran or at Kirkpatrick Flemming.

There's no disagreement, though, over where his heart was buried: Melrose Abbey.

Historic Places of Interest

The area is steeped in history from the first Christian missionaries. The local name Kilantringan means Kirk of St. Ninian

• Castles - See castles page
• Robert Burns - See Robert Burns page
• Isle of Whithorn priory and museum is the site of the first Christian church in Scotland
• St. Ninian's Cave
• Standing Stones (Cairnholly 2000BC)
• Glenluce Abbey
• Crossraguel Abbey - 1244 Cluniac settlement
• Ardstinchar Castle - Visited by Mary Queen of Scots
• Sawney Bean - Last known cannibal in Scotland. Lived in a cave just north of Ballantrae
• Kennedies of Culzean and Bargany

  Robert the Bruce - Born at Turnberry Castle, son of Lady Countess of Carrick. Robert the Bruce is a direct descendant of the Lords of Galloway. His daughter Marjory married Walter Stuart. Their son became Robert II the first of the Stuart Kings of Scotland. His granddaughter Johanna Stuart married Sir John Lyan.

  The grandson of Sir John Lyon and Johanna Stuart, was Patrick, who became the first Lord Glamis, and thus direct ancestors of the late Queen Mother and Queen Elizabeth II, our Queen today.

More information is available in the book 'A Country Cook's Garden in South West Scotland'.

History of South West Scotland
Historic Sites, Ancient Castles and Scottish Heroes