About one mile south from the railway station of Fairlie, on the level
ground facing the sea, and with its back close to the railway, stands
the ruin of Southannan Castle. It has been an extensive structure (Fig.
1591), having had a high enclosing wall, with a courtyard and an arched
entrance porch to the west, defended with shot-holes (Fig. 1592). There
[Illustration: FIG. 1591.--Southannan Chapel and Castle. Plan.]
has been a considerable range of dwelling-house accommodation, two
stories in height, along the north side, and smaller buildings on the
east side, leaving a large courtyard in the centre, now forming the
garden of the adjoining farmhouse (Fig. 1593). The situation is fine,
and the edifice is backed by the high range of thickly wooded hills
which extends between Largs and Kilbride.
The lands of Southannan were granted to Lord Semple in 1504. Chalmers
says[259] that John, Lord Semple, in the reign of James IV., built a
chapel, which was dedicated to St. Annan or St. Ennan, and granted for
the support of the chaplain in it an annual rent of 10 merks from
certain lands, “with two sowmes of pasture grass in the mains of
Southennan,
[Illustration: FIG. 1592.--Southannan Chapel and Castle. View from
West.]
and an acre of land on the north side of the cemetery belonging to the
said chapel for the chaplain’s manse. This grant was confirmed by the
king in June 1509. The ruins of the chapel are still extant in the
[Illustration: FIG. 1593.--Southannan Chapel and Castle. North-West
Angle of Courtyard.]
front of the fine mansion of Southennan, which is also in ruins.” “Saint
Inan or Innan is said to have been a confessor at Irvine, and to have
died in 839.”
The castle was much enlarged by Robert, fourth Lord Sempill, ambassador
to the Court of Spain in 1596; but some of the existing remains have the
appearance of being still more modern. The old mansion was dismantled
towards the end of last century, and the materials used in the erection
of farm-buildings and dykes. “What remains are chiefly the outer walls
to the left (north) of the courtyard and some more ancient-looking
remnants at the back (east), attached to which are remains of what may
have been the chapel of the saint.”[260] This may be the case, as some
of the walls are old and have been altered; but the vaulted chamber to
the east has the appearance of being much more modern.
On the whole, we fear that the chapel has entirely disappeared, and that
this account of Southannan should rather have appeared amongst the
castles than the churches of Scotland.