Dunskey House

A historical perspective, drawn from the Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland: A Survey of Scottish Topography, Statistical, Biographical and Historical, edited by Francis H. Groome and originally published in parts by Thomas C. Jack, Grange Publishing Works, Edinburgh between 1882 and 1885.

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Dunskey, an old castle in Portpatrick parish, Wigtownshire, 4¼ furlongs SSE of Portpatrick town. Crowning the brink of a giddy precipice, 100 feet high, at the head of Castle Bay, it was built about 1510 by Adair of Kilhilt on the site of an older stronghold, plundered and burned in 1489 by Sir Alexander M'Culloch of Myrtoun. From the Adairs it came to the Blairs in 1648, but was quite ruinous in 1684. Dunskey Burn and a cave near its mouth were popularly thought, down to a comparatively recent period, to possess some magic properties of healing. Near the head of Dunskey Glen stands Dunskey House, amid extensive wooded grounds, 1¼ mile N by W of Portpatrick. Built in 1706, and greatly enlarged and improved about 1830, it is the property of Sir Edward Hunter-Blair of Blairquhan, who holds in Wigtownshire 8255 acres, valued at £4948 per annum.

An accompanying 19th C. Ordnance Survey map is available, or use the map tab to the right of this page.

Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity. This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer

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