29 May 2022 – WILLIAMS WRITINGS

In 1912 disaster struck to a vessel they said was unsinkable a ship designed to stand up to disasters to go down would seem unthinkable. The ship was grand, people were excited to sail in her majestic beauty tickets flew hot from the port all staff were called to duty. The designer made a few drastic changes he insisted elegance came before life giant staircases with chandeliers adored by every man and his wife. Steel plates were attached by hand as machines couldn’t fit some parts making spots of the ship vulnerable not recorded on any official charts. The ship was grand, the clientele were rich the poor squashed and crowded below class was important at the start of the century for a wonder the poor could go! The lifeboats were cut just sixteen were aboard for over two thousand customers and crew women and children were priority then but some of the men got through! Some crew from the another ship were laid off their service not required one of them went off with a vital key to a cabinet holding all they desired. The Captain had no drills it seems so the crew were unable to cope judging by the historic events they did not have any hope. The Iceberg responsible for the disaster was floating closer to the ship many warnings were shouted that night but the ship had to fulfill its trip. The Captain wanted to go faster even though the warnings were clear his attitude positive "everything is fine" no one has anything to fear. It seemed for a while the coast was clear the iceberg was changing direction the captain thought he was navigating away beyond the icebergs inception. Because of the lack of experience the crew did not know what to do once the Iceberg struck for real all their nightmares came true. one thousand five hundred people lost their lives on that fateful freezing night the water was 50 degrees minus below hitting the water died with fright. A mighty ship called unsinkable lost its will to live and just because they never bothered or any thought did give. Mother Nature knows no bounds She wins most of the time For the people who designed this ship I believe you committed a crime. To the few who managed to live the horror remains in their mind the Unsinkable vessel of modern age was simply one of a kind.

Culzean Castle (/kʌˈleɪn/ kul-AYN, see yogh; Scots: Cullain) is a castle overlooking the Firth of Clyde, near Maybole, Carrick, on the Ayrshire coast of Scotland. It is the former home of the Marquess of Ailsa, the chief of Clan Kennedy, but is now owned by the National Trust for Scotland. The clifftop castle lies within the Culzean Castle Country Park and is opened to the public. From 1972 through 2015, an illustration of the castle was featured on the reverse side of five pound notes issued by the Royal Bank of Scotland.

As of 2021, the castle was available for rent

History

Culzean Castle was constructed as an L-plan castle by order of the 10th Earl of Cassilis. He instructed the architect Robert Adam to rebuild a previous, but more basic, structure into a fine country house to be the seat of his earldom. The castle was built in stages between 1777 and 1792. It incorporates a large drum tower with a circular saloon inside (which overlooks the sea), a grand oval staircase and a suite of well-appointed apartments.

The castle was the venue, on 14 November 1817, when Archibald Kennedy, 1st Marquess of Ailsa’s daughter, Margaret Radclyffe Livingstone Eyre, married Thomas, Viscount Kynnaird. Margaret would become a noted philanthropist.

In 1945, the Kennedy family gave the castle and its grounds to the National Trust for Scotland (thus avoiding inheritance tax). In doing so, they stipulated that the apartment at the top of the castle be given to General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower in recognition of his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during the Second World War. The General first visited Culzean Castle in 1946 and stayed there four times, including once while President of the United States.

The Ayrshire (Earl of Carrick’s Own) Yeomanry, a British Yeomanry cavalry regiment, was formed by The Earl of Cassillis at Culzean Castle in about 1794. On 24 June 1961, the regiment returned to the castle to be presented with its first guidon by General Sir Horatius Murray, KBE, CB, DSO.

The castle re-opened in April 2011 after a refurbishment funded by a gift in the will of American millionaire William Lindsay to the National Trust for Scotland. Lindsay, who had never visited Scotland, requested that a significant portion of his $4 million go towards Culzean. Lindsay was reportedly interested in Eisenhower’s holidays at the castle.

Culzean Castle received 333,965 visitors in 2019.

Features

Panoramic view of Culzean Castle main building

The armoury contains a propellor from a plane flown by Leefe Robinson when he shot down a German airship north of London in 1916.

To the north of the castle is a bay containing the Gas House, which provided town gas for the castle up until 1940. This group of buildings consists of the gas manager’s house (now containing an exhibition on William Murdoch), the Retort House and the remains of the gasometer.

There are sea caves beneath the castle which are currently not open generally, but are open for tours throughout the summer.

The castle grounds include a walled garden, which is built on the site of the home of a former slave owned by the Kennedy family, Scipio Kennedy.