This isn't really a blog about two castles as such; it's more about what gets preserved for future generations and what is lost. A couple of months ago I was in Scotland for a few days and I went to two completely contrasting castles. The first was Culzean (pronounced, as I discovered, Cullaine) which is the National Trust for Scotland's flagship property. There are records of a tower house at Culzean going back to the 1400s which was extended and improved in the 1590s by Sir Thomas Kennedy, brother to the 4th Earl of Cassillis. The current grand house was created by Robert Adam in the 18th century when the Kennedy family wanted to create a "trophy house," a mansion that shouted their wealth and power to anyone who saw it. Robert Adam was the leading Scottish architect of his day and he was given free rein at Culzean. The results are stunning in terms of their scale and beauty. I loved the oval staircase and the round drawing room in particular, and could happily have sat in the drawing room windows all day looking at the view out across the sea.
Culzean has a guide book packed with detail on the history and architecture of the castle, it has beautifully restored gardens, several restaurants, a second hand bookshop, smugglers caves and information about various paranormal investigations that took place at the castle. It has a comprehensive website at http://www.culzeanexperience.org/default.asp You can even adopt a Culzean deer. I had a wonderful day visiting there and I was one of 200 000 visitors who go every year.
In contrast I spent roughly one hour at Johnstone Castle, which is near Glasgow. Originally dating back to the 16th century, Johnstone Castle was in its heyday in the Victorian era. Frederick Chopin was a guest of the Houston family of Johnstone in 1848 whilst performing in concert in Glasgow. Chopin had tutored the wife of the 5th Laird of Johnstone in piano and there were rumours of a romance between him and the laird's sister-in-law, to whom he dedicated some of his compositions. There is a story that the composer's music can be heard floating over the nearby woods on moonlit Spetember evenings. This was the only claim to fame that I could find for Johnstone Castle and I discovered it after hunting around on the internet looking for the castle's history.
My first problem in going to Johnstone Castle was actually finding it. I drove through a housing estate and eventually ended up at a patch of grass with a tower in the middle. The building was fenced off so I couldn't get close and there weren't any plaques or information boards apart from one notice stating that no ball games should be played! I crossed the road to the woods which are all that is left of the original gardens and pleasure grounds. After the Second World War the Castle and grounds had been purchased by the Town Council, which had demolished most of it and had used the land to build new housing for families moved out of Glasgow as a result of tenement clearances. As somoene who likes to explore every nook and cranny of ancient buildings as well as read up on their history, I was disappointed. I wanted to be able to touch Johnstone Castle and to feel the atmosphere, not simply stand on the outside looking in.
The contrast of Culzean and Johnstone Castles led me to wonder about the twists of fate that led Culzean to be one of the most popular castles in Scotland whilst what is left of Johnstone Castle is fenced off in the middle of a housing estate. Who decides what should be preserved and what let go? Do we have an obligation to preserve or even to restore ancient buildings if we can? And should I have been happy that there was at least a tower of Johnstone Castle left standing?
