Blairquhan Castle
Maybole, Ayrshire
South West Scotland

James Hunter was a younger son of Hunter of Abbothill, near Ayr (which was a cadet branch of Hunter of Hunterston, established at Hunterston since 1110). Making his way as a financier in Edinburgh in the third quarter of the 1700's, he joined Coutts bank which from 1773 was known as Sir William Forbes, James Hunter and Co. The bank had been one of the few to survive the crash, "Black Wednesday", 10th June 1772, which ruined many a Scottish family. Its survival ensured the prosperity of its partners.

James married Jean Blair, daughter and heiress of John Blair of Dunskey, and when she inherited her father's estate in 1777, the family name became Hunter Blair. James and Jean had 14 children, some of whom are depicted by the Scottish artist David Allan in the painting on the right. Dunskey House is in the background. Today the portrait hangs over the fireplace in the Dining room at Blairquhan.

James became Lord Provost and Member of Parliament for the city of Edinburgh, and was created a Baronet in 1786. When he died a year later, his older brother and the bank partners rallied to the family's support. In 1798 while Sir James's son David was on tour in Germany his trustees bought for him a large and old castle together with an estate of 14,000 acres from the Whitefoords of Ballochmyle and Blairquhan, a family whose fortunes, ironically, had declined in the same financial crash that had benefited David's father.

The land around about had been Kennedy territory for centuries, and the castle dated back to 1346 with a big addition in 1575. It was described as "a great castle of huge bulk". David Hunter Blair eschewed the old castle, preferring to house his estate workers there, and moved into Milton a little way up the Water of Girvan which runs through the estates. When his elder brother died he succeeded, at the age of 22, to the baronetcy and became Sir David, and while in Edinburgh met and married Dorothea Hay McKenzie, niece of the Marquess of Tweedale, in 1813. Gradually he turned towards the old castle as a place to live with his new family which now included their children James, Edward, and Maria.

He consulted Thomas White the landscape architect, James Gillespie Graham, and Robert Wallace, but all their plans which involved modifying the old castle or making a new Classical mansion in the valley of the Water of Girvan came to nothing. Sadly Dorothea died in 1820. David threw all his energies into working with Edinburgh architect William Burn. In 1821 the foundation stone was laid by Sir Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, son of Dr Johnson's companion James Boswell.

The old castle was dismantled, with some of its stone and carvings incorporated into the kitchen wing, details of which can be seen above left and right. A new castle was built, and Burn achieved a version of Tudor Gothic brilliantly enhanced by a clarity of design and detail which could only come from an underlying classical aesthetic.

Five years later, when building was finished, Sir James married again; Elizabeth Hay of Haystoun from Peeblesshire. They had six more sons and two more daughters. He took an active part in the life of the county. The one great sadness was that towards the end of his life his son James, who was a lively and much loved character, and Member of Parliament for Ayrshire, died from wounds after the battle of Inkerman (1854) where he was Lieutenant-Colonel in the Scots Fusilier Guards. A very moving note to his father from the field-hospital is preserved in the Musuem at Blairquhan.

Blairquhan passed to his brother who lived with his family there nearly to the end of the century.

His eldest son, Sir David, became an Abbot, and the estate became the property of his second son, later Sir Edward, a Captain in the Navy, who virtually rebuilt the village of Straiton around 1900.

He was succeeded by his second son Sir James, 7th Baronet, who, as a former District Officer with the Forestry Commission, did a lot for the woods on the property. He added many pictures to the collection at Blairquhan. He was the father of the present owner.