Dalquharran Castle, Category A listed castle in South Ayrshire, Scotland.
Dalquharran Castle is a three-storey building in Dailly, South Ayrshire, with round towers and a central staircase inside. It sits on landscaped grounds along the banks of the Water of Girvan.
The building was designed by Robert Adam in 1785 to replace an older structure on the same estate that had fallen into disrepair. Adam was one of the leading architects of his time, and this was among his later commissions.
During the Second World War, the castle was used as a school for deaf children, giving the building a very different role from its original one. Later it served as a youth hostel before falling into its current state of disuse.
The castle has been closed to visitors since 2017 because the building's long decay has made it structurally unsafe. It is still worth approaching from the outside to see the exterior and the riverside setting.
In 1967, the owners deliberately stripped the lead roof so the building could be declared uninhabitable and exempt from property tax. That decision set off the slow deterioration that has left the castle in its current state.
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