Turnberry Castle

As to when or by whom Turnberry was built there seems to be no authentic record at all. It was originally a stronghold of the Lords of Galloway, and passed into the possession of the Earls of Carrick around the beginning of the thirteenth century, by which time it was already an established seat. In the late thirteenth century the castle belonged to Marjorie, the widowed Countess of Carrick. According to medieval legend she held the visiting knight Robert de Brus captive until he agreed to marry her, and their marriage in 1271 conveyed to him both the castle and the earldom.

Their first son, also named Robert, went on to become Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. Whether Turnberry was his actual birthplace is unknown and has never been established, but that he spent his boyhood living in the castle is not in doubt. On 20 September 1286 several Scottish barons who supported the title of the Bruce as successor to the crown met secretly at Turnberry Castle. Robert was twelve years old at the time, so the gathering concerned his claim rather than his person.

In the spring of 1307 Robert made an attempt to recover the castle from the English, who were occupying it at the time. The attempt was only partially successful, though it did ultimately lead to the withdrawal of the English soldiers from the place. That attempt marked the beginning of a long road ending in Robert's eventual success at Bannockburn. A partial failure at his own boyhood home was the opening move of the campaign that made him king in fact as well as in name.

In 1310 Robert the Bruce ordered the destruction of the castle, to prevent it falling once again into English hands. Destroying a stronghold rather than garrisoning it was a recognised strategy of his, and it was applied here to the place where he had grown up. The castle was very nearly destroyed by that order. What remains today is part of the original structure rather than of any later work, since it does not appear to have been rebuilt at any point afterwards.