Description

The monument comprises the upstanding remains of Ranfurly Castle, a 15th-century stone tower with later additions. The castle was built by the Knox family, ancestors of the religious reformer John Knox, and remained in their ownership until the 17th century. It is sited 100m above sea level and stands on a pronounced rock outcrop, now grown with trees, overlooking the River Gryfe 650m to the north. The monument was first scheduled in 1987, but an inadequate area was included to protect all of the archaeological remains: the present rescheduling rectifies this.

The best-preserved part of the castle is the keep, a small tower measuring about 7m square externally, with walls 1.5m thick. The structure is now a ruin but stands to a height of around 6m. The walls are of rough random rubble with dressed-stone quoins. The E wall contains a single slit window with wide internal splay and a tall, narrow door opening, now 5m high, that penetrates the wall at both ground and first floor levels. The stone foundations of a later structure about 13m long adjoin the tower to the E. The foundations protrude 0.2m-0.6m above ground level and indicate the position of the outer walls and of an internal partition sited towards the E end. A feature in the S wall probably indicates the position of a circular staircase. The ground falls away steeply to the north of the tower, but a courtyard about 15m wide lies to the south-east, bounded to the west by a stone wall that now stands to a maximum height of around 1m. The remains of a stone-built range of three parallel, adjoining structures, each measuring around 5m N-S by 4m transversely, lie at the S side of the courtyard. The walls here survive to a maximum height of 1.5m.

The area to be scheduled is irregular on plan, to include the visible remains and an area around them within which evidence relating to their construction, use and abandonment may survive, as shown in red on the accompanying map.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Statement of Scheduling

Cultural Significance

The monument's cultural significance can be expressed as follows:

Intrinsic characteristics

The monument is an excellent example of a small stone castle dating to the later Middle Ages, but subsequently extended and adapted. The earliest visible component of the fabric is the square tower, built probably in the 15th century after the Knox family acquired lands at Ranfurly. It represents a form of defended domestic architecture found across much of Scotland, built on a simple square plan. Although now ruinous, we can gain a sense of its likely internal features, decoration and furnishings by reference to surviving tower houses of similar date and type. Typically, square towers comprised a single vaulted basement chamber, with three upper storeys topped by a parapet walkway around the roof. Older towers often had their entrances at first floor level, accessed by wooden ladders that could be quickly removed in times of trouble. Here, the door in the E wall has been extended, reflecting the changing requirements for the building. The E wing was added later to provide additional living accommodation. The structures to the south of the courtyard also appear to be later additions. Researchers have suggested that they may be the remains of vaulted cellars or storerooms with living accommodation above. The presence of these structures may suggest the adaptation of the settlement from a relatively high status residence to a working farm.

Although the upstanding walls form a highly visible part of this monument, there is a strong probability that archaeological deposits associated with the monument's construction, use and abandonment also survive below the present ground surface. These buried remains could provide evidence of the date and nature of the castle's construction, as well as its subsequent use and eventual abandonment. They may include occupation evidence in the form of middens, evidence for domestic outbuildings, traces of earlier structures and evidence of subsequent development. Archaeological deposits may include artefacts and ecofacts with the potential to provide information on the diet, trading contacts and economy of the residents at various time periods. Fragments of plant remains may improve our knowledge of the local landscape when the tower was built and in use. The different elements of this monument have considerable potential to enhance our understanding of medieval tower houses and the daily lives of the people who occupied them. The multiple phases suggested by the upstanding remains indicate that the site has the potential to provide information relating to a period of several hundred years.

Contextual characteristics

Stone castles began to appear in SW Scotland in the 13th century, often replacing earlier timber motte and bailey castles, and expressing the growing power and wealth of the lordly families who occupied them. However, most early stone castles in SW Scotland were not particularly complex or large structures, reflecting the significant cost of building in stone. Ranfurly Castle lies only 150m north-west of Castle Hill Motte, the site of an earlier timber castle. There is a very strong probability that it represents the continuation of high status settlement here, with the main residence now transferred to a slightly different location. Simple towers or tower houses were relatively common across Scotland because they were successful as functional, defensive retreats, as focal points for social activity, and as expressions of power, wealth and local control for lesser land-owning families. This monument was part of a wider rural landscape and would have acted as an estate centre from which agriculture, hunting, animal husbandry and woodland management were controlled and exploited. Ancillary structures and enclosures associated with these activities are likely to have been in close proximity to the castle, but are not visible on the ground today. The possible site of a chapel 250m to the north-east, and the remains of rig and furrow surviving on the golf course to the east, were probably both associated with the estate centre of which the castle was the focus.

Associative characteristics

Documentary sources suggest that the Knox family gained possession of lands at Ranfurly around AD 1440, which provides the probable context for construction of the stone tower. The family were barons of Ranfurly and their importance is demonstrated by the signature of James III on a charter that confirmed the transfer of the barony from John Knox to Uctred Knox in 1474. The barony remained in the family until 1665 when it was alienated to William, first Earl of Dundonald.

National Importance

The monument is of national importance because it has an inherent potential to make a significant contribution to our understanding of the past, in particular late medieval domestic fortified dwellings and their construction, maintenance, development and subsequent abandonment. The monument represents a good example of a domestic defended home, built and occupied by a family who expressed their status through the construction of the tower. There is good potential for the preservation of archaeological deposits capable of enhancing our knowledge of the date of the tower's construction, occupation and subsequent abandonment. Such evidence has the potential inform us about wider society at the time, how people lived, where they came from, and who they had contact with. The monument has particular potential to provide evidence for the transition from timber to stone castles. It lies in close proximity to Castle Hill, site of an earlier timber castle, giving potential to trace the development of a high status settlement over many centuries. The loss of the monument would impede our ability to understand the development of medieval castles, not just in Renfrewshire but across Scotland.

Source: Historic Environment Scotland

Sources

Bibliography

RCAHMS record the site as NS36NE 17. The WoSAS SMR records the site as WoSASPIN 6803.

References

MacGibbon, D, and Ross, T, 1887-92, The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the twelfth to the eighteenth centuries, Edinburgh: D Douglas

Source: Historic Environment Scotland