The Dean Castle Country Park
The 9th Lord Howard de Walden, gifted the Assloss Estate and the Dean Castle Estate to the people of Kilmarnock in 1975.
The estates were formally opened as a Country Park in 1981.
The Country Park
The country park grounds are beautiful to look at and wander round. There is also the Pets Corner where you will find animals like Scott the Clydesdale horse and Avril the retired Blackpool Donkey!
The childrens playpark is safe and user friendly and will provide lots of fun for the kids.
The Visitors Centre
This building enables everyone to learn more about the park and it wild life in the Discovery Room and Auditorium.
The building also has a great tea room which caters for all tastes!
Opening Hours
Visitor Centre April – October 12 noon – 5.00 p.m.
November – March 12 noon – 4.00 p.m.
Country Park Never Closes
Prices
Entry into the Country Park is Free
The Castle
The oldest part of the castle, the Keep, was built about 1360, and although it acted as the owner’s main residence, it was designed for defence rather than comfort. The walls are over three metres thick, and originally the ground floor had neither windows nor outside doors, a ladder would be used to reach the first-floor door. This led to the Great Hall, with a high vaulted stone ceiling and a minstrels’ gallery. The hatch leading down to the dungeon can be seen in the guardroom. The spiral stair leads to the Upper Hall-the private sitting-room for the lord and his family. This has two fireplaces to allow it to be partitioned into two rooms-one for men, one for ladies. Off this room are the private chapel, and the tiny lady’s bower with stone bench and toilet. At the top the battlements could be used by archers and crossbowmen if the castle was attacked.
Today the Keep houses two fine collections, one of arms and armour and one of musical instruments..the Van Raalte collection, as well as examples of medieval tapestries.
Built in the 1460s the Place or Palace was designed for comfort. The kitchen with large fireplace and oven can be seen on the ground floor, with the Banqueting Hall above. This is restored in the style of the seventeenth century. The second floor had the bedrooms for the family.
Defence was not ignored in the construction of the Palace. The tower has projecting battlements and Lord Boyd’s private apartments were inside. This tower was known as the Laigh or Low Tower, although high it is lower than the Keep. Also the courtyard was protected by a high wall which in Scotland was called a Barmkin.
The present Gatehouse was entirely built in 1935-6. However it is carefully copied from real sixteenth-century buildings, including details like the windows with half-wooden shutters and half-leaded glass. The overall design and decorative but usable gunloops are copied from the gatehouse built at Tolquhoun Castle, Aberdeenshire in the 1580s.
Dean Castle April – October 12 noon – 5.00 p.m.
November – March 12 noon – 4.00 p.m.