Fig. 1591.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. Plan.
has been a considerable range of dwelling-house accommodation, two stories in height, along the north side, and smaller buildings on the east side, leaving a large courtyard in the centre, now forming the garden of the adjoining farmhouse (Fig. [1593]). The situation is fine, and the edifice is backed by the high range of thickly wooded hills which extends between Largs and Kilbride.
The lands of Southannan were granted to Lord Semple in 1504. Chalmers says[259] that John, Lord Semple, in the reign of James IV., built a chapel, which was dedicated to St. Annan or St. Ennan, and granted for the support of the chaplain in it an annual rent of 10 merks from certain lands, “with two sowmes of pasture grass in the mains of Southennan,
Fig. 1592.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. View from West.
and an acre of land on the north side of the cemetery belonging to the said chapel for the chaplain’s manse. This grant was confirmed by the king in June 1509. The ruins of the chapel are still extant in the
Fig. 1593.—Southannan Chapel and Castle. North-West Angle of Courtyard.
front of the fine mansion of Southennan, which is also in ruins.” “Saint Inan or Innan is said to have been a confessor at Irvine, and to have died in 839.”
The castle was much enlarged by Robert, fourth Lord Sempill, ambassador to the Court of Spain in 1596; but some of the existing remains have the appearance of being still more modern. The old mansion was dismantled towards the end of last century, and the materials used in the erection of farm-buildings and dykes. “What remains are chiefly the outer walls to the left (north) of the courtyard and some more ancient-looking remnants at the back (east), attached to which are remains of what may have been the chapel of the saint.”[260] This may be the case, as some of the walls are old and have been altered; but the vaulted chamber to the east has the appearance of being much more modern.