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The substantial remains of the old castle and sixteenth century manor house of Kilbirnie lie west of the town of Kilbirnie in North Ayrshire, Scotland.
The site lies close to a stream and small but deep ravine that once provided a defensive function for the castle site. The castle and manor house themselves are not in the grounds of the Kilbirnie Place Golf Club, which was itself laid out in 1925 on the old landscaped 'pleasure grounds' once attached to the castle site.
This very impressive 15th-century structure measures 42 feet by 33 feet, with walls between 7 feet and 8 feet in thickness. A cellar was present and a sleeping loft under a vault. Another vault had a hall, lit by three windows in the south wall and a window high up in the north wall, a private room lay beneath. The tower was four storeys high and in the north-west corner a 'starving pit' prison was entered by a hatch from a passage from the stair at loft level. At the north-eastern side of the keep are ruins that represent the site of an oven and other building remnants that probably represent the site of the kitchens.
References:The Beckov castle stands on a steep 50 m tall rock in the village Beckov. The dominance of the rock and impression of invincibility it gaves, challenged our ancestors to make use of these assets. The result is a remarkable harmony between the natural setting and architecture.
The castle first mentioned in 1200 was originally owned by the King and later, at the end of the 13th century it fell in hands of Matúš Èák. Its owners alternated - at the end of the 14th century the family of Stibor of Stiborice bought it.
The next owners, the Bánffys who adapted the Gothic castle to the Renaissance residence, improved its fortifications preventing the Turks from conquering it at the end of the 16th century. When Bánffys died out, the castle was owned by several noble families. It fell in decay after fire in 1729.
The history of the castle is the subject of different legends.