Stanely Castle facts for kids
Stanely Castle is an old castle found in the waters of Stanely Reservoir. It's located south of Paisley, Scotland, near the Gleniffer Braes hills. The castle was likely built in the early 1400s on an island in a marshy area. Today, it is a ruin. Since 1837, the castle has been partly covered by the reservoir's water and cannot be reached. When the water level is low, you can see that the castle stands on a narrow piece of land connected to the reservoir bank.
Castle History
Stanely was once the home of the Danzielston family. In the early 1400s, the property went to the Maxwells of Calderwood. They sold it in 1629 to Lady Ross of Hawhead. Later, in the 1700s, it passed to the Boyle Earls of Glasgow. The castle was then used as a school, but it was left empty by the early 1800s. The 4th Earl of Glasgow sold it to the Paisley Water Company, which then built the reservoir we see today.
How it Was Built
The castle is made from local freestone, which is a type of stone that doesn't wear away easily. It was built using large, rough, square-shaped stones that were laid in rows. The decorative parts, like the supports under ledges (corbels) and the edges around windows, were carefully shaped. A lot of the stone inside the castle was also cut and shaped. The windows are small, and there are special keyhole-shaped openings called arrow slits, which were used for shooting arrows.
What it Looked Like
Stanely Castle is an L-shaped tower house with four main floors. It probably had a small attic space too. It looks like the castle was built in two stages. The first part was a rectangular tower. Later, a square-shaped addition, called a jamb, was built next to it. When this new part was added, new doorways were made to connect the rooms. The castle had only one entrance, which was on its east side.
You could reach the first floor and all the floors above it by a spiral staircase in the northeast corner. The ground floor had two storage rooms, like cellars. There was also a private staircase in the south wall that led directly to the main hall above. The first floor held the kitchen in the new addition, and the great hall and a private room in the main part of the castle. The second and third floors each had two bedrooms in the main section and an extra room in the addition. Each of these rooms had its own toilet and fireplace.
Stanely Castle has two floors above the main hall. While there's no clear sign of rooms in the roof area, it's possible that one or two small attic rooms were created. Records from 1691 show there were eleven fireplaces in the castle. Since the main floors only account for nine fireplaces, this suggests there might have been extra rooms in the attic of the main part of the castle.
