Old photograph of Castle Wemyss, Wemyss Bay, Scotland. The now ruined castle stood high on Wemyss Point, overlooking the Firth of Clyde where it heads south towards the North Channel of the Irish Sea. It was built around 1850 for Charles Wilsone Brown, a property developer who had plans to develop the land around Wemyss Bay, and who by 1855 had increased the number of villas from four to thirty six. Wilsone Brown sold the mansion to Sir John Burns, later Baron Inverclyde, in 1860. Burns commissioned the architect Robert William Billings to remodel the house in the Scottish baronial style. Castle Wemyss became a fashionable destination for many well known visitors, including Lord Shaftesbury, Anthony Trollope, General Sherman, Henry Morton Stanley, Peter II of Yugoslavia, Emperor Haile Selassie and members of the British Royal Family. The house remained in the Burns family until the death of Alan, 4th Baron Inverclyde in 1957. None of his family were able to afford the cost of maintaining such a large property, but it was not until 1984 that it was finally demolished.
All photographs are copyright of Sandy Stevenson, Tour Scotland, and may not be used without permission.
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