Killochan is the handsome five-storey tower you glimpse through the trees on the north bank of the Water of Girvan, between Girvan and Dailly. Unlike most of the towers on this coast it is not a ruin — it is complete, roofed and still lived in, which makes it the best-preserved tower house in the valley.
The building
An inscription over the door records that it was built in 1586 by John Cathcart and his wife Helen Wallace. The Cathcarts of Carleton held these lands for centuries — the same family associated with Carleton Castle above Lendalfoot and its dark ballad.
It is an L-plan tower of the classic late-16th-century Scottish type: five storeys, a round stair tower in the angle, corbelled turrets at the top, gun loops at the bottom and very small windows low down. Later ranges were added alongside. What makes it worth a look is precisely that it survived intact when so many of its neighbours did not — Penkill was a ruin before it was restored, Carleton and Ardstinchar are shells, and Killochan simply carried on being a house.
Seeing it
The castle is private. It is clearly visible from the B741, and there is a lay-by from which it can be seen and photographed across the fields. That is the extent of a visit.
There are self-catering cottages in the grounds, which is the only way to stay on the estate — see where to stay.
It sits on the same quiet valley road as Penkill, Bargany and the Old Dailly kirkyard, which together make an easy half-day drive or cycle from Girvan. For the wider story of the families who built all of these, see the Kennedys of Carrick.
