The Queen at Loudoun Hall
In August 1563 Mary Queen of Scots stayed at Loudoun Hall for her two nights in Ayr, as the guest of her loyal supporter Sir Matthew Campbell, Sheriff of Ayr.
The Queen's journey through Ayrshire
Her route is known from one surviving record: the stable bills kept by her French equerry, listing where her 18 horses and 6 baggage mules spent each night.
- 31 JulySouthannan Castle, near Fairlie
Crossing the Firth of Clyde from Dunoon, she stays with Lord Sempill.
- 1 AugustEglinton Castle
The guest of Hugh Montgomerie, 3rd Earl of Eglinton.
- Early AugustAyr: Loudoun Hall, two nights
Through Irvine and down the coast. The Provost and magistrates would have met her at the Auld Brig.
- The next nightsDunure Castle
The guest of Gilbert Kennedy, 4th Earl of Cassillis, on the Carrick coast.
- 7 to 8 AugustArdmillan and Ardstinchar
South past Girvan to Ballantrae, then on into Galloway, never to return to Ayrshire.
The sources disagree on her nights in Ayr: 2 and 3 August (Fergusson, 1950) or 3 and 4 August (the 2013 article). Sourced
Why the Queen stayed at Loudoun Hall
A royal visitor needed the finest house in town, and a host she could trust.
Sir Matthew Campbell, Sheriff of Ayr, was one of the Queen's staunchest supporters, and would have escorted her through the county. Loudoun Hall was his town house.
Sources: 2013 article, Fergusson 1950South Ayrshire Council describes Loudoun Hall as probably the best-appointed house in the burgh: the obvious place to lodge a queen.
Source: South Ayrshire CouncilHer stable accounts, written in French, record her stay at "St Jehan d'Era": St John's town of Ayr, named after the town's patron saint, John the Baptist.
Source: 2013 articleSir Matthew stayed true to her. In 1568 he fought for Mary at the Battle of Langside, and was taken prisoner.
Sources: Fergusson 1950, 2013 articleThe Queen's two nights in Ayr
The Provost and magistrates of the Royal Burgh would have met the twenty-year-old Queen and her entourage at the Auld Brig, and it was the custom to present gifts of wine and sweets. At Loudoun Hall, the gentlemen of the county and their ladies would have been presented to her, while many of her attendants found lodgings elsewhere in the town.
No record written at the time names the house she stayed in. Our account follows the evidence above.
Five turbulent years
In 1568 Mary's opponents defeated her supporters at the Battle of Langside, near Glasgow. Among those captured were Sir Matthew Campbell of Loudoun and the Earl of Cassillis, her host at Dunure. Both later came to terms with the new government.
Mary fled to England, where she was held prisoner for nineteen years and executed in 1587. From prison she wrote many letters to the Earl of Cassillis. One historian imagined her remembering "a good horse, and a fresh salt wind, and the sun on the sea, and the fair castle of Dunure".