The 'Magnificent Castle' of Culzean and the Kennedy Family

Culzean Castle on the Ayrshire coast is the most visited property of the National Trust for Scotland. Built in the late sixteenth century above a network of caves, the castle became a center for smuggling during the eighteenth century. Sir Thomas Kennedy, ancestor of the American Kennedy family, went on an extended grand tour in the 1750s and returned full of ideas as to how to improve his vast estates and home. His brother and heir commissioned Robert Adam to create his masterpiece and became bankrupt as a result. The estate was rescued when wealthy American cousins inherited it in 1792 and lavished money on the property.This extensively illustrated book, produced in association with the National Trust for Scotland, tells the whole history of the castle. Michael Moss has carried out extensive research drawing on estate records, original plans and family correspondence to create a major new history of the castle and a fascinating account of the running of a Scottish country estate.