Seagate Castle

Seagate Castle is a castle in North Ayrshire, in the town of Irvine, close to the River Irvine, Scotland. The castle was formerly a stronghold, a town house, and later a dower house of the Montgomery Clan. The castle overlooks the oldest street in Irvine, which was once the main route between the town and the old harbour at Seagatefoot, which by 1606, was useless and abandoned due to silting. The remains of the castle are protected as a scheduled ancient monument.
The first record of Irvine is in 1163, and the harbour at that time was near the sea-gait or Seagate, the castle being first built to protect it. Progressive silting was recorded by several early authors, who recorded that wind blowing the sand hindered the movement of ships, sometimes stranding them for several months. Irvine was created a Royal Burgh by King Robert II in 1372 and this castle is the last of the town's old civil and ecclesiastical buildings to survive, the Carmelite friary, tollbooth, chapel, bridge, and port having vanished without trace.

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