Greenan Castle is a 16th-century ruined tower house, around 4 kilometres southwest of Ayr. Situated at the top of a sea cliff, it was originally a promontory fort converted into a motte-and-bailey in the 12th century. In the 15th century a tower house was built by the Lords of the Isles, which later passed into the hands of the Kennedy family.
The first known defensive structure on the site was a promontory fort, probably a fortified farmstead. Four concentric curved ditches, each around 3 metres wide, cut off the headland with the exception of a single causeway to provide access. It is not known how long this settlement was occupied, but the site was re-used in the twelfth century.
Beside the tower are traces of a walled courtyard and outbuildings, probably stables and a kitchen block, as the small tower has no kitchen within its walls.
The castle passed through various members of the clan before ending up in the hands of Thomas Kennedy, Earl of Cassillis in 1766. Around this time the residential use of the castle seems to have stopped; today the structure is a ruin.
References:The Château du Lude is one of the many great châteaux of the Loire Valley in France. Le Lude is the most northerly château of the Loire Valley and one of the last important historic castles in France, still inhabited by the same family for the last 260 years. The château is testimony to four centuries of French architecture, as a stronghold transformed into an elegant house during the Renaissance and the 18th century. The monument is located in the valley of Le Loir. Its gardens have evolved throughout the centuries.