Maybole
castle at the foot of High Street is a typical Scottish Baronial Style
castle and was formerly the town house of the Earls of Cassillis (pronounced
Cassels). It has a very fine Tudor oriel window facing up High Street in what is
known as the Countess's Room. Legend has it that the Countess of Cassillis who
ran away with Johnnie Faa, the King of the Gypsies, was imprisoned in this room
after the couple were caught and Johnnie Faa was hanged on the Dule Tree at
Cassillis, but facts are more mundane and prove the story to be merely a
fable.
The Castle stands at the
top of the Kirkwynd which was formerly the street leading to the Collegium and
the ancient burial ground of the townspeople. This old cemetery contains many
interesting tombstones and over 20.000 people are buried in this small area
which barely contains an acre of ground. "Old Mortality" immortalised
by Sir Walter Scott, visited the cemetery from time to time to clean the
tombstone of a Covenanter buried there.
The Clock Tower is
all that remains of the Ancient Tolbooth and the Town Hall was built adjacent to
it last century to form the Town Buildings. These contain a large hall for
concerts, dances, etc., a smaller hall for lesser functions and the Council
Chambers. The latter contains many interesting items, such as the Town Staff,
Visitors Book, pictures of local interest, etc. It also contains the old town
bell which was cast in the town bell foundry by Albert Daniel Geli a Frenchman.
on 6th November. 1696. It was in this chamber that General Eisenhower was made a
Freeman of Maybole.
In olden times the House
of the - Carmelite Friars stood adjacent to the old Tolbooth and was known as
the Hall of the Whitefriars giving the name of Whitehall to the street running
westward of the present Town Hall.