[1] The OS maps show that a much later estate and house called Place was located nearby, built by the Knox family but now mostly demolished.

[4] Kilbirnie Castle is said to be the site where in 1263 the Scots mustered under Alexander III before fighting Norwegian forces in the Battle of Largs.

[9] Timothy Pont's map, c. 1604, as published by Joan Blaeu in Amsterdam (1654), shows Kilbirnan Castle (sic), as this date precedes the building of the mansion house wing.

The tower was four storeys high and in the north-west corner a "starving pit" prison was entered by a hatch from a passage from the stair at loft level.

[18] In 1602 the Place of Kilbirnie was broken into whilst the laird "was furth of this realme" and his wife Margaret was at Greenock.

A John Crawfurd of "Auchinbothe" was arrested and tried, however he was found innocent despite having returned some of the stolen items to Lady Kilbirnie.

One suggestion regarding the Gothic script carvings in the fireplace is that they could be the names of saints and that this was a religious 'Apotropaic' protective device to prevent the ingress of evil spirits into the house through an otherwise 'unprotected' entry point.

[21] The Gothic script and positioning on the stone suggests that a secondary use from a tomb and this would be seen as doubly potent if it was once housed within the nearby Kilwinning Abbey as it would be seen to have been infused with holy energies.

[17] The hall in the old tower may have been used as a dining area and the large room in the mansion house utilised as a drawing-room.

[24] The 21st Earl of Crawfurd, his infant daughter Jean (later a Countess of Eglinton) and domestics had little time to escape the ferocity of the flames.

[25] The family moved to the Kilbirnie Barony manse at first and later settled at Bourtreehill House near Irvine.

[29] The approach to the building from the south was a long straight avenue twenty yards wide, bordered by high walls and once enclosing large gardens.

[30] A substantial walled garden in two portions ran down from the castle to the ravine or glen, long abandoned, and shown on the OS maps with a set of steps between the tow portions and a small building attached to the wall on the northern side.

A lane ran up to the Largs Road from Causewayfoot, via a dwelling at Parkfoot, now demolished, crossing the Paduff Burn rivulet by a ford.

The numerous heraldic shields were carved for John, first Viscount Garnock, and represent the armorial bearings of his ancestors.

Sir Walter Barclay was Lord High Chamberlain of Scotland in 1174 and married Margaret Crawfurd of Craufurd-John.

[36] Sir John Crawfurd had been knighted by Charles I in 1642 and fought in the Civil Wars, but died without any heirs in 1661.

This duel he claimed had been over a matter of honour relating to the Lady Susanna Kennedy, later Countess of Eglinton, with whom he was entirely smitten.

[36] The couple died only three days apart in 1680 from a malignant fever that also carried off her sister, Lady Blackhall, when she came down for the funeral.

John Crawfurd became the commander of the Fencible men of Cuninghame in 1689 and in 1693 he was chosen as the Ayrshire member of the Scots Parliament.

[41][42] In 1833 George Boyle, 4th Earl of Glasgow, inherited the ruins of the fire-gutted castle and house from Lady Mary Lindsay Crawfurd.

[37] George was descended from Margaret, eldest daughter of Maragret Crawfurd and Patrick Lindsay, who had married David, 1st Earl of Glasgow.

[42] At the break up of the Earl of Glasgow's estates the castle and lands were purchased by Sir James Knox.