Roughwood once Ruchwood[1] is a farm, originally a estate, possessing at one time a small tower castle.

Roughwood is situated near to the town of Beith in North Ayrshire, Scotland; the lands lay within the old Lordship of Giffen.

No improvements had been made on these lands, mainly composed of moss and clay, since 1770 and they were in a very poor state, with no roads, farm-houses ruinous, and few enclosures when acquired by the Patricks.

The old manor house or fortified tower of Ruchwood (sic) had a coat of arms of the Hammill family on the front bearing quarterly "a star (or mullet) of five points; a crescent; a shakefork, the same as the Cuninghame; and a fleur-de-lis."

[6] Mr Patrick built a road through his lands, rebuilt the farm-houses, created enclosures, and added plantations that survive to this day.

[3] The Spiersland Way is an old road, now only suitable now for farm vehicles, that runs down from the old 'Craig View' house near Bellscauseway to Burnside Cottage next to Roughwood Bridge and the Powgree Burn.

A room in Roughwood Farm has an unusual floor with four separately supported sides creating slopes down to a central area.

[9] Thomson's map of 1832 shows Roughwood standing off a crossroad junction, a dwelling marked as 'Myre' situated where the later limestone quarry was established.

These holes were constructed to permit access to barn owls which would also be provided with a nesting area within the building, the benefit to the farmer being that these birds would predate the rats and mice on the farm.

A stone used as a ventilation hole conforms to the design of a basic blind gun loop as found in fortified buildings.

Dressing on some of the ashlar stone blocks suggest that they were prepared for a harling surface, the equivalent of modern roughcast, typically found on tower castles.

The coat of arms, as engraved on the front of the house, were "Quarterly; first, Gules, a mullet, Or; second, Azure, a crescent, Argent; third, fleur de lis, Or.

Paterson,[18] the historian, records that the 'Laird of Braidstane's Scotch Colony', established in around 1606, was responsible for the introduction of linen weaving and manufacture to the area around Lurgan in Ireland.

[19] In 1636 Hugh Hamill of Roughwood, attended the funeral of the 1st Viscount Ards in Newtownards, Ireland, as one of the principle mourners.

[22] In 1734 John Shedden also held house and tenements in Beith, portions of the old Glebe and the lands of Easterbraehead, Townhead, Knockbuckle, Cumingsbraehead and Braehouses.

He lost property in Virginia as a result of American independence, moved to Bermuda and finally settled in New York, never to return to Roughwood.

[23] The Shedden arms were "Azure, on a chevron, betwixt three Griffins' Heads, erazed, Argent; as many Cross Cross-lets fitchee, Gules; on a chiefl of the second, an Escalop Shell of the first, inter two Cinquefoils of the third."

The claim continued to be pressed by the family for many years and when all their funds had been exhausted his sister, Annabella Jane Shedden, took up the pleadings and in a futile final effort conducted the case before a committee of the House of Lords.

As stated above, in the 1870s these properties remained as part of the Roughwood estates, owned by William Ralston-Patrick of Trearne and Hessilhead.

This memorial records the following details: William Ralston-Patrick of Trearne, Hessilhead and Roughwood 28 November 1838 to 22 January 1919.

[28] The Patrick family motto is "Ora et Labora" (pray and labor) and the crest a clenched hand holding a Saint Andrew's cross.

Roughwood had at least two limekilns nearby and a large limestone quarry is shown on OS maps in the area of the old 'Myre' dwelling of which nothing survives other than the surrounding shape of its hedgerows.

[30] Burnside sits close to the Powgree and the garden area is suggestive of a silted up mill pond or such-like.

Their father, Hugh Parker, was at Roughwood in 1795, and the family lived there for exactly 100 years, until moving to Kirkcudbrightshire, where they still farm.