Monument to John, 3rd Earl of Kelburn, Kelburn Castle, Fairlie

Heritage listing

Category A Date Added 14/04/1971 Last Date Amended 17/11/2016 Supplementary Information Updated 21/11/2016 Local Authority North Ayrshire Planning Authority North Ayrshire Parish Largs NGR NS 21890 56714 Coordinates 221890, 656714 — Robert Adam, dated 1775; possibly carved by Giuseppe Ceracchi. Freestanding, trapezoid-shaped monument of polished sandstone ashlar with a pedimented, classical aedicule framing a round arch alcove with a sorrowing marble figurative statue (left arm missing [seen in 2016]) leaning on an urn. There is a carved circular crest with family arms and motto above the figure and below is a marble panel inset with inscribed epitaph. Surrounding the monument is a low ashlar coped wall. The monument is sited within a steep-sided, wooded ravine beside the Kel Burn which passes over a 6 metre high waterfall into a natural pool below the monument. — The memorial to John, 3rd Earl of Glasgow, is an outstanding example of a commemorative monument in the neoclassical style by one of Scotland s foremost architects of the later 18th century period, Robert Adam. Examples of commemorative or funerary work by him are rare and significant. The monument is finely conceived and executed in polished ashlar and marble. The dramatic wooded ravine setting for the monument is significant in that it accords with the interest in the sublime and the beautiful in nature that gathered momentum across Europe during the 18th century, a period known as the Age of Enlightenment. Age and Rarity The monument was erected in memory of the 3rd Earl, John Boyle by his widow in 1775 at a cost of 300 (BoS, p.397). It is depicted in its present location on the 1st Edition Ordnance Survey Map, surveyed in 1855. The elongated trapezoid shape of the monument is reminiscent of both the pyrami

From Historic Environment Scotland under OGL v3.