This
is a small and attractive tower house, situated in the middle of a farmstead. It dates
from the 16th century, with an addition in 1568 built by Richard Brown, whose
worn arms are above the doorway. L-shaped in plan, the spiral stair in the projection
leads up to the great hall. Adjacent to the fireplace is a small salt box. A stone
slop-sink empties through a grotesque gargoyle on the outside wall.
In 1579 John Brown was implicated in the
murder of MacCulloch of Barholm. Gilbert Brown was the last abbot of Sweetheart, and a
staunch Catholic. He was imprisoned at Blackness Castle in 1605, but James VI released him
and he died in France in 1612. The last of the Browns of Carsluith emigrated to India in
1748, when the castle was abandoned. |
