Culzean Castle Policies: Water House, Culzean Castle Policies, Maybole

Single storey, rectangular-plan, well head forming part of estate water works, with rectangular aperture on right of N elevation. Other elevations blind. Droved ashlar construction. Located amongst issues in hillside marsh. Undressed domed roof of rubble construction, with protruding ashlar cube with metal cap. INTERIOR (seen 2010): single ashlar-lined chamber.

The water works at Culzean were a significant element in the life and work of the estate and are important ancillary structures. The complex system, centred on the natural water supply rising between Hillhead and Happy Valley, will have included an unrecorded network of underground pipes and channels. Although the water house is absent from 19th century OS maps, a tank, or cistern, to the immediate SE, but no longer visible, is recorded. It is also beside a ditch that drains into the Swinston Ponds. The water treatment system at Culzean probably evolved over time to supply a variety of needs. These must have included horticultural uses at the Walled Garden, and for the 'aquaria´ installed in the glasshouses there, as part of a pioneering fish rearing enterprise, begun in 1875. Ponds at Swinston were then used for rearing the fry prior to release into the wild.

The Castle and other buildings to the north of Happy Valley also required a good head of fresh water. The Fire Pond, a safety reservoir for fire fighting, appears in the 1st Edition OS map of 1854-9, but without designation. It later supplied the ornamental fountain installed in the castle garden for the 3rd Marquess of Ailsa in 1877. It also appears to be linked to the filter house, which presumably provided a cleaner supply to the castle. It was capable of holding 16,000 gallons of water and believed to have supplied the Castle, Orangery and Fountain. Presumably it was unroofed when it became redundant with the advent of the county mains supply.

The Water House was previously individually listed at Category B as 'Well-Head, Happy Valley´. List description revised and changed to Category C(S) as part of the Clzean Castle Estate Review 2010-11. (Historic Scotland)

11 May 2012: External inspection finds the structure is suffering from a lack of maintenance. The roof is covered in well established plants. The interior is partly flooded and the floor is covered in mud.

18 September 2014: External inspection finds the building extremely damp and would appear to be sinking. Condition moved to Poor and Risk to Moderate.