North West Castle

North West Castle is a 19th-century four star country house hotel in Stranraer, Dumfries and Galloway, in the south west of Scotland.[1]

North West Castle
General information
LocationStranraer, DG9 8EH
Opening1820
OwnerMcMillan Hotels
Design and construction
DeveloperJohn Ross
Website
northwestcastle.co.uk

It is noteworthy for being the home of Sir John Ross, a famous Scottish rear admiral and Arctic explorer. Ross built the house and developed its grounds in 1820 [2] after returning from the first in a series of Arctic expeditions aiming to solve the question of the Northwest Passage.[3][4] Ross commissioned a life-size model of the cabin on his ship, the Victory, so that the details of polar navigation could be easily explained to visitors to the Castle; it can still be seen today as its structure forms part of the hotel bar.[5]

In 1860, North West Castle became the home of Rev. Robert Cunningham, an influential figure in Scottish education during the 19th Century. Cunningham lived in the Castle after his retirement as Head Master of George Watson's College in Edinburgh and founder Head Master of the Edinburgh institution for Language and Mathematics (later known as Melville College) and of Blairlodge School in Polmont. His move to North West Castle also came after his founding of the Free Church of Scotland following the Disruption in May 1843. Cunningham was resident at the Castle until his death in 1883.[6][7][8]

In 1970, the North West Castle became the first hotel in the world with an indoor curling ice rink [9][10] and now welcomes curlers from all over the world.

References
  1. "Great Places to Stay - North West Castle, Stranraer".
  2. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. "Admiral Sir John Ross from the Gazetteer for Scotland".
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 17 April 2009. Retrieved 20 April 2010.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. "Secrets of Scotland's great Arctic explorers to be unfrozen". McMillan. Archived from the original on 22 May 2010. Retrieved 20 April 2010.
  6. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 14 March 2012. Retrieved 7 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 October 2011. Retrieved 7 February 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Genealogy Stewart".
  9. "Curling".
  10. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 26 September 2011. Retrieved 24 January 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)


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