Adair in Scotland

This page collects information about people with surname Adair who were known or believed to have lived in early Scotland.

Family History[]

FitzGerald Family[]

This family lineage traces back to the FitzGerald dynasty, a family of Irish-Norman warriors that played an important role in the Norman Conquest of Ireland. In about 1390, one of their descendants, Robert FitzGerald of Adair, killed a local government official and fled to SouthEastern Scotland to avoid criminal prosecution. He adopted the name of the family manor home, Adair Castle in County Limerick, as his own surname and thus became the first member of the Adair Family.

After Robert arrived in Scotland he was able to sought fortune by ambushing and killing a political rival of the Scottish King. When he brought him the severed head of his opponent, we was rewarded with a great bounty that included the loser's estate, and in particular Dunskey Castle in Wigtownshire. This event is memorialized in the family coat of arms.

Notable Individuals[]

See Also Adair Family
Robert FitzGerald of Adair - first member of the Adair Family, acquired Dunskey Castle.

Other Notable Adairs[]

Notable Landmarks[]

Dunskey Castle[]

Dunskey Castle is a ruined, 12th-century tower house or castle, located 0.5 miles (0.80 km) south of the village of Portpatrick, Rhinns, Wigtownshire, on the south-west coast of Scotland overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. On a clear day, the coast of Ireland is visible 21 miles away. Dunskey Castle is a scheduled monument, a 'nationally important' archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change.

The castle was home to the Adair family for over 300 years, with a brief period when it fell into the hands of the Kennedy family in 1455. The original fortification was plundered and then destroyed in 1489 by Sir Alexander McCulloch. The tower house was then rebuilt in 1510 by Ninian Adair which is when it took on its L-shaped tower house layout. This version of the castle would have had a curtain wall and a watch tower out on the cliff edge.

Kilhilt Tower[]

Kilhilt was the name of the Adair Family castle / manor home that stood in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries in the village of Portpatrick, County of Wigtownshire, Scotland. Nothing remains of the site today. Portpatrick sits on the southwest cost of Scotland and on a clear day you can see Ireland only 21 miles west. In the 17th century, much of the Adair Family moved to County Antrim in Ireland as part of the Ulster Plantation.

See Also Kilhilt Castle - Stravaiging.com

Castle of St John[]

The Castle of St John, also known as Stranraer Castle, is an early 16th-century L-plan tower house in the centre of Stranraer, in Dumfries and Galloway (Wigtownshire), southwest Scotland. It was built by the Adairs of Kilhilt (who originally came from Ireland) c.1510. It has been used as a home, a court, a police station and as a military garrison during the "Killing Times" of Covenanter persecution in the 1680s. During the Victorian era, the castle was modified to serve as a prison, and it was used as an ARP base during the Second World War. The castle was refurbished in the late 1980s and is now a museum.

External Links[]

Adair by County[]

Adair in Aberdeenshire
Adair in Angus (Forfarshire until 1928)
Adair in Argyll
Adair in Ayrshire
Adair in Banffshire
Adair in Berwickshire
Adair in Caithness
Adair in Clackmannanshire
Adair in Cromartyshire
Adair in Dumbartonshire
Adair in Dumfriesshire
Adair in East Lothian (Haddingtonshire until 1921)
Adair in Elginshire
Adair in Fife
Adair in Inverness-shire
Adair in Kincardineshire
Adair in Kinross-shire
Adair in Kirkcudbrightshire
Adair in Lanarkshire
Adair in Linlighgowshire
Adair in Midlothian (Edinburghshire until 1890)
Adair in Moray (Elginshire until 1918)
Adair in Naimshire
Adair in Orkney
Adair in Peeblesshire
Adair in Perthshire
Adair in Renfrewshire
Adair in Ross-shire
Adair in Roxburghshire
Adair in Selkirkshire
Adair in Stirlingshire
Adair in Sutherland
Adair in West Lothian (Linlithgowshire until 1924)
Adair in Wigtownshire
Adair in Zetland (Shetland)