Culzean Castle near Maybole, Carrick on the Ayrshire coast is owned by the National Trust for Scotland. It is the ancestral home of the Earls of Cassillis and chieftains of the Clan Kennedy. In the churchyard of St Columb’s Cathedral is a tombstone emblazoned with the coat of arms of the Earls of Cassillis. There are no other markings on the tombstone but it is presumed that it marks the burial place of the Kennedys of Derry (and Clogher), who claimed descent from the Earls of Cassillis. Two of the individuals buried here are Cornet Henry Kennedy who died during the 1688-9 Siege of Derry and his nephew, Alderman Horas Kennedy 1652-1714, who as Sheriff had ridden out from Derry with the Deputy Mayor on the 7th December 1688 to meet the Earl of Antrim’s Regiment which had come to take possession of the City.
The same coat of arms can been seen at the Beech Hill Country House Hotel, the demesne of which had fallen to George Crookshank Kennedy Skipton. One of his daughters is buried in the grave in St Columb’s Cathedral, Derry.
The Derry Walls 