Knock Castle

Knock Castle is a Tudor Gothic mansion built in 1851-2 by J T Rochead of Glasgow, with a later extension to the east constructed in 1908 in a similar style by Fryers and Penman of Largs. The building is constructed of stugged yellow ashlar with polished dressings. It has two storeys over raised and battered basements; a three-storey square entrance tower rises to the north, including an octagonal angle turret. The windows are mostly mullioned and hood-moulded, with perpendicular tracery at ground floor level and cusped lights above. A string course runs between floors, topped by a corbelled parapet.

The west elevation is articulated by castellated bays. A Tudor-arched doorway is set into the tower at the left, with a corbelled oriel above. Two inner bays are flanked by wider machicolated and crenellated bays, designed to resemble square towers, each featuring a projecting ground floor window. A narrow bay is situated to the right. The symmetrical three-bay south elevation features a central, two-storey canted window that rises from ground level and is corbelled at the first floor, with a crenellated parapet. Flanking windows complete the elevation. The asymmetrical east elevation displays several roof levels, a glazed canopy over the entrance door, grouped diamond stacks including one tall octagonal stack with crenellations, and a parapet that conceals the roof.

The 1908 addition to the right is two storeys high and two bays wide.

The interior features Tudor-arched panelled doors, a rib-vaulted porch, and some chimney pieces with decorative Gothic detailing. A large, three-light leaded glass window is found on the east wall.

An ashlar garden terrace wall extends south from the steps beside the house to a square-plan, single-storey pavilion block with a battered plinth. A blind pointed doorway faces west, with hood-moulded, round-headed lights and a corbelled and crenellated parapet with mock machicolations. Octagonal-plan gate piers, constructed of red ashlar with raised, facetted, domed caps, stand to the east, alongside decorative wrought-iron gates. The castle was built for Robert Steele, a merchant in Greenock, whose initials and crest appear in the parapets.