Cardross House (5)
Cardross was for a long time, a property of the Erskine family.  At the Reformation, King James VI gave the Abbeys of Cambuskenneth and Dryburgh, and the Priory of Inchmahome, to his childhood companion, John Erskine, 2nd / 23rd Earl of Mar, forming the Barony of Cardross by charter in the process.  The charter invested the Earl with the unique right of conferring the title on any of his male descendants he might think fit.  Earl John's nephew David ('natural' and only son of his eldest brother Robert, Master of Erskine), was Commendator of Inchmahome and died here at Cardross in 1611, but was presumably only given Cardross in liferent, as it reverted to Earl John in 1611 - who also held the title 1st Lord Cardross.  

While Commendator David Erskine had no descendants to inherit Cardross, he left his mark on the tower-house.  A 2nd storey lintel on the south front is carved with his initials D.E, together with M.H for his wife (Margaret Haldane of Gleneagles), and the date 1598.  If as I stated earlier, the earliest tower here was built in the early 16th century, it must presumably have been built before the Erskines obtained it, or at least, before the barony was created, and David Erskine's initials and date refer to the castle's first upgrade.
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