The castle has long been deemed a distinctive feature of the town of Ardrossan. It was included, for example, in the tour book from 1847 titled Sylvan's Pictorial Handbook to the Clyde and its Watering-Places by Thomas and Edward Gilks. There the castle is described as a marker of regional identity and subject antiquarian interest, from which beautiful views of the ocean can be seen. The Gilks state that Ardrossan was originally called "Castle Crags", but was renamed Ardrossan after the family who owned it. At the time of writing the castle was the property of the Eglintoun family, though it was already ruined, and was adjacent to an old churchyard.Gilks, pp.97-99
