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The castle's beginnings lie in the Reformation of 1560. This led to the abandonment of the Convent of Greyfriars which had stood on the site now occupied by the castle since 1449. In 1569 the land and buildings were acquired by Sir Thomas MacLellan of Bombie, Provost of Kirkcudbright. He demolished the convent, leaving only the chancel of its church to serve as the burial vault for the family. This remains as the Greyfriars Episcopal Church on the opposite side of St Cuthbert Street. Sir Thomas used the stone from the convent plus stone from the ruins of the old royal castle in Kirkcudbright to build what on its completion in 1582 was one of the grandest houses in Scotland. Although in the form of earlier tower house castles, MacLellan's Castle was always more for show than for defence. Sir Thomas clearly saw himself as a power in this part of the land: and his castle was designed to demonstrate this to anyone who cared to look.