IRVINE WATER-AYR WATER.

strong post of the monks of Kilwinning; | bell, Esq.; and Fullarton, the Duke of a scene of burnings for imputed witch- Portland, are all in the parish of Dundoncraft; a centre of the struggles of the ald; and the last stands on a spacious Covenanters ; and the birth-place of the lawn a short distance south-east of the fanatical sect of the Buchanites. The Troon Station. poet James Montgomery and the novelist Galt were natives of it; and the poet Burns made a brief but bootless effort in it to establish himself as a flax-dresser. It gave the title of Viscount, from 1661 till 1778, to the English family of Ingram in Yorkshire.

course, for a few miles, lies through of Isis in Rome, at a cost of upwards of bleak moors and upland meadows, but £30,000. The Town Buildings, at the afterwards traverses rich champaign junction of two of the principal streets, country, chiefly along a deep, narrow, are a tasteful structure, surmounted by bosky chasm. Its waters contain yellow a beautiful spire 226 feet high, and controut, and formerly were rich in salmon, tain an elegant suite of Assembly Rooms. but have now an inferior repute among Wallace Tower, near the middle of the anglers. Its volume in winter is subject east side of High Street, on the site of a to heavy floods; and then, as Burns has rude old edifice in which Sir William sung, "Auld Ayr is just one lengthened Wallace is alleged to have been imtumbling sea. Its principal tributaries prisoned, is a neat Gothic structure, are the Lugar and the Coyl. about 115 feet high, erected in 1830, and adorned in front with a niched statue of Wallace, by the self-taught sculptor Thom. The "dungeon clock," alluded to by the poet Burns, belonged to an old steeple demolished in 1826, and is now placed on Wallace Tower. The New Bridge is a neat structure, with 5 arches, built in 1778, after a design by Robert Adam. The Old Bridge is a gaunt structure, with four strong, lofty arches, said to have been built in the reign of Alexander III. The bridges stand within 500 yards of each other, and are the "twa brigs" of Burns's humorous dialogue. The original Railway Terminus, in the northern vicinity of the New Bridge, is a neat edifice in the Tudor style, built at a cost of £8000; and the new Terminus, at the Townhead, is a structure of corresponding elegance.

644. AYR is a sea-port, a market town, and a royal burgh. It stands on the Water of Ayr, immediately above its mouth; and is cut by it into two nearly equal parts. The adjacent shores, and many of the windows, command an open, grand view across the Frith to Arran. The neighbouring country, for several miles, is low and flat, but exults in the highest culture and in fine embellishment. The mansions of Auchencruive, Alexander Oswald, Esq.; Orangefield, George Oswald, Esq.; Castlehill, James Ballantine, Esq.; Rozelle, Lady Jane Hamilton; Doonholm, Mrs. Blackburn; Belleish, Captain Hamilton; Cambusdoon, James Baird, Esq.; and Mount Charles, Mrs. General Hughes, stand at near distances; and Burns's natal cottage, his monument, Alloway Kirk, and the Bridges of Doon, are less than 3 miles to the south. See 724.

The town comprises Ayr proper, on the left bank of the river, and the interfused suburbs of Content, Wallacetown, and Newton-upon-Ayr, on the right bank; but is all compact. The parts of it nearest the river and towards the shore are modern, neat, and urban, while the other parts are either antiquated, mean, or poor. The chief streets and Wellington Square are spacious and handsome; and many private residences, as well as numerous shops, indicate the presence of wealth and elegance. The County Buildings, in Wellington Square, were erected from a design by Mr. Wallace, after the model of the Temple

An ancient church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, and situated on the seaward side of the town, was the meeting-place of Robert Bruce's parliament which decreed the succession of the crown to his brother Edward. Oliver Cromwell, in 1652, converted the church into an armory and guard-room, and erected around it an extensive fort, for overawing Ayrshire and Galloway. The tower of the church, and considerable parts of the fort, are still standing. A castle, built by William the Lion, held by Edward I. of England, and burned by Robert Bruce, stood somewhere near the mouth of the river, probably on part of the ground afterwards occupied by Cromwell's fort; but no traces of it now

exist. A barrack erected by the English | are ship-building, shoe-making, woollen on the south-east side of the town, and manufacture, carpet-making, and the known in history as the Barns of Ayr, weaving and sewing of muslins. Coaches was the scene of a famous tragical exploit | run to Straiton, Crosshill, Ochiltree, and of Sir William Wallace. Some small Old Cumnock; and steamers ply to Roman antiquities, such as urns and Glasgow, Arran, Campbelton, Stranraer, culinary utensils, have been found at the and Liverpool. The town has thirteen digging of foundations in the town; and places of worship, a large public academy, faint traces exist at Castlehill, about 13 a mechanics' institution, a public library, mile to the south-west, of a Roman road a theatre, a race-course, seven banking which led, by way of Dalmellington, into offices, and four principal inns-the King's Galloway. Arms, the Star, the Commercial, and the Temperance. It is governed by a provost, two bailies, and eighteen councillors; it is a seat of assize courts; and it unites with Irvine and three other burghs in sending a member to Parliament. Its population in 1851 was 17,624. It claims among its natives Joannes Scotus and

Ayr possesses considerable commerce, and carries on a variety of manufactures. Its harbour was formerly inconvenient and shallow, but has undergone vast recent improvement, and now comprises about 2200 feet of berthage, with lights and other suitable accompaniments. The chief departments of productive industry the Chevalier Ramsay.

XLIX. FROM GLASGOW TO SANQUHAR.

(THROUGH KILMARNOCK TOWARD CARLISLE.)

Para. graph 658

659

tion, 49 miles.... Glasnock Water, begun to be followed up for 3 miles; Borland Castle, right; the Southern Highlands, filling the horizon in front.......... 61 New Cumnock Station, 55 miles...... The River Nith, begun to be followed down the left bank............... 110 Blackcraig Mountain, 3 miles to the right; Mansfield and Corsancone Hill, left; Kirkconnel Station, 62 miles.......... 660 Cairntable and Lowther Mountains, left; Kelloe Water Glen and Black Larg Mountains, right; Sanquhar town and station, 65 miles........ 124

645. STEWARTON, a market and both with that station and northward

manufacturing town, stands on Annock Water, 4 miles north of Stewarton Station. and communicates, by omnibus,

with the Crofthead Terminus of the Glasgow and Neilston Railway. It is well planned, well built, neat and plea

KILMAURS-KILMARNOCK.

221

sant; and has a post office under Kil- | side of the railway, the castle and mining marnock, three banking offices, a reading- field of Busby. Rowallan Castle, 1 room, a large Parochial Church, a Free mile north-east of Kilmaurs, is partly an Church with a handsome spire, and two edifice of 1562, partly a tower of more other places of worship. Its population ancient date, the birth-place of the first in 1851 was 3164. Stewarton parish queen of Robert II. Fenwick parish, contains the mansions of Lainshaw, John further north-east, enjoyed for twenty Cunningham, Esq.; Robertland, J. J. years the ministry of the famous Guthrie, Kerr, Esq.; Kennox, Major Somerville and contains the moor-girt farm of LochM'Allister; and Girganty, W. Broom, goin, celebrated as a fastness of the CovEsq.; and remains of two ancient cas- enanters, and as the residence of John tles, once the seats of the Cunninghams Howie, the author of the lives of the of Corsehill and the Cunninghams of "Scots Worthies." Craufurdland Castle, Auchenharvie. Dunlop parish, famous the seat of Wm. Howison Craufurd, Esq., for its cheese, lies immediately north of 23 miles east of Kilmaurs, comprises a Stewarton; has a rolling surface of green strong, thick-walled, ancient tower, and knolls and hillocks, with extensive, an elegant, modern Gothic centre. brilliant, panoramic prospect; and contains Dunlop village, with about 280 inhabitants; Dunlop House, a splendid Tudor edifice of 1833, the seat of T. D. Douglas, Esq.; and Aiket Castle, an ancient structure of various dates, including a lofty keep, once the seat of a branch of the Cunninghams.

646. KILMAURS, a small ancient town, stands on Carmel Water, within 1 mile of the railway, but fully 2 miles east of the Stewarton Station. It contains a post office under Kilmarnock; a small town house with a steeple; three inns, called the Black Bull, the Bridge, and the Turf; a parochial church of the 15th century, originally collegiate for a provost and six prebendaries; and an old mansion called the Place, long a seat of the Earls of Glencairn, and inhabited in the latter part of last century by the Countess of Eglinton. Its population in 1851 was 1083. The ancient family of Cunningham, who became Barons Kilmaurs in 1450, and Earls of Glencairn in 1503, originally resided at Jock's Thorn, a little to the north. Kilmaurs parish contains the mansions of Thornton, Archibald Cunningham, Esq.; Craig, Wm. P. Morris, Esq.; Tour, Robert P. Adam, Esq.; Tower Hill, Charles Forgan, Esq.; and Carmel Bank, occupied by a farmer; and, on the south

647. KILMARNOCK stands on Kilmarnock and Irvine Waters, on low ground, amid flat but wealthy environs. It is ill laid out and incompact, about 1 mile long, and nowhere more than 700 yards broad; yet contains some good streets, and two central areas, the Market-Place, and Glencairn Square. Much of it presents an urban appearance; and most is well-built, pleasing, and airy. Five bridges span the intersecting streams, and a viaduct of 24 lofty arches takes through the railway. The Town House, in King Street, is a neat twostorey edifice of 1805, with a belfry. The new Court House is an elegant structure, built in 1852. The Exchange, containing a news-room and a public hall, is a pleasing edifice of 1814. Shaw's Monument, at the junction of King's Street and Portland Street, erected in 1853 to the memory of an eminent native, Sir James Shaw of London, exhibits a fine colossal statue by Fillans. The Parochial High Church is an elegant structure with a tower, designed by Gibb after the model of St. Martin's in the Fields, in London, but wanting the portico. St. Marnock's Church is an imposing edifice in the Gothic style, with a tower. The King Street United Presbyterian Church has a handsome steeple.

Kilmarnock carries on extensive manu

222

RICCARTON-NEWMILNS.

649. HURLFORD is a seat of ironworks founded in 1846, well planned, and containing a post office under Kilmarnock, and a large endowed school. The environing tract of country is enlivened by Irvine and Cessnock Waters, and, in spite of the flame and smoke of the blast furnaces, looks fresh and pleasant. The Cessnock has a run of about 12 miles to the Irvine, and affords excellent trouting.

factures in woollen yarns, carpets, wors- | Colonel Hamilton; Underwood, John teds, bonnets, and forage caps, printed Kennedy, Esq.; Burnweil, Alex. Lyndshawls and plaids, leather, boots and say, Esq.; Dollars, and Milrig, are withshoes, and numerous other articles. It in the parishes of Riccarton and Craigie. contains a key post office, six banking offices, an athenæum, a philosophical institution, a public academy, eleven places of worship, and four principal inns, the Black Bull, the Crown, the George, and the Temperance. It is governed by a provost, four bailies, and eleven councillors; it is the seat of the sheriff courts for about a half of Ayrshire; and it unites with Dumbarton and three other burghs in sending a member to Parliament. Its population in 1851 was 21,443. It was the place in which the poet Burns put his first work to press, and it has acquired much celebrity by his allusions to it in his poems. It gives the title of Baron to the Earl of Errol; and it gave, from 1661 to 1746, the title of Earl to the family of Boyd. The last Earl of Kilmarnock was brought to the block for participation in the rebellion of 1745. Dean Castle, the residence of his ancestors, destroyed by fire in 1735, is now a crumbling ruin on Kilmarnock Water, about a mile north-east of the town.

650. GALSTON is a small town on the left bank of Irvine Water, with a railway station 3 miles east of Hurlford. It is a pleasant place, amid charming environs, and communicates by a threearched bridge with 'Loudoun's bonnie woods and braes." It contains a post office under Kilmarnock; an office of the Union Bank; a stately pile of the feudal times, called Lockhart's Tower; a parish church of 1808 with a steeple; a new United Presbyterian church in the Byzantine style; two other places of worship, and two fine public schools. Its population in 1851 was 2538. The "Patie's Mill" of song is in the neighbourhood. Cessnock House, a property of the Duke of Portland, is about half a mile to the south-east. The magnificent pile of Loudoun Castle, the seat of the Marquis of Hastings, stands amid a rich array of woods, about a mile to the north-east. The greater and most stately portion of the Castle was completed in 1811, but part of it is a tower of the 15th century

648. RICCARTON is a suburb of Kilmarnock, on the left bank of Irvine Water. Its population is about 1600. A large parochial church in it, built in 1823, has a handsome spire. A seat of an uncle of Sir William Wallace stood adjacent to it, at Yardsides, and is largely associated in tradition with the patriot's name, but has disappeared. Caprington Castle, about a mile to the west, the seat of Thomas S. Cunninghame, Esq., is a massive mansion, partly ancient, partly modern, with a lofty tower over the main entrance. Craigie Castle, 24 miles to the south, formerly the residence of the Wallaces of Craigie, is now in a state of dilapidation. The mansions of Treesbank, G. J. Campbell, Esq.; Shaw hill, John Howie, Esq.; Bellfield, Misses Buchanan; Cairnhill, Lieut.- | 2211.

651. NEWMILNS is a small town on the right bank of Irvine Water, at the extremity of the branch railway, 2 miles east of Galston. It contains a post office under Kilmarnock, three neat places of worship, and an old tower which made some figure in the history of the Covenanters. Its population in 1851 was

The stretch of vale around it