1903-1904-] Wesi Kilbride and North Ayrshire Coast. ill 



little hill immediately eastward from Seamill Bridge is one of 

 a series of round-topped hill-forts which occur at frequent 

 intervals along the North Ayrshire coast. It was examined 

 in 1880, and found to contain various objects of stone, bone, 

 bronze, &c., together with bones and portions of horns of ox 

 and red deer, bones of pig, sheep, &c. Close to the fort is a 

 prehistoric cemetery of the bronze period, from which have 

 already been taken about half a dozen urns of hand-made 

 pottery filled with calcined human bones. Close to the road- 

 side, a short distance northward from Seamill Bridge, the soil 

 contains abundance of very minute fragments of bone, and in 

 the adjoining field numerous rudely-constructed cists or stone- 

 coffins have been found. The sides, end-pieces, and lid or 

 cover of each cist were composed of thin slabs of sandstone, 

 while the bottom was paved with smaller pieces of the same 

 material. The cists were all placed east and west, and 

 one or two contained complete skeletons, although in nearly 

 every case the bones had partially or wholly decayed away. 

 These remains have been assigned to the period of the Early 

 Christian or Columban Church, and it is not improbable that 

 a place of worship may have been established here by the 

 great missionary himself. 



An old corn-mill, rather picturesquely placed near the 

 mouth of the Kilbride Burn, has given its name to the neigh- 

 bouring village of Seamill. From a small hamlet, the place 

 has rapidly increased in size until it has now become con- 

 nected with the town of West Kilbride by an almost contin- 

 uous line of modern houses. The Hydropathic at Seamill, 

 which is situated between the main road and the seashore, is 

 commodious and comfortable, and has recently been enlarged 

 so as to afford accommodation for over one hundred visitors. 



The parish of West Kilbride is so named to distinguish it 

 from East Kilbride in Lanarkshire. The name itself is 

 obviously derived from St Brigid or Bride, to whom a church 

 was dedicated here, probably as early as the twelfth century. 

 St Bride was held in high veneration in Scotland, especially in 

 the western counties, where many churches and chapels were 

 dedicated in her honour. Some of these are still commemo- 

 rated in names of parishes ; but in the majority of cases the 

 ecclesiastical buildings have long disappeared, their sacred 



