1 14 West Kilbride and North Ayrshire Coast. [Sess. 



Simson, minister of Eenfrew, and had the extraordinary family 

 of seventeen sons without any daughters. Of these, however, 

 only six survived to manhood. The eldest son, Eobert, is 

 said to have been born at Kirktonhall on 14th October 1687, 

 reckoning by the old style. While yet a very young man, he 

 was appointed Professor of Mathematics in Glasgow Univer- 

 sity, and continued to occupy tbat chair for the long period of 

 57 years. He died in October 1768, when in his 81st year, 

 and was interred in Blackfriars Churchyard, the site of which 

 now forms part of College Eailway Station. During a long 

 and active life he acquired a great reputation as a mathema- 

 tician, but is specially remembered for his well-known trans- 

 lation of Euclid's Elements, which still serves as a basis for 

 modern works on geometry. A curious old sundial, still to be 

 seen standing in the garden at Kirktonhall, is believed to 

 have been constructed by the professor. In memory of this 

 distinguished native, a handsome monument has been erected 

 by public subscription, and occupies a very prominent site in 

 the West Kilbride Cemetery. 



Between Seamill and Portincross lies Ardneil Bay, once a 

 favourite resort of smugglers in the days when it was reck- 

 oned a moral virtue to outwit the revenue officer. All along 

 the shore, but especially in the neighbourhood of Portincross, 

 a brisk trade was carried on in the running of foreign goods 

 without payment of the import duties. Casks of spirits, and 

 ■packages of other merchandise, were often carried from Port- 

 incross to Beith and other distant inland towns. Ardneil Bay 

 is now devoted to the more innocent pastime of golf, and the 

 pleasantly situated links of the West Kilbride Club extend 

 from Seamill nearly to Portincross. In the centre of the bay, 

 the dry sand immediately above high-water mark possesses 

 the property of emitting a peculiarly strident sound when 

 touched with the fingers or feet, or with the point of a stick 

 or umbrella. In this respect it resembles the "musical sands" 

 which have been described as occurring in the island of Eigg. 



Portincross is interesting for its historical associations, and 

 remarkable for the picturesque beauty of its scenery. From 

 documentary evidence, it appears to have been one of the 

 possessions bestowed upon the Knights of the Temple, and 

 afterwards held by the Knights of the Hospital of St John 

 of Jerusalem. Its name — Port-na-croise, the Harbour of the 



