765 



AYR. 



AYRSHIRE. 



766 



the adjacent villages of Wallacetown and Content, which are in 

 the parish of St. Quivox, is included in the boundaries of the present 

 parliamentary burgh. At the end of High Street is the new bridge 

 of five arches, which connects Sandgate Street in Ayr with Main Street 

 in Newton, and which has been recently widened to accommodate the 

 increased traffic produced by the introduction of the railway. The 

 station of the Glasgow and South- Western railway is close to the 

 bridge, on the Newton side of the river. At the junction of High 

 Street and Sandgate Street stand the public buildings, consisting 

 of assembly-rooms and a reading-room, with shops on the ground- 

 floor. A spire in the centre of the, building, 217 feet high, is much 

 admired. Near the Fish-market, and on the site of the old Meal- 

 market, forming a prominent object in the High Street, stand the 

 recently erect. <! Winton Buildings, a handsome specimen of architec- 

 ture, devoted to commercial purposes. Near the south end of 

 ;ite Street is Wellington Square, having at its western extremity 

 unty buildings, containing court rooms and other public offices. 

 Behind these is the county jail, erected on an airy situation near 

 the sea. The jail has been recently enlarged. Several handsome 

 street* and terraces have recently been built in this locality. 



In High Street is a building called Wallace Tower, erected in the 

 place ot a very old edifice bearing the same name, and is said to have 

 been the occasional residence of the Scottish hero. In front of the 

 building is a statue of Wallace, executed by Thorn, the sculptor of 

 Tarn O'Shanter and Souter Johnnie. Ayr is the residence of per- 

 sons in easy circumstances, professional men, and tradesmen ; the 

 business done in it arises much from ita rank as the county town, 

 and from the residence of several of the eentry. The climate, 

 though variable, is genial and salubrious. Newton is the seat of the 

 coal trade. 



The harbour is formed by the mouth of the river Ayr ; and from 

 ench side of the mouth a pier runs out into the sea as far as low-water 

 mark. There is a bar at the mouth of the harbour, on which the 

 depth of water at spring-tides is about 1 4 feet ; so that vessels of 

 about 200 tons registered burden can be brought over the bar in 

 safety. There are two lighthouses to guide vessels into the harbour. 

 The number and tonnage of vessels belonging to the port on 31st 

 December, 1862, were 46 sailing vessels of 6598 tons aggregate 

 burden, and one steam vessel of 70 tons. In the coasting trade there 

 were entered during 1852 at the port 238 sailing vessels of 11,507 

 tons, and 317 steam vessels of 31,842 tons; and there cleared 1127 

 sailing vessels of 70,191 tons, and 313 steam vessels of 31,242 tons. 

 In the colonial and foreign trade there were entered 5 vessels of 

 1023 tons; and cleared, 10 vessels of 1617 tons. The amount of 

 customs duty received at the port during the year ending 5th 

 January, 1851, was 1829Z. 18*. 3d. Steamers ply regularly between 

 Ayr and Glasgow and the various towns on the Frith of Clyde. 



Ayr has two parish churches ; the Old Kirk stands at the back of 

 the High Street, on the east side of the town; and the New Kirk at 

 the head of Cathcarfc Street. Newton parish church stands in Main 

 Street, not fur from the bridge. Besi.les these places of worship 

 there are an Episcopal chapel, two chapels of the Free Church, two for 

 United Presbyterians, and one each for United Original Seceders, 

 Reformed Presbyterians, Independents, Wesleyan Methodists, and 

 n Catholics. 



Close to the New Kirk of Ayr is the Academy, a handsome 

 building, which has been always numerously attended by students 

 from all parts of the country. This has benefited the town 

 by causing an increase of buildings, and an improvement in the 

 society. Ayr possesses a theatre ; and its races, which are held on a 

 course about a mile south of the town, are well attended. Between 

 the town and the race-course many handsome villas have been erected 

 of late years. 



To the west of tire town, between it and the shore, stood the fort 

 built by Cromwell, but demolished at the Restoration. In its area 

 of about ten acres was included the ancient parochial kirk of St. 

 John the Baptist, in which the Scottish Parliament met to confirm 

 the title of Robert Bruce to the throne of Scotland. This kirk 

 Cromwell appropriated as an armoury, and gave the burgh a sum of 

 money to build a new one, that which is mentioned above as the Old 

 Kirk, built in 1654. The tower of the kirk within the fort still 

 remains, and there are some vestiges of the fort itself. 



The trade of Ayr in former times consisted in a great degree in 

 the importation of wine from France, and the population was then 

 considerable. At present the trade consists chiefly in the export of 

 coals to Ireland, and the import of timber and deals from British 

 America, and of iron and hemp from the Baltic. Ship-building is 

 carried on to gome extent. Fishing employs a considerable number 

 of persons, the sand-banks of the coast abounding in fih. The rise 

 i if Newton into importance is more recent than that of Ayr, and has 

 been owing to its collieries, which are now flourishing. Rope and 

 sail-making and iron founding are carried on, and there are lime-kilns 

 and salt-pans near the shore. 



Newton is on the right bank of the Ayr ; it is a burgh of barony, 

 said to have been so erected by Robert the Bruce ; the burgesses or 

 freemen are limited in number to 48, and each possesses what is 

 called a lot or freedom, consisting of four acres of arable land, besides 

 the right of pasturage on the common of 150 acres, a right confined 



to the burgesses. The number 48 is accounted for by the tradition 

 that 48 men from this place fought under Bruce at Baunockburn. 

 A new parochial school-house has been recently built. 



The Glasgow and Ayr railway, now called the Glasgow and South- 

 western railway, has brought Ayr into direct communication with 

 all the main lines of Scotland and England. 



In the parish of Alloway, which has been long annexed to Ayr 

 parish, Robert Burns was born, in 1759. The house stands by the 

 road-side, about 2 miles from Ayr, and is pointed out to the traveller 

 by a board with an inscription. On a height near the kirk of 

 Alloway and the bridge of Boon a monument has been erected to the 

 poet's memory. It is built of pure white stone, is in the form of a 

 Grecian temple, and contains a bust of the poet by Park, and a copy 

 of Nasmyth's portrait, toget er with some relics connected with his 

 memory. Alloway kirk, the scene of Burns's ' Tarn o' Shanter ' is a 

 ruin. 



There was in Ayr formerly a monastery of Dominicans, or Black 

 Friars (the first they had in Scotland), and also one of the Observan- 

 tines. A statue of the Virgin Mary was said to have worked many 

 miracles. Not a trace of either monastery remains. 



(Webster's Topographical Dictionary of Scotland; New Statistical 

 Account of Scotland ; Playfair's Description of Scotland, &c.) 



AYRSHIRE, a county in the south-west of Scotland. The Frith 

 of Clyde washes it on the west side, and forms a bay, at the bottom 

 of which is the town of Ayr. This town divides into nearly equal 

 parts the portion of coast belonging to the county, being upwards of 

 30 miles from each extremity, the distance of which from one another 

 in a direct line is about 60 miles. The inland boundary, leaving the 

 northern point of the coast, runs in an irregular line towards the 

 south-east about 40 miles, separating Ayrshire from Renfrewshire 

 and Lanarkshire ; it then turns to the south-west, and with many 

 windings reaches the southern point of the coast, distant from the 

 eastern point of the shire about 56 miles in a straight line. This last 

 boundary divides Ayrshire from the counties of Dumfries, Kirkcud- 

 bright, and Wigton. 



Surface and Hydrography. The southern and eastern parts of the 

 county, with a small portion of the northern part, are the most hilly ; 

 some of the eminences are of considerable height. Along the coast 

 are narrow plains, abounding with gravel ; the country inland rises 

 into hills, which inclose as within an amphitheatre the best part of 

 the county. The principal hills are 

 Knockdolian, a conical mountain near the coast in the southern ' 



part of the county 1950 



Cairn-table,- in the eastern part of the county . . . . 1650 

 Blackside End, in the parish of S ru, near the river Ayr . 1560 

 Misty Law, on the border of Renfrew and Ayr . . . . 1240 



Ailsa Craig, a rock off the coast 1098 



Brown Carrick Hill, a little way south of the town of Ayr . 924 



Ayrshire is a natural basin. Many streams rise near the inland 

 boundary, and flow through the county into the sea ; but they are of 

 no importance commercially. The Garnock, rising in the north and 

 pursuing a course towards the south, unites with the Irvine, which 

 comes from the east near Irvine harbour. The Irvine, which is tiie 

 larger of the two, is about 20 miles long. The Ayr crosses the county 

 at its widest part, flows from east to west, and falls into the sea near 

 the town of Ayr. It has a course of nearly 35 miles. The Lugar is 

 its principal tributary. The Doon rises from several small lochs on 

 the south-east border of the county, and passing through Loch Doon 

 flows north-west till it falls into the sea about two miles south from 

 the mouth of the Ayr. It is of about the same length as that river. 

 The Girvan and the Stinchar rise in the same district as the Doon, 

 and drain the southern parts of the county. They are about 25 miles 

 long. The Nith, which flows through Dumfriesshire, and the Cree, 

 which divides Kirkcudbrightshire from Wigtonshire, rise in Ayrshire 

 or on the border. There are several small lochs near the sources of 

 the Doon, Girvan, and Stinchar. Loch Doon through which the river 

 Doon runs, is about six miles long and a mile broad. It abounds 

 with fine trout. This fish is common in many of the other streams ; 

 but in the river Ayr the number has diminished, owing to the water 

 that flows into it from the coal and iron mines and lime quarries near 

 the sources of the river. 



The Craig of Ailsa lies in the sea about eight miles from the 

 southern part of the Ayrshire coast. It is not a mere rock, but the 

 summit of a huge submarine mountain. It shelves rapidly into the 

 sea, and is surrounded by deep water on all sides except the south- 

 eastern, where the' accumulation of debris has formed a small beach. 

 It is about two miles in circumference, and its summit rises to the 

 height of 1098 feet. It is covered with verdure and is the abode of 

 goats and rabbits, gulls, auks, and gannets. Viewed from the north 

 it has an elegant conical figure. It has on the north-west perpendicular 

 cliffs 200 to 300 feet high ; but on the other sides it descends into 

 the sea with a slope presenting here and there some rocky faces, but 

 covered generally with grass or wild flowers. It has springs about 

 200 feet below its summit. 



This island is almost entirely composed of one species of rock, an 

 even and small-grained mixture of white felspar and transparent 

 quartz, the felspar appearing to predominate. It is mottled by minute 

 and distinct stains of a black colour, which on examination are seen 



