Page:The National Gazetteer - A Topographical Dictionary of the British Islands, Volume 1.djvu/149

Rh AYE. 139 AYli. ii, and towns for the trader, churohee Among tho settlers of this period were Hugli Morvillo, with a host of vassals the: families of Rosc.s, Mont- i gomerys, Campbells, Boyds, Kennedies, ire. Laws, customs, in fact, almost everything chanp-d. Yet tho i Id language, tho Gaelic, held its ground, and for five hundred years was not utterly rooted out. The history uf the centuries during which feudalism was the pre- vailing system, would be little more than a story of feuds between the chiefs and leading families, and of oppres- sion and misery towards the lower orders. It is no matter for surprise that visions of political liberties and of social justice should fascinate them and make them, as they were, /< alims adherents of tho Covenant in the 17th century. For it they were ready to fight, for it to and many arc the spots in secluded moors and mosses which are consecrated by the memory of tho my of martyrs of those days. Tho men of Ayr- irtily accepted the revolution which placed the t Orange on thethroneof Great Britain, and would money remuneration for their armed altend- n tlie estates at Edinburgh. Ayrshire is cut 3ff from tho neighbouring parts of Scotland by ranges i lofty hills along its western border, and Carrick, tho - 'Utheni district, is wholly mountainous. Narrow plaint .i.-trirt, is level and very fertile. Generally the surface unty rises towards the east and the south. The hills have not a great elevation : not ono of them at- taining the height of 2,000 feet. The loftiest among Knockdolian, in the parish of Colmonell, near tho ast, which has an elevation of 1,950 feet. Others re, Cairntable, in Muirkirk, on the eastern side of tho ounty, 1,650 feet; Blaekside End, in Born, 1,660 feet; AJlaa Craig, off Girvan, 1,098 feet. The prevailing rocks nd limestone. With these are associated freestone, red sandstone, pudding-stone, &c. Coal is abundant and of many varieties. Large quantities of the curious " blind coal" are exported. At Dalmore, on tin 1 Ayr, is obtained the whetstone, known by the nameof V.'atcr o' Ayr stone." Ironstone is found, and large iron- works are established in several places. At Kilbridc,mill- M; quarried. Co])] .IT, lead, and other metals exist in small quantities. This county has no great river, but many short streams. The principal of these are the [nine, which receivi the (larnock, and has a course 20 miles ; the Ayr, which receives tho Lugar, lividfs tho county into two equal parts, and is about 35 miles in length ; the Doon, the " bonnio of the poet; the Girvan, and the Stiii' liar. 1 ral small lakes ; the chief is Loch Doon. Trout abound in many of the rivers. Formerly forests .it part of Ayrshire: there are now few tracts of woodland left. The climate is damp, but mild. The soil of tho level districts on tho coast is mostly lifiht. A large part of the interior has a stiff clay soil. About .vtlf the surface of the eounty is under cultivation. A tent of the eastern part consists of moor and moss. Progress and improvement have been rapid during the last hundred years, improvement in dwell- ings, in methods of cultivation, in drainage, in condi- tions of tenure, modes of living, breed of cattle, and means of intercommunication. In this course of im- and happiness of leading tho way Margaret, Countess of Loudoun, who, in 1757, came as a widow to reside in Sorn ' ostle. By her superior knowledge, patient teaching, and ]>crsovering example, she at length aroused nobles, gentry, ctter cultivation of their lands. Oats form the prin- Ipal crop, but wheat, barley, peas, beans, &c., are also t wmmonly grown. Much attention is paid to the rearing hi cattle, and to tho dairy. Dunlop cheese is in high i^ti- nation. Ayrshire is sometimes called the Cheshire of Gotland. Many important manufactures are carried on Bounty. Its natural advantages, in stone for milding material, coal, iron, means of communication, very great. The cotton manufacture employs tho argest number of hands. There are factories at Catrine, Kill.iniie, Gabston, and Uiccarton, in wr '.',000 persons are engaged. Tho weaving of muslin employs nearly 2,000, mostly women and girls. Th" ilk. woollen, and cloth manufacture re, but on a comparatively small seale. Other branch' :< ol' industry are carpet-making, bleaching, tanning, embroidering, &c. The county is subdivided into 44 parishes, two of which, Ayr and Irvinr, are royal and parliamentary boroughs; and four, vi/., (jirvan, Dahnellington, New- ton-on-Ayr, and Newmilns, are burghs of barony. The other principal towns are Galston, Troon, Kiinmrnock, Beith, Saltcoats, Ardrossan (tho two latter being ports), Largs (a watering-placo in the north), Stewarton, and Maybole. Its population, according to tho census of 1861, is 198,959, distributed into 43,391 separate families, occupying 25,868 houses. Ono member is returned to parliament for tho county, and one for the towns of Ayr and Irvine, in conjunction with Invcrary, Campbelltown, and Oban, in Argyleshire. Kilmaniock is contri- butory with four burghs in Renfrewshire and Dum- bartonshire in >eturuing ouo representative. Tho local government is vested in a lord-lieutenant, a vice-lieutenant (with between 40 and 50 deputies), sheriff and substitutes. Ayrshire possesses not a few interesting remains of ancient times. At Sorn, on Ayr Water, is an immense cairn, measuring above 80 yards in circumference. There is another at Galston, GO yards round. At Dundonald, south of the river Ir- vine, there are two ancient encampments, one of which consists of two circular earthworks, the outer one sur- rounding an area of 10 acres ; tho other work is similar, but smaller, and has only a single bank. Ardrossan, further north, has some remains of a camp. Among tho ruins of religious houses, the finest (ire those of tho abbey of Crossraguel, in the parish of Kirk-Oswald, not far from Maybole. This abbey has stood above 600 years, and is still tho best preserved in tho west of Scotland. Besides the church walls, above 160 feet in length, there are parts of tho choir, abbot's house, &c. Little remains of the once fine abbey of Kilwinning, founded above 700 years ago. Tho bare walls arc still standing of tho "haunted kirk" of Alloway, to which the poet has given a longer existence by his song than tho mason by his handicraft. Ruins of castles, erected in the days of baronial power and oppression, are numerous. Tum- beny Castle, seat of the lords of Carrick and through them of Robert Bruce, stood on a hill by the coast in tho parish of Kirk-Oswald. Tho remains arc insignifi- cant, but spread over an acre. Loch Doon Castle is on an island in the lake of that name ; it was the hist to yii'ld to Edward III. Dundonald Castle was a royal seat, in which Robert II., tho first of tho Stuarts, resided, and where he died. Others are at Dunure, Auchinleck, Tliomaston, &c. The principal seats of tho nobility and gentry are the following : Fullarton House, tho seat of the Duke of Portland ; Culzean Castle, of the Marquis of Ailsa ; Loudoun Castle, of the Marquis of Hastings ; Eglinton Castle, of tho Earl of Eglinton, to whom belongs also Skclmorlio Castle ; Kelburne House, of tho Earl of Glasgow ; Blanefield, of Blane, Bart. ; Brisbane House, of General Sir T. M. Brisbane, Bart. ; Blair- quhan Castle, of Sir D. Hunter Blair, Bart. ; Bargeny, of the Duchesse do Coigny ; Auchencruivo, of Oswald, I. '! ; Ballockmyle, of Colonel Alexander; Dumfries House, of the Marquis of Bute; Auchcnlcck, of Lady il ; S .in ' ' &c. &c. The Glasgow and Soul i ;. lilway, which has ren- d< red iiniii-i-i ary the completion ol' the, canal projected in 1806, enters the county in tho north, and runs along tho coast by Troon to Ayr and to Givan, sending oil' blanch lines to Ardrossan, Kilmaniock, and Dahnel- lington. A continuation of this line to Stranraer is j.ioji eted. The Glasgow, Dumfries, and Carlisle branch line also intersects tho county, from Dairy, passing by Kilmaniock, Manchlino, Auchinleck, and OM New Cumnock, with branch lines to Irvine, Troon, Xcwmilns, and Muirkirk. (Jnod joad hart l"-cn formed connecting all the principal towns. Robert Burns, with whose life and songs all parts of the county have men,.,-
 * !ong the coast, and Cunningham, the northern
 * rovement a noblo and energetic lady had tho honour
 * md people to vigorous cubits on sound principles for the