Kilmaurs

Kilmaurs
Scottish Gaelic: Cille Mhàra
The former Kilmaurs Parish Council chambers and jail
Kilmaurs  Kilmaurs shown within East Ayrshire
Population	2,601
OS grid reference	NS407413
- Edinburgh	56 mi
- London	338 mi
Council area	East Ayrshire
Lieutenancy area	Ayrshire and Arran
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Kilmarnock
Postcode district	KA3
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Kilmarnock and Loudoun
Scottish Parliament	Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley
List of places UK Scotland

Kilmaurs (Scottish Gaelic: Cille Mhàra) is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies on the Carmel, 21.1 miles south by west of Glasgow. Population recorded in 2001 Census, 2601^[2] It was in the Civil Parish of Kilmaurs. ^[3]

History

The Jougs in 1900.

Kilmaurs was known as the hamlet of Cunninghame until the 13th century.^[4][5] The population in 1874 was 1,145.^[6]

The modern view is that the name Kilmaurs is derived from the Gaelic Cil Mor Ais, meaning Hill of the Great Cairn.^[7]

It was once noted for its cutlery, shoe and bonnet workshops, and there were iron and coal mines in the neighbourhood. A hanger is a type of hunting sword, the only remaining Scottish example of which was made in Kilmaurs; it is in the keeping of the Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow. The hanger sword is marked 'Kilmares' and is marked 'DB' for the maker or cutler, David Biggart, who also made knives and forks. This sword is highly ornate with the grip made of tortoiseshell with floral patterns in extremely fine twisted silver wire.^[8]

Kilmaurs was famous for its kale which was an important foodstuff. A story is told of how a neighbouring village offered to pay a generous price for some kale seeds, an offer too good to turn down. The cunning locals agreed, however a gentle roasting on a shovel over a coal fire ensured that they never germinated.^[9]

The Parish church, Saint Maurs, now St Maurs-Glencairn, dates from 1170, and was dedicated either to the Virgin or to a Scottish saint of the 9th century called Maure. Saint Maura, was a Scottish saint who is said to have died in 899. She lived and worked on the isle of Little Cumbrae, and was thought to be the daughter of a Scottish Chieftain.^[10] It was enlarged in 1403 and in great part rebuilt in 1888.

The reputed warlock, John Stewart, is said to have regularly met with the fairies on Kilmaurs Hill.^[11]

Prehistory

The fossilised remains of eight mammoths were found in Woodhill quarry, Kilmaurs.^[12]

Cunninghames and the Glencairn Aisle

Adjoining it is the burial-place of the Earls of Glencairn, the leading personages in the district during several centuries, some of whom bore the style of Lord Kilmaurs. The aisle, designed and erected in 1600 by David Sewgal, Mason burgess from Carel, (he was also responsible for designing the tomb dedicated to William Schaw, James VI's Master of Works in Dunfermline Abbey), contains the restored tomb of the 7th. Earl with his wife and eight children. Their family name was Cunningham, adopted from the baillie which they acquired in the 12th century, or more probably from the district of Cunninghame (Ayrshire) where the town is situated.

The De Morville family lived at Tour nearby. The family built Kilwinning abbey, a daughter was the mother of John Baliol and another member was one of the murderers of Thomas a Becket.

James Cunningham, 14th Earl of Glencairn.^[1]

The town was made a burgh of barony in 1527 by the earl of that date. Burns's patron, the fourteenth earl, on whose death the poet wrote his touching "Lament," sold the Kilmaurs estate in 1786 to the marchioness of Titchfield, later the family held the title of Duke of Portland.

Kilmaurs has strong links with the Cunninghame family who are associated with the toun of Lambroughton for a significant period during their rise to power. The Cunninghame chiefs had a weaker connection with the barony of Kilmaurs after 1484 when Finlaystone became the family seat; Sir William Cunningham of Kilmaurs had married Margaret Denniston, sole heir to Sir Robert Denniston in 1405, and the dowry included the baronies of Denniston and Finlaystone in Renfrewshire, the lands of Kilmaronock in Dumbartonshire, and the barony of Glencairn in Dumfrieshire.^[15] James, the fourteenth Earl of Glencairn broke the centuries old connection of the Cunnighame family with the area by selling the Barony and estate of Kilmaurs, including Kilmaurs place, in 1786 to the Marchioness of Titchfield.^[16]

Laigh Milton viaduct

Laigh Milton Viaduct is the oldest surviving Railway Bridge in Scotland

One sad story redolent of its era is that of a 'professional class' couple from England, Mr. & Mrs. Barker, who committed suicide in Victorian times (1844) by tying themselves together and jumping from Laigh Milton Viaduct into the Irvine, which has a depth of only around three feet at this point. They were buried in the Kilmaurs churchyard in an unmarked grave. They are known to have spent a few weeks in lodgings and apparently enjoyed the 'sights and sounds' of Ayrshire. It transpired that they had recently become bankrupt and were fearful of the shame and disgrace that poverty would inevitably bring.^[13][17]

The Jougs or tolbooth

Kilmaurs Public Hall.

The former Parish Council chambers and jail in Kilmaurs, the 'jougs', 'Jugs' or 'Juggs' has a fine example of a stepped Mercat Cross in an enclosure behind it; this cross is surmounted by a large sandstone ball and dated 1830. The 'Jougs' was also used as the Kilmaurs fire station in the 19th century; the fire engine being housed in one of the two prison cells of the old jail. The Dick Institute in Kilmarnock now houses the preserved wooden 1830s fire engine. It was in good condition and still at Kilmaurs in the 1940s, painted pillar-box red and carrying the Glencairn coat of arms. The stout wood tank held around fifty gallons and the hose is only two yards long; the engine was hauled by a pair of horses. Cuthbertson records that the village's hand bell reposed on the engine.^[18] The Kilmaurs jougs themselves were last used in 1820 when a housebreaker was held in them. He was so small that he had to be stood on a stone block.

William Aiton in 1808 comments on the Kilmaurs town-hall and jail, saying they "are contemptible, of little use, and ought to be pulled down."^[19]

Public Hall

This fine building was constructed in 1893 at a cost of £1,400. This town hall building had a stage, changing rooms, and a kitchen on the ground floor, a reading room, a recreation room and a viewing gallery on the upper floor. Unfortunately the architect did not have a stairway on the drawings, and had to construct a very narrow and winding staircase to reach the upper floor, as a last resort, before the official opening. It is now used by the District Council as a home for the homeless, or as a shelter for single parent families, while waiting for a permanent residence.^[20]

War Memorial

Kilmaurs has a particularly fine war memorial situated in the Morton Park (gifted to the village by George Morton of Lochgreen, Troon in 1921.) The memorial itself was erected at a cost of £900 raised by public subscription and unveiled on 3 April 1921. 45 men gave their lives in the Great War and 10 men and 1 woman in the Second World War.^[20]

Highland Host

Jock's Thorn Farm above Kilmaurs, near the site of the ancient Kilmaurs Castle.

The old Tolbooth next to the Jougs.

To prevent the Covenanters holding 'Conventicles', King Charles II moved highland troops, the 'Highland Host' into the westland of Ayrshire.^[21] "They took free quarters; they robbed people on the high road; they knocked down and wounded those who complained; they stole, and wantonly destroyed, cattle; they subjected people to the torture of fire to discover to them where their money was hidden; they threatened to burn down houses if their demands were not at once complied with; besides free quarters they demanded money every day; they compelled even poor families to buy brandy and tobacco for them; they cut and wounded people from sheer devilment." The cost of all this amounted to £3,250 15s 0d Scots in Kilmaurs parish alone.

Smallpox

Paterson^[22] records that in the 1790s inoculation for smallpox had not become general, owing, according to the minister, "to the prevalence of a religious persuasion that the Divine Government, without any care on the part of man, will accomplish whatever is best for him. So deeply are the tenets of this kind impressed, that all attempts to show the necessity of using those means by which the Providence of God operates, both in temporal and spiritual concerns, are 'houted' and despised. Much," he adds, "have the teachers of religion to answer for, who establish faith upon the ruins of practice."

Waverley Novels

Sir Walter Scott makes several references to the Earl of Glencairn as a supporter of the Scottish kirk and the Cameronians in his novel 'Waverley. He also mentions in the same novel, that Kilmaurs Mains farm has excellent breeds of cattle. It is also apparent that the highland clan chiefs did very well out of the 'Highland Host' phenomenon; building extensions or new houses for themselves out of the profits from their plunder.

Views of Kilmaurs 2006 - 2008

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  The Mercat cross at the 'jougs.'

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  The '1830' date on the Mercat cross.

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  The 'jougs.'

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  The old parish council building.

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  Pollarded trees on a driveway in Fenwick Road.

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  Glencairn Church in Fenwick Road, built in 1864.

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  The birthplace of Lord Boyd Orr - Holland Green, Fenwick Road.

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  The Knock on the Cunninghamhead road, locally referred to as 'Bowie's Munt.'

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  Laigh Langmuir Farm on the Cunninghamhead road.

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  Kilmaurs Mains Farm on the Cunninghamhead road.

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  Viewfield farm on the road to Stewarton, looking across the site of the old Toll house.

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  The 'Walk in the Light' stone from the old Townend Manse.

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  Gravestone of John Gemmell. He was a surgeon to the American Royal Reformers, fighting with the regular army in the American War of Independence.

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  A view of the old 1830's firestation in the 'Jougs'. The doors to the right of the stone pillars.

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  Kilmaurs Place from the park.

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  The Old Brig over the Carmel Water in the park.

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  The Millhill Crest on the plinth at Catherine Place.

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  A view of the old 1830's firestation in the 'Jougs.'

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  A granite milestone giving the direction and distance to Crosshouse.

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  Kilmaurs place facing the park.

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  Jock's Thorn Farm from the Kilmarnock facing side in the vicinity of the 'Old Castle.'

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  The Mill Vennel looking southwards towards St.Maurs-Glencairn kirk.

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  The Mill Vennel looking northwards towards the Carmel Brig.

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  The sundial and Cunningham (Glencairn)coat of arms on the gable of the Glencairn Aisle.

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  The Glencairn Aisle.

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  Saint Maurs church prior to 1888, showing the Glencairn Aisle.

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  The Carmel Water near Millholm. An old bridge abutment is just visible opposite. This is known locally as Puddin' Pauls.

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  The entrance to the Lady's Well.

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  Inside the Lady's Well covering with the 'niche' at the back and the broken sandstone covering slab.

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  Kilmaurs station road approach.

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  Kilmaurs railway station looking towards Kilmarnock.

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  Kilmaurs railway station looking towards Stewarton.

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Knockland Hill or Bowie's Munt

Bowie's munt or mount is close to the old Knocklandside and Knocklandhill farms. The name 'Knock' means a small hill, often fortified. This wooded mound is surrounded by a circular ditch and bank. It is unlikely be a belvedere or roundel and an origin as a hill fort is most likely; only an archaeological investigation will settle the matter. No internal features are clearly visible, other than the outlines of a lane or track on the Kilmaurs village side. In 1636 it was known as Knockallan; Knockland may be a corruption of this name.^[23][24]

Views of the Munt or Knockland Hill

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  The munt from Knockland Hill road.

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  The munt from Knockland Hill road.

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  A view inside the wooded munt.

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  A view inside the wooded munt.

Loupin'-on-stane

The Loupin'-on-stane & concavity.

The Loupin'-on-stane & concavity.

Outside the Old Person's Cabin in the main street is a large sandstone block which is thought to be a horse-block or Loupin'-on-stane; used to aid a person to mount a horse in times past. This large sandstone block also has a concavity in its upper surface which is reminiscent of the 'plague stones' which would be filled with vinegar into which money could be placed either as gifts to the church or as gifts to the sick. An example also survives at Greystoke in Cumbria.

See also

Inaugural Run Souvenir Ticket for 12 May 1984.A new station opened.

St Maurs-Glencairn Parish Church in 2007.

• Lambroughton
• Stewarton
• Kilmarnock
• Lady's Well
• Laigh Milton viaduct
• Kilmaurs railway station
• Kilmaurs place
• Local History Dictionary

References

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

A Map of the Parish of Kilmaurs

The Parish of Kilmaurs in 1912.

Kilmaurs Kirk in 1880.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kilmaurs.

External links

• Details of the Kilmaurs Fire Engine of 1830