Troon,South Ayrshire

Troon
Scottish Gaelic: An Truthail / An t-Sròn[1]
Scots: The Truin[2]
Esplanade and South Bay, looking over the town to the Isle of Arran.
Troon  Troon shown within South Ayrshire
Population	14,766 (2001 Census)
OS grid reference	NS345255
Council area	South Ayrshire
Lieutenancy area	Ayrshire and Arran
Country	Scotland
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Troon
Postcode district	KA10
Dialling code	01292
Police	Scottish
Fire	Scottish
Ambulance	Scottish
EU Parliament	Scotland
UK Parliament	Central Ayrshire
Scottish Parliament	Ayr
List of places UK Scotland

Coordinates: 55°32′N 4°40′W / 55.54°N 4.66°W / 55.54; -4.66

Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about 8 miles (13 km) north of Ayr and 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services — the P&O Express to Larne and a yacht marina. In May 2006, a ferry service to Campbeltown was added, although this was withdrawn the following year.

In the 2001 census the population of Troon, not including the nearby village of Loans but including the Barassie area, was estimated at 14,766 — a 4.77% increase on the 1991 estimate of 14,094.^[3]

Name

The name Troon is likely from a Brythonic or Pictish name cognate with Welsh trwyn ("nose, cape"). When Scottish Gaelic became the main language, it is possible that the Gaelic form An t-Sròn ("the nose") pronounced [ənˠ̪ t̪ʰɾɔːn] was used for the name Troon. Since the words sròn and trwyn are cognate, it could have been easily adapted from one language to the other.^[1] This is similar to the Gaelic name of Stranraer (An t-Sròn Reamhar, the fat nose), which lies further south on the coast.^[4] However, it is not certain if An t-Sròn was the Gaelic name, as its usage cannot be traced back any further than Johnston’s Place-names of Scotland (1932). It is more likely that a gaelicized respelling, such as An Trùn, was used.^[1]

The name An Truthail was used by Gaelic speakers on nearby Arran Island up until the 20th century.^[1]

History

Troon is famous for its Royal Troon golf course, one of the hosts to the Open Golf Championship. The course is chosen to host this annual event roughly every seven years.

The Duke of Portland took the existing natural harbour on the north side of the headland and added docks. Later improvements included increasing the protection afforded by the headland with an artificial "ballast bank" made from the dumped ballast of incoming merchant ships. And from 1812 Troon was the terminus of a horse-drawn railway connecting it to the Duke's coal mines around Kilmarnock. This was not licensed for passengers, a minor technicality evaded by weighing those wishing to travel and charging them freight rates.

Troon Harbour played a notable part in the development of the town for many years. It was home to the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, which constructed many vessels for worldwide customers but mainly small passenger and various merchant vessels. The fishing fleet from Ayr moved to Troon Harbour and a revitalisation of the abandoned section of the harbour started. An approach road was constructed to connect to a P&O terminal which operates a service to Ireland. The Seacat high speed ferry service briefly operated from Troon Harbour but has now ended.

Troon Harbour is now a fishing port, yachting marina, seasonal passenger ferry port and Ro-Ro ferry terminal for timber and containers. The shipbuilding industry at Troon Harbour ended in 2000.^[5]

The town is served by Troon railway station. Troon (old) railway station was one of the first passenger stations in Scotland as part of the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway. A line had been there previously used by the Duke of Portland for the transport of coal from the collieries in East Ayrshire but was upgraded to run Steam locomotives. Troon has its own secondary school, Marr College.

Troon is also the birthplace of C.K. Marr, who left a considerable fortune upon death to the people of Troon which was used to construct the towns only secondary school Marr College.^[6]

Troon has over the past few years become a popular place for Kitesurfing. The strong winds coming from the Atlantic and from the north down the Firth of Clyde make it an ideal spot.

Troon also hosts an annual music Festival held in the autumn known as Live@Troon. The event is run by a charitable trust for the promotion of the town and local musical talent.

Extension of Troon

The artist's impression and the theoretical master plan for Troon that the Duke of Portland had drawn up was almost on as grand a scale, relative to its size, as that of Edinburgh's New Town. Certainly, the broad streets with a grid network and ample space for civic amenities created for a thriving community built around the industry of the harbour. Troon's prosperity allowed this confident plan to be proposed. The drawing shows two spires, the taller spire was of that proposed by Troon Parish Church. Although the new building was erected in 1895 the spire was never completed. To the right a smaller spire indicates Portland Street United Free Church, which sat behind where WH Smith is today. The first railway in Scotland (Troon to Kilmarnock 1811) is clearly showing in the background. It was the Glasgow and South Western Railway in 1892 who altered this plan by building a loop to bring passengers closer to the beach and town. The park sadly never came to pass but public spaces on the promenade, (where the bandstand was built), The Ballast Bank and Fullarton ground allow residents and visitors much scope for leisure. The industrial units to the right of the harbour line towards Barassie were the Gas Works and Slaughter House.

SeaCat and P&O service

SeaCat opened passenger services from Troon in 1999, with catamaran ferries to Ireland. They were followed by P&O Irish Sea in 2003. SeaCat closed the following year.

As of 2015 P&O Ferries operate seasonal sailings with the high speed catamaran HSC Express: the term 'SeaCat' is often used to refer to the P&O service.

The former SeaCat terminal is still fenced off and is currently used as log storage.

Notable residents

• Colin Montgomerie, golfer^[7]
• Gordon Brown, rugby player^[8]
• Andrew Cotter, BBC Sports broadcaster^[9]
• Jamie Ness, footballer
• Alan Hutton, footballer
• Richard McTaggart, boxer
• Ronni Ancona, actress^[10]
• Steve Nicol, footballer
• Susannah York, actor^[11]
• Duncan Lunan, writer
• George Hunter, footballer
• Neill Collins, footballer
• Brian Whittle, athlete^[12]
• David Irvine, founder of MaidSafe^[13]

Fullarton House

Fullarton House was built by William Fullarton of that ilk in 1745 and altered by his son, however it was demolished in 1966 by the council who had been unable to maintain the building after purchasing it in 1928.

The entrance route had been changed by the Duke of Portland and the house design altered so that the back became the front, with grand views opened up of the Isle of Arran and Firth of Clyde.^[14] After centuries of occupation the Fullarton lines possession had thus come to an end when the Duke of Portland purchased the property in 1805. He lived here for a while as his principal residence in Scotland, however he had a greater interest in developing Troon harbour and the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway.

The grounds are now a park with some signs of the old house still apparent, such as the magnificent stable block, the ornamental pediments, walled gardens, doocot and an ice house.^[15] Reed Loch was located near Lochgreen House and was used latterly as a curling pond.

The Fullarton family

The name is thought to come from the office of 'Fowler to the King', the purpose of which was to supply wild-fowl to the King as required. The dwelling which came with the post was called Fowlertoun and the family may have eventually adopted the name. The Fullarton's of Angus had been required by Robert I to supply him with wild-fowl at his castle of Forfar.^[14]

Alanus de Fowlertoun was in possession of the lands shortly before his death in 1280 and the family continued in a nearly unbroken line from father to son. William Fullarton, the builder of the house, inherited the estate from his grandfather in 1710, he having inherited it from his brother in turn. Colonel Fullarton died in 1808, the last Fullarton of that Ilk laird.^[14] He wrote in 1793 the seminal A General View of the Agriculture in the County of Ayr and was one of the few on record to praise Robert Burns's skills as a farmer, commenting favourably on a method of dishorning cattle which the poet had demonstrated. Burns is said to have visited Fullarton.^[16]

The Fullarton grotto and stables

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  The old Fullarton grotto.

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  Alcoves in the old grotto.

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  The courtyard of Fullarton stables.

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  The Robert Adam designed Fullarton stables.

Crosbie Castle

Robert II granted the old Crosbie estate to the Fullartons in 1344 and by the 18th century the old castle was partly demolished and converted into an ice house for Fullarton House, with a doocot nearby.^[15] In 1969 more of the ice house was demolished to make it safe. The building had been known as Crosby Place and later became Fullarton House, not long before the new building of the same name replaced it.^[14]

Over the centuries the castle was rebuilt three times, in the same typical square design as seen at Dundonald Castle. The remains today mainly represent the Castle's dungeon. Many of Crosbie Castle's stones were used in the construction of the first Fullarton House. The dungeon, had an underground stream, making it the ideal cold storage cellar or ice house.^[17]

• 

  A corner of the old castle walls.

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  Marriage stone of William Fullarton and Anne Brisbane.

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  The old Ice House constructed from the ruins of Crosbie Castle.

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  The old entrance and spiral staircase at the Ice House / Crosbie Castle.

Crosbie church and cemetery

First recorded in 1229, the present structure dates from 1691. Tradition claims that the roof blew off on the day in 1759 that Robert Burns was born and it was left to become a ruin. One of the graves is that off David Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh, son of, James, alleged assassin of the Regent Moray, bastard son of James V. This event occurred in 1570 and David died in 1619. David Fullarton of that Ilk had married David's sister.^[15]

Constructed on the site of the original chapel, the name comes from the Anglo-Saxon word 'Crossbye', signifying the dwelling of the cross; a fairly common placename. The cemetery dates from circa 1240 and was held in secular times by Fullarton of Crosbie in the 14th century after being passed on from relatives. Records indicate that this ground was used by a holy order before the Fullartons arrived in the area.^[17] The chapelry of Crosbie, together with that of Richardstoun (Riccartoun) were attached to Dundonald and were granted by the second Walter Stewart to the short lived Gilbertine Convent which he had founded at Dalmulin in 1238. The convent was dis-established in 1238 and the chapel passed to the monks of Paisley Abbey.^[18]

The cemetery was the burial ground for Troon until 1862 and family lairs were still in use until after the First World War. On the other side of the road, the remains of the church manse can still be seen (2009). The 'Wrack Road' was the Fullarton Estate estate road used by tenants who took their carts down to the shore to collect seaweed or wrack as fertilizer and it was the main road from Troon for funerals going to Crosbie.^[17]

Janet McFadzean was buried in Crosbie cemetery in 1761 and the front of her tombstone reads: Here lyes the corps of Janet McFadzean, Spous of William McFadzean, Quarter-Master Sergean in Lovetenan General Homs Regiment of Sol., who died 22 August 1761, aged 27 years.

The reverse side reads:

Twenty-four years i lived a maiden life, And three years i was a married wife, In which time i lived a hapie life, I trevld with him from toun to toun, Until by death i was cut down. In my sister's hous did die, And here at Crosbie Kirk i ly, Where i my rest and sleep will take, Until at last i be awaked. It will not be with tuk of drum, But it will be when the trumpet sound, And while ile my Redeemer see, Who shed his preshios blood for me.

Views of the cemetery

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  Crosbie church gates.

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  Church and cemetery.

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  David Hamilton of Bothwellhaugh's gravestone.

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  The inscription on David Hamilton's gravestone.

An epistle by John Laing suggests that Crosbie Kirk is haunted:

But sir, sin' I maun let you know Langsyne when I was forced to go By Crosby Kirk to meet my Joe When it was dark, I feared that spunkies wad bestow On me their mark. An' comin' hame, the truth to tell, An' fast upon the hour o' twal, Nae mortal seen but just mysel', I shook wi' fear, Lest ghaist or aught wad skirl an' yell, An' cause a steer. Deed Sir, I've often heard it tell, By folk much aulder than mysel', There ghaists an' spunkies used to dwell In days gane by, An' aften they've been heard to yell, An' groan an' sigh!

Ghosts Of Troon

The Grey Lady of Troon. The Grey Lady is a tale or fable that has surrounded Troon for years. She was first sighted by Jason Grant, a local farmer, in 1873. He wrote

"Twas darkness all around, yet a light shone only on the face of a Lady in grey. Twas no mortal woman for she vanished before me 'een (eye's)"

Other reports claim she roams in the Loans area.

See also

• James Logan (footballer) – footballer
• Laigh Milton viaduct – the Kilmarnock and Troon railway or tramway.
• Mike Russell- MSP

References

Further reading

• Blair, Anna (1983). Tales of Ayrshire. London : Shepeard – Walwyn. ISBN 0-85683-068-2.
• McPherson, I (2000) Old Troon
• Wylie, Stewart C. and Wilson, James (1991) Troon in Old Picture Postcards
• MacIntosh, I.M. (1969) Old Troon

External links

• Troon travel guide from Wikivoyage
• Photo Tour of Troon
• About Troon
• South Ayrshire Council
• Pictures of Troon Harbour

South Ayrshire Towns Ayr Girvan Maybole Prestwick Troon Villages Annbank Ballantrae Barassie Barr Colmonell Coylton Dailly Dundonald Dunure Joppa Kirkmichael Kirkoswald Loans Monkton Mossblown Old Dailly Straiton Symington Tarbolton Trabboch Other settlements and suburbs Alloway Belmont Doonfoot Forehill Heathfield Kincaidston Seafield See also Central Ayrshire (UK Parliament constituency) Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock (UK Parliament constituency) Strathclyde Neighbouring council areas: East Ayrshire North Ayrshire Dumfries and Galloway

Associated British Ports Ayr Barrow Barry Cardiff Fleetwood Garston Goole Port of Grimsby Hams Hall Distribution Park Port of Hull Port of Immingham Ipswich Dock King's Lynn Lowestoft Newport Plymouth Port Talbot Tilbury Container Services Silloth Port of Southampton Swansea Teignmouth Troon