Saltcoats

Saltcoats
Scottish Gaelic: Baile an t-Salainn.
Scots: Salkits
Saltcoats
 Saltcoats shown within North Ayrshire
Population 11,260 [1] (2001 census)
est. 11,730[2] (2006)
OS grid referenceNS245415
   – Edinburgh  77.6 mi 
   – London  430.8 mi 
Council areaNorth Ayrshire
Lieutenancy areaAyrshire and Arran
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town SALTCOATS
Postcode district KA21
Dialling code 01294
Police Scottish
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
EU Parliament Scotland
UK ParliamentNorth Ayrshire and Arran
Scottish ParliamentCunninghame North
List of places
UK
Scotland

Coordinates: 55°38′07″N 4°47′23″W / 55.6352°N 04.7896°W / 55.6352; -04.7896

For other places with the same name see Saltcoats (disambiguation).

Saltcoats (Scottish Gaelic: Baile an t-Salainn) is a small town on the west coast of North Ayrshire, Scotland. The name is derived from the town's earliest industry when salt was harvested from the sea water, carried out in small cottages along the shore. It is part of the "Greater Ardrossan" or "Three Towns" conurbation along with Ardrossan and Stevenston.

Transport

The harbour was designed by James Jardine in 1811.[3]

Saltcoats is served by regular bus and train services. Primary bus services are provided by Stagecoach West Scotland, while rail services are operated by SPT.

Although Saltcoats currently only has a single railway station, the town was once served by a second railway station to the north of the town, originally as part of the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway. This station closed to regular services on 4 July 1932,[4] and there is no trace of the station today bar a nearby bridge.

Government and politics

Saltcoats is in the Ayrshire North & Arran constituency in the House of Commons and Cunninghame North constituency in the Scottish Parliament. The Westminster seat is held by the Labour Party, and the Holyrood seat was gained by the Scottish National Party from Labour in the May 2007 election by a mere 48 votes.

Historically, Ardrossan has been part of the UK parliament constituencies North Ayrshire (1868–1918), Bute and Northern Ayrshire (1918–1983) and Cunninghame North (1983–2005). These constituencies traditionally returned Conservative or Unionist MP's until 1987, when the constituency was won by the Labour Party.

Notable residents

References

  1. ↑ "Comparative Population Profile: Saltcoats Locality". Scotland's Census Results Online. 2001-04-29. Retrieved 2008-08-31.
  2. ↑ http://www.gro-scotland.gov.uk/statistics/publications-and-data
  3. ↑ http://www.scottish-places.info/people/famousfirst2497.html
  4. ↑ Stansfield, page 7
  5. ↑ "The Story Behind Colin Hay's "Maggie"". Milwaukee Public Radio Interview. 2009-04-29. Retrieved 2012-08-01.
  6. ↑ http://www.doollee.com/PlaywrightsM/munro-george.html
  7. ↑ http://bearalley.blogspot.ca/2010/10/hugh-munro.html

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Saltcoats.
Wikivoyage has a travel guide for Saltcoats.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Sunday, February 14, 2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.