Kilbirnie
1846
KILBIRNIE, a parish, in the district of Cunninghame, county of Ayr, 3 miles
(W. by N.) from Beith; containing 2631 inhabitants. This place derives its
name from the term Kil, signifying a church, chapel, or monastic cell, and
Birnie, or Birinus, the tutelar saint of the parish, the church of which,
with the rectorial tithes and revenues, belonged in ancient times to the
monastery of Kilwinning, the monks providing a vicar to serve the cure. The
parish is situated in the northern extremity of the county, bordering on
Renfrewshire, and is of an oblong form, measuring in length, from south-east
to north-west, between seven and eight miles, and about two and a half miles
in average breadth. It consists of the three nominal baronies of
Kilbirnie, Glengarnock, and Ladyland, and comprises 8576 Scottish acres,
of which 1280 are arable, 2209 in cultivated grass lands and meadows, 1009
greenhill pasture, 59 in plantations, and the remainder heath, moss-land,
and water. The surface is much diversified in appearance, and is naturally
formed into two distinct tracts. Of these, one is wholly arable, and
ornamented by the beautiful water of Kilbirnie loch on its eastern limit,
and the winding stream of the Garnock, running from north to south. The
other is marked by hill pastures, bog, and moorland, and has a very
irregular surface: it rises first into lofty uplands, and these are
succeeded by dreary tracts of moss and heath, and ranges of barren and
uninviting hills, of which the highest, called the hill of Staik, is
1691 feet above the level of the sea, and commands prospects the most
extensive, varied, and beautiful. The loch contains trout, perch, roach,
pike, and abundance of eels. The Garnock and the Maich, also, are
good trouting-streams; the former has its source in the hill of Staik,
flows near the northern boundary, displaying a beautiful cascade called the
Spout of Garnock, and, running in a south-eastern direction through
well-wooded ravines, passes the village, and hastens through the parishes of
Dalry and Kilwinning to the sea at Irvine. The Maich runs along the
northern boundary of the parish, nearly parallel with the Garnock; and,
after a course of about five miles in a deep channel, through lonely
moorlands, with very little interesting scenery about its banks, except
when, like the Garnock, passing one or two favoured spots, it falls into the
loch of Kilbirnie.
The soil comprises several varieties, with numerous modifications and
admixtures. That in the lower, or south, part of the parish is a very
fertile alluvial loam, which, higher up the Garnock, assumes the character
of a rich clayey loam: towards the east, near Kilbirnie loch, and along part
of the Maich, the soil is a light red clay, incumbent on a stiff clayey
subsoil. West of the Garnock, clayey loam is again found, and also a
tenacious clay mixed with sand, crossed with stripes of meadow land. The
soil of the higher ground is a light, dry, and fertile earth, resting on
trap and lime stone, and well suited to pasture; the moorish uplands consist
of mossy tracts lying on clay, much interspersed by pools of stagnant water.
The produce comprehends all the usual white and green crops; but wheat is
now cultivated only to a very limited extent, the returns for several years
having been unsatisfactory, in consequence, principally, of the humidity and
coldness of the climate, and the moist retentive nature of the subsoil. The
farms vary much in size; those under the plough are from 50 to 180 acres,
and all are under the rotation system of husbandry. There is one corn-mill
in the parish, to which all the lands are thirled; and fifteen of the farms
have threshing-mills. The inclosures on the lower grounds are chiefly
ditches and thorn hedges; those on the higher grounds and pastures are stone
walls; and in addition to the great improvements effected during the present
century by liming and draining, some superior farm-houses have been built,
with good offices, although the old, ill-constructed, thatched tenements are
still numerous. The sheep, of which upwards of 2000 are kept, are
principally the black-faced, and fed on the moorlands; but a few crosses of
various English breeds are to be seen on the arable farms. There are about
550 milch-cows, with 600 or 700 head of cattle, mostly of the Cunninghame
breed, to the selection of which, and the management of the dairy, much
attention is paid: the horses used for husbandry are of the Clydesdale kind.
The strata of the parish comprise coal of several descriptions, freestone,
limestone, and ironstone; the coal is generally found in moderate-sized
basins, and has long been worked, though to no great extent. Both freestone
and limestone are wrought in abundance; as is the ironstone, several
furnaces having been just erected. The rateable annual value of Kilbirnie is
£7678.
The plantations were chiefly formed in the early part of the present
century; but they are of little interest, with the exception of a few fine
old trees in the vicinity of Kilbirnie House and the mansion of
Ladyland. The first of these residences, sometimes called the Place
of Kilbirnie, is situated a mile west of the village, and embraces fine
views of the vale of Kilbirnie loch and the Garnock, with the country
beyond. It consists of an ancient quadrilateral tower, and a modern addition
built about 1627, extending at right angles from its eastern side, the whole
forming a large commanding edifice. The structure was accidentally destroyed
by fire in the year 1757, leaving a ruin which time has since been gradually
desolating; and all the beautiful wood that once surrounded it, with the
ornamental grounds and approaches, have nearly disappeared. The old house of
Ladyland, with the exception of a small portion, was demolished in
1815; but in the following year, an elegant and spacious mansion was built
on the estate, which is situated on a gentle eminence, and adorned with some
thriving plantations, intermixed with fine old trees. The village consists
principally of a long street lying along the right bank of the river
Garnock, and a shorter one extending westward from its upper end. Its
general appearance is neat, clean, and interesting: many of the houses,
which are of a light-coloured freestone, have been recently built; and the
population, amounting to 1500 or 1600, has been doubled within the last
twenty years, through the progress of manufactures in the locality. The
houses are mostly lighted with gas, procured partly from a power-loom
manufactory, and partly from the works of Mr. John Allan, erected at his own
expense, and capable of supplying half the village.
In the beginning of the present century, a small cotton factory was
established, which, being burnt down in 1831, was rebuilt on an enlarged
scale. This establishment, in 1834, was sold to a Glasgow merchant, who
converted it into a spinning power-loom manufactory, on an extensive
footing; the machinery is driven by two steam-engines, and the works employ
altogether 350 persons. In 1834, also, a mill was erected for the spinning
of flax; the machinery is impelled by steampower, and the works employ 150
hands. On the opposite side of the river is a bleachfield, in full
operation, where about 140,000lb. of linen thread-yarn are annually bleached
for the manufacturers of Beith, besides which, 90,000lb. of coloured thread
are finished, the whole engaging from 90 to 100 hands. The proprietors have
recently erected, near these works, a mill for spinning flax. About 160
hand-loom weavers, also, reside here, who are engaged in the usual kinds of
work given by the Glasgow and Paisley manufacturers, and 150 females are
occupied in ornamental work on muslin. A ropework is likewise in operation,
employing twenty men and boys; the produce is sold chiefly at Paisley.
A subpost office, situated
in the village, communicates with Beith twice a day; the turnpike-road from
Dalry to Lochwinnoch runs in a north-eastern direction across the lower part
of the parish, and another, to Largs, intersects it on the west. There are
also two good parish roads, and several bridges, opening easy communication
in every direction. The Glasgow and Ayr railway proceeds to the south, on
the eastern verge of Kilbirnie loch, where the line attains its summit
level, which is seventy feet above the Glasgow terminus, and nineteen miles
from that station; it then continues its course on the east of the Garnock
river. The agricultural produce of the parish is disposed of at Paisley,
Glasgow, and several neighbouring places. A fair called Brinnan's, a term
corrupted from the name of St. Brandane, the apostle of the Orkneys, is held
on the third Wednesday in May, O. S., and being the largest horsemarket in
the west of Scotland, is attended by a great concourse of people. Coopers'
work and culinary utensils are also sold at it in great quantities, and
general business is transacted extensively. A fair held on the first Tuesday
in July, and one on the last Tuesday in October, have dwindled away.
The parish is in the presbytery of Irvine and synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and
in the patronage of the Earl of
Eglinton: the minister's stipend is
£193, with a manse, and a glebe of nearly nine acres, valued at £18 per
annum. The church, situated about half a mile south of the village, is one
of the most ancient in the west of Scotland, the body of it having been
built a considerable time before the Reformation. An aisle, called the
Glengarnock aisle, bears the date of 1597; but it is considered to be a
much more recent addition. The most modern part of the structure is the
Craufurd gallery, erected opposite to the aisle, in 1654, by
Sir John Craufurd,
according to an inscription, in relief, over one of the windows. The church
has long been an object of interest to the antiquary and others, on account
of the rich carvings in oak, profusely displayed on this gallery and on the
pulpit, the former of which also exhibits the armorial bearings of twelve of
the ancestors of John, first viscount
Garnock, by whose order the edifice
was repaired, and the ornamental work executed, about the year 1700. In the
churchyard is the tomb of captain
Thomas Craufurd, of Jordanhill, who
performed the remarkable exploit of storming the castle of Dumbarton in
1571: the monument, built of sandstone, is nine feet long and six wide, and
through an aperture in the east end are faintly seen the recumbent statues
of the captain in a military garb, and of his lady in the costume of the
times. There is a place of worship in the village for the Reformed
Presbytery, and the members of the Free Church, also, have a place of
worship.
The parochial school
affords instruction in Latin, Greek, practical mathematics, and
book-keeping, in addition to the usual branches; the master has a salary of
£25. 13. 4., with a school-house and dwelling, erected in 1823, two acres of
land, and about £42 fees. A subscription library was established in 1820,
and now contains upwards of 500 volumes. A society was instituted a few
years since for granting relief in sickness, called "the Kilbirnie
Gardeners' Society;" it has above 100 members, and £100 stock.
The chief relic of
antiquity is the ruin of Glengarnock Castle, situated on a
precipitous ridge overhanging the river Garnock, about two miles north of
Kilbirnie. The date of the erection of this extensive fortification is
uncertain; but it is conjectured to have existed in the time of
the de Morevilles.
From: A
Topographical Dictionary of Scotland (1846)
and .co.uk