A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
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A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Dalrymple, a village and a parish on the SW border of Kyle district, Ayrshire. The village, a pleasant little place, stands on the right bank of the Doon, 9 furlongs SE of Dalrymple station on the Ayr and Girvan section of the Glasgow and South-Western, this being 4¼ miles SSE of Ayr, under which it has a post office. Near it is a pirn mill, supplying the Paisley Anchor Thread Co. Pop. (1861) 261, (1871) 309, (1881) 300. The parish, containing also Skeldon Mills, is bounded NW by Ayr, NE and E by Coylton, SE by Dalmellington, S by Straiton and Kirkmichael, and W by Maybole. Its utmost length, from WNW to ESE, is 71/8 miles; its breadth, from NE to SW, varies between 1¼ and 4¼ miles; and its area is 7960 acres, of which 127¼ are water. The 'bonny Doon,' running amidst alternations of bold and wooded banks and fertile haughs, winds 10¾ miles west-north-westward along all the Kirkmichael and Maybole boundary; and Loch Martnaham, with utmost length and breadth of 1¼ and ¼ mile, lies on the Coylton border 290 feet above sea-level, and sends off a rivulet south-westward to the Doon. In the interior are Lochs Snipe (1½ x ½ furl.) and Kerse (3 x 1 furl.). Where the Doon quits the parish, near Macmannieston, the surface sinks to 120 feet above sea-level, thence rising to 305 near Balsarroch, 379 near Merkland, 417 near Benston, 533 at Laurieston, 545 at Knockshinnoch, 1112 at Bow Hill, and 1406 at Kilmein Hill-little rounded eminences that command extensive and varied views over land and firth to Arran, Ben Lomond, and the Grampians. The rocks are partly eruptive, but chiefly Devonian and carboniferous; and limestone and ironstone are worked. The soil on a few of the eminences is barren clay, on most is argillaceous loam, and on the lands along the streams and lochs is a sandy or gravelly loam. Some 1900 acres are hill pasture or meadow, about 500 are under wood, and all the rest of the land is arable. The chief antiquities are remains of three Caledonian forts and traces of the Roman road to Ayr. Dalrymple barony, belonging in the 13th century to a family of its own name, from which are descended the Earls of Stair, passed in 1371-77 to John Kennedy of Dunure, ancestor of the Marquis of Ailsa and Earl of Cassillis, who is at present chief proprietor. Mansions are Skeldon and Hollybush; and 4 proprietors besides the Marquis hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500, and 5 of from £20 to £50. Dalrymple is in the presbytery of Ayr and synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £394. The church, near the village, was built in 1849. There is also a Free church (1863); and Dalrymple public school and the Dalmellington Iron-works school at Kerse, with respective accommodation for 150 and 165 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 129 and 135, and grants of £107,9s. and £101,13s. Valuation (1882) £11,742, 11s. 8d., plus £4451 for railways. Pop. (1801) 514, (1831) 964, (1861) 1325, (1871) 1412, (1881) 1362.—Ord. Sur., sh. 14,1863.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a village and a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Dalrymple ScoP Ayrshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Dalrymple |
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