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gateway to the life and the history of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland - information pages presented by Irvine Burns Club - |
 Walking
Tour ::: Irvine Burns Club ::: Marymass
Festival ::: Links pageMap of Irvine (with parking, supermarkets, toilets, station, & hotels) ::: Parish Church windows Harbour Arts Centre history ::: St Michael's Academy ::: other Irvines new! - Old Irvine - picture show by Crawford Fulton also see North Ayrshire's Flicker archive For Robert Burns and Irvine, return to Irvine Burns Club home page |
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Irvine, Scotland, created a Royal Burgh in 1372 by Robert II, was a major West of Scotland seaport before the dredging of the Clyde. In the 18th c., it was the largest burgh in Ayrshire (1775: pop. 3000). Today, Irvine hosts part of the Scottish Maritime Museum, the HQ of North Ayrshire Council, and Ardagh (Rockware Glass). The town enjoys a vibrant community spirit (with active Burns Club, two Rotary Clubs and Trades Guilds incorporated in 1646), and a week-long Marymass Festival in August. Robert Burns worked here in 1781-82. Irvine's burgh status ended in 1975 with local government reorganisation. The population of Irvine is about 22,000. Apart from Irvine Scotland, there are other towns named Irvine. This site also contains the story of the volunteer-led years of the Harbour Arts Centre (1965-2007), details of the town walking tour, and the 86-year history of the now-demolished St Michael's Academy (in Irvine and Kilwinning, 1921-2007). |
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photos: Irvine harbour - the Maritime Museum pontoons with the dome of The Big Idea Inventor Centre (now closed) in the background - and, if you mouse over, a harbour sunset (photos I J Dickson)
A scene on a riverside path (near Holmsford Bridge) |
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 The new bridge by night |
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photos: The new bridge ('Foulertoun Arches') during construction in Jan. 2010, the noon (-4C) after the coldest night (7-8/01/2010) and (if you mouse over) bank to bank ice on the River Irvine on the same day (photos I J Dickson) |
A pdf Magic Lantern Show prepared for Irvine Inspire by Crawford Fulton
a few extra history pages: Town
and Gown | Places of Burns interest
| Old Parish Church windows
Site management by Vindogara Software.
-- Vindogara was a town in this area in Roman times, named by the geographer
Ptolemy (2nd c. AD) --
Many people get a mention on this site - Pittendrigh Macgillivray, sculptor of the Robert Burns statue in Irvine, John Galt, the novelist, David Sillar, friend of Burns, William Motherwell, the Paisley poet and journalist, William Tennant, the distinguished linguist, and A J Balfour (Viscount Traprain), to name but a few out of perhaps three hundred. We add new material regularly, with the result that on each return visit you should always find something new. We also include a good selection of links to sites within and outwith Scotland.
Our map of Irvine Click here for a handy-to-print PDF version You may print copies - on the sole condition that the copyright notice at its foot is not removed. |
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The Blaeu Atlas, 1654, at http://www.nls.uk/digitallibrary/map/early/blaeu/938.html, comments "At the northern boundary, the Irvine, which too has a bridge of four arches, divides it from Cunningham. At the mouth of the River Irvine is positioned the burgh of Irvine with a harbour so enclosed by sandbanks and with so little depth that it can take only smaller ships."
