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Irvine Historical Tour
HISTORICAL TOUR of IRVINE,
AYRSHIRE
a walking tour around our Ancient and Royal Burgh
Original
tour sponsored by North Ayrshire Council, Alysons Flowers, Remax Estate Agents
and King World Travel
Updated tour (in preparation) sponsored by Vindogara Software and Irvine Burns
Club [contact info @ irvineburnsclub . org for details (omitting
the spaces)]
the
numbers here can
also be clicked: 1 Burns Museum 2 Bachelor's Walk 3 Elephant Inn 4 Seagate 5 Seagate Castle 6 The Black Man 7 Robert Burns Statue 8 Gallows 9 Churches 10 Friar's Croft 11 Trades Pillar 12 Irvine Bridge 13 Grannie Stane 14 Puddlie Doodlie 15 Old Grammar School 16 Mortuary 17 Parish Church 18-41 Churchyard headstones
42 St. Inan's Well 43 Powder House 44 Tanzie Well 45 Red Cross House 46 Townhead 47 Glasgow Vennel 48 Buchanites 49 Rabbie's House 50 Hecklin Shop
hover
over the numbers on the map - clicking on some will lead you to extra
information
51 Parterre 52 Orange Hall 53 War Memorial 54 Old Police Station
55 Town House 56 Edgar Allan Poe 57 Trinity Church 58 Masonic Lodge 59 Eglinton Arms Hotel
60 Purdie's Close 61 Pawkie's Close 62 John Galt's House
Address Eglinton Street, Irvine (at the Provost's lamps)
Opening hours
For the walking tour - open at the start of each tour
Other openings - April to September - Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat. 2.30-4.30 pm
October to March - Saturdays only - 2.30-4.30 pm Admission free Exhibits: for the walking tour - audio-visual on Burns in Irvine
(11 minutes)
At other openings - manuscripts, honorary members' letters, stained glass window,
etc, in addition Website: www.irvineburnsclub.org
In 1626, Irvine
Burgh Council gave £100 towards the refurbishment of Glasgow University.
In 1655, during an outbreak of smallpox in Glasgow, students
came here to avoid the disease.
There was a castle
in Irvine in 1184, in the form of a wooden tower on a 'motte', the location
of which is not known. The first stone Seagate Castle probably dates to the
1360s, constructed by Sir Hew of Eglinton. The greater part of the third and
still surviving castle, incorporating the 14th century square stone tower, was
built by Hugh, 3rd Earl of Eglinton (1564-85), possibly in 1565,
after his marriage to Margaret Drummond. We intend to add a photo in due course.
David Boyle, born
at the Parterre House in Irvine in 1772, was Lord Justice Clerk 1811-41 and
Lord Justice General and President of the Court of Session 1841-52; he died
in 1853. The statue, sculpted by Sir John Steele, was erected in 1867
in the middle of the street between the Parterre and the Town House, and was
moved to its present location at Seagatefoot in 1929.
Robert Burns lived
in Irvine in 1781-82, "learning something of town life" and coming
to the realisation that his poetry was of sufficient merit to be published.
The statue, sculpted by Pittendreigh McGillivray, was donated by James Spiers
and erected in 1896 on the centenary of his death.
Further information is at www.irvineburnsclub.org - see the
page about the statue.
The donor is mentioned below, at no.26 in the churchyard headstones.
A hill on the outskirts
of the town (on the original road to Bartonholm and across the river to Saltcoats)
served as a site for gallows, and for the burning of witches at the stake in
1650 (12 in March, and 5 in June). In 1813, 31 unemployed men were given work
levelling the Gallows Knowe prior to the construction of the new Academy. The
Gallowsknoll (at £15 per annum) and the Low Green were still being leased
for pasture by the Burgh agricultural committee in 1908.
Three churches
are visible from this point -
Fullarton Church (built in 1844 as Fullarton Free Church),
Mure Church (built in 1849 as the Irvine Free Church; in 1900
it became the Mure United Free Church), and
St Mary's R. C. Church (built in 1883).
In the mid
14th century, one of the Fullarton family gave land to the Carmelite
Friars (the White Friars). Their priory was one of ten Carmelite houses in Scotland.
The church properties were feued by the last prior in 1558,
and demolition of the buildings must have soon followed, as nothing remained
by 1600. It had existed for about 200 years.
This eight-sided
pillar was erected in 1996 on the 350th anniversary of the
granting of a common seal to the seven trade guilds of medieval Irvine in 1646.
We will add details of the seven trades in due course.
(In the photo,
the bridge is just beyond the people standing in the street. To
enlarge the picture, click it, then use the Back button to return.)
Though Ayr had a bridge from 1236, Irvine seems not to have, and historian John
Strawhorn ('The History of Irvine', John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1985) suggests
the first timber structure may have been built in the 14th century,
especially as the burgesses could build a tolbooth at that time (1386).
The first stone bridge may have been about 1500 (the first mention
of Bridgegate is in 1506), and certainly before 1533. In 1578, the whole of
Ayrshire was required to contribute to its repair. In 1589 and afterwards the
burgh levied tolls on those crossing it, for repairing the 'decayit brig'. A
few years later, Timothy Pont mentioned Irvine's 'fair stone bridge'. Transporting
coal across the bridge was prohibited in 1695, after which carts had to use
a nearby ford.
Increasing trade led to a new bridge being built in 1748-53
(though only 11 feet wide, as wheeled vehicles were still uncommon), with four
semi-circular arches each of forty feet span, at a cost of £350.
The council obtained parliamentary consent for widening the bridge in
1826, and this was done, to a width of 25 feet; the pontage tolls had
paid for the improvement, and were removed by 1850.
It was provided with iron latticework sides in 1887, widening
it to 38 ft.
The bridge was closed on 10 June 1973, and demolished to make
way for a £5million shopping centre. Many residents of Irvine believe
that the shopping centre could, under less brutalist planners, have easily incorporated
the old bridge as an attractive and functional centre-piece.
Described as "one
of Irvine's prehistoric puzzles", this boulder is either left behind from
the Ice Age or is the last remaining stone of a stone circle - others were removed,
by blasting, after the weir was constructed in 1895, but popular protests saved
this remaining stone. Pleasure boats and bathing were introduced. The Grannie
Stane is visible when the water is low. It is unlikely to have gained its name
from various similar sounding Roman and Celtic deities. See the next item also.
According to tradition,
this ford, the Puddleford, was the site of a skirmish between Wallace and the
English - there is no evidence that Wallace was present, but the tradition gained
credibility when repeated as fact in the 1920s. An interesting possible origin
of the name is as 'holy steps' ('pas de Dieu'), the stepping stones by which
the monks from the Carmelite Priory made their way to Church. Some of the stepping
stones may have come from the stones later removed, of which the Granny Stane
is the last survivor. Use of the Puddleford by horses was prohibited in 1836
to safeguard access to the Puddly Well, one of the public wells all of which
were repaired at about that time.
15:
Old Grammar School (site of) (1572 - 1750 - 1816, plus notes about
its successors)
We know that the
burgh had some responsibility for the upkeep of a school in 1560. In
1572, a burgh school at Kirkgatehead was endowed; it continued there
until 1816. Throughout the 18th century the council consistently sought to provide
good schooling - they paid the schoolmaster the maximum salary plus other fees
and income, they employed extra members of staff, they improved the old building
in 1724, after 1750 they completely rebuilt it, giving it two large rooms either
side of a vestibule with a bell turret, and they added an extension in 1783.
John Galt attended this school in 1787 for two years, and Edgar Allan Poe in
the school's last year (1815-16). After 1816, the building was occupied by two
free schools, by weavers, and from 1860 by the fire brigade; the line of its
gable end can be seen in the adjoining building. The burgh school was replaced
by an academy. The old building was demolished, by then boarded up, in the 1960s
prior to the extension of the church hall (1968).
In 1813, the Town
Council granted land at the north side of the town for a new Academy. Thirty-one
unemployed men were given work levelling the Gallows knoll. The foundation stone
was laid on 22nd April 1814, for the building designed by David Hamilton of
Glasgow, opened in July 1816, when it was decreed that there
should be a "Holiday to the Pupils in all time coming" each 10th December,
the birthday of Hugh, 12th Earl of Eglinton. In 1818 a royal charter was obtained
by the earl in his own right and as provost.
In 1900 this school
was demolished and pupils were accommodated in halls until the completion of
a new building, costing £16,000, designed by local architect John Armour.
Now named Sovereign House, facing onto the Northern Approach Road, it was officially
opened in December 1901 by the Earl of Eglinton, great-grandson
of the earl who had opened the first Academy. It was proudly designated Irvine
Royal Academy, a title only occasionally used before, by those who remembered
the royal grant to the burgh school in 1572 and the royal charter of 1818.
The Mortuary at
Kirkgatehead was set up in 1908, as one of several innovations organised by
the Town Council of that time. During the First World War, in about 1917, it
was converted into a bath house for the Royal Engineers billeted in the Church
Hall. Later used as a store by the Church, it is now bricked up.
18: The Rev. Charles
Bannatyne (last minister of the old church 1751-73)
19: The Rev. James Richmond (first minister of the present church 1774-1804)
20: Provost John Glasgow (thrice Provost: 1742-44, 1746-48, 1750-52) (1764,
the oldest legible stone)
21: Hugh Nisbet and spouse (1596)
22: Surgeon John Fletcher, a resurrectionist (1798-1830)
23: James Steedman, inventor of the screw propeller (1790-1865) (see our special
article, 'Who Invented the Screw Propeller?',
then use Close X button to get back here)
24: Burgess John Thomson, a butcher (1688)
25: James Holmes and Elizabeth Turner (d.1918), maternal great grandparents
of Tony Benn, Labour politician
26: John Spiers, donor of the Burns Statue (see no.7 above)
(d. 1899)
27: Jean Spirling (1790-1870), cousin of the novelist John Galt (see no.62)
28: Provost Charles Hamilton (five times Provost: 1758-60, 1762-64, 1768-70,
1772-74, 1776-78, 1780-82) (d.1783), Provost at the time Robert Burns lived
in Irvine
29: Dr Charles Fleeming, who made several visits to the ill Robert Burns
30: Mary Allan (1778-1851), 'aunt' to Edgar Allan Poe in Irvine in 1815
31: Bailie Robert Fullarton (d.1835), the model for Provost Pawkie in John Galt's
novel 'The Provost'
32: Patrick Hunter (1732-1802), involved with the Buchanites in Irvine
33: Bailie David Sillar (d. 1830), referred to by Burns as 'Dainty Davie', first
vice-president of Irvine Burns Club
34: Bailie Thomas Cumming (d. 1509), possibly the oldest stone in the churchyard
35: Annie Mitchel (d. 1882, aged 7) after a tragic accident
36: <name unknown> (d. 1597), a stone from the previous Kirk
37: Rev. Patrick Boyle (1717-1798), son of the 2nd Earl of Glasgow
38: Duncan Macmillan (1770-1823), father of the publisher who set up Macmillan
Press in London, and great grandfather of Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister 1957-63
39: Helen Miller (d.1827), one of the Belles of Mauchline described by Robert
Burns, and wife of Dr John Mackenzie, the doctor who tended the poet's father
and was first President of Irvine Burns Club
40: French Sailors / Irvine Seamen, a stone set up after a shipwreck at Irvine
harbour mouth in 1876
41: the martyrs James Blackwood and John McCoul, Covenanters executed in 1666
The Powder House
was probably first constructed about 1642, following an edict by King James
VI instructing all Royal Burghs to provide 'Pouther Magazines'. Records show
that orders for large quantities of gunpowder were met in 1643, 1644 and 1646.
Saltpetre was locally manufactured from deposits in byres, stables and doocots,
then stored in the safety of the Powder House, for use by the military in the
Royal Burgh of Irvine. In 1781, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, plans were
made to rebuild it, and this was done by 1801. In 1880, the town council formally
discontinued use of the Powder House. Restoration was carried out in 1924, using
slates saved by Provost R M Hogg from the demolition of the old wash-house on
the Golffields - a rescue assisted by Rev. Henry Ranken of the Old Parish Church.
It was again repaired in 1961, and in 1992 it was again restored, this time
by Irvine Common Good Fund with assistance from Enterprise Ayrshire.
On the adjoining
slopes, the Powderhouse Brae, the Methodist missionary George Whitefield preached
to an assembly of 5000 in 1742, at the start of the period of church secessions
in Scotland. His preaching stimulated an evangelical enthusiasm which ultimately
led to the formation of the Relief Church ten years later, in 1752. It initially
met at the Golffields and in 1773 opened its own church on West Road.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, pigeon dung provided a major source of
saltpetre for the making of gunpowder. Until a better source of saltpetre was
found, it was strictly forbidden to put hard floors in dovecotes. The saltpetre
(potassium nitrate) was made by mixing the pigeon dung with earth, lime and
ashes – don’t do this at home (says the Herefordshire Sites and
Monuments Record). The saltpetre was then mixed with charcoal and sulphur to
produce gunpowder. There is an excellent summary on the history of gunpowder
at www.stories.historians.co.uk/gunpowder.html
