Notes on the way
through Ayrshire - 100 years
ago
DAILLY PARISH
West of Straiton. The
village of Dailly.
Thomas Thomson,
Law of Scotland antiquary, was born in the Manse of Dailly, 1768.
On the death of Sir Walter Scott,
in 1832, Thomson succeeded him as president of the Bannatyne Club.
Died 1852.
Dalquharran Castle,
a fine residence, occupies the opposite side of the water, and the ruins
of two ancient castles are close by. The Right Hon. Thomas
Francis Kennedy of Dalquharran, born
1789; M.P. for Ayr Burghs, 1818-34; a Lord of the Treasury, 1833-4;
Privy Councillor, 1837. Died here in 1879, aged 90. The seat of
Kilkerran, with its large pleasure-ground and gardens, is two and a
half miles up the water. Sir James
Fergusson, Lord
Kilkerran, second Baronet,
born 1688, and Sir James
Fergusson, K.C.M.G., sixth
Baronet of Kilkerran, born 1832, have made the name illustrious.
The hamlet of KILGRAMMIE,
with public school, is the
Earl of Stair, stands two miles
below the village. Bargany Mains is notable as the birthplace of
two poets. The Rev. Hamilton Paul,
an early and enthusiastic editor and biographer of
Burns, was born here April 10, 1773.
At Glasgow University he had Thomas Campbell
for a class-mate. In 1800 he published "Paul’s Epistles to Female
Students in Anderson’s Institution," and is the author also of a
few songs. In 1813 he was ordained minister of Broughton, Peeblesshire;
and in 1819 was published at Ayr his edition of the Poems and
Songs of Burns, with Memoir. Died February 28, 1854, aged 81. Hugh
Ainslie, poet, was born under the
same roof, 1792 ; obtained employment in the Register House,
Edinburgh; published in 1820 "A Pilgrimage to the Land of Burns;
" in 1822 went to the United States, where he was employed as a
commercial traveller; and in 1855 published his " Scottish Songs,
Ballads, and Poems." Died at Louisville, 1578, aged 86.
Killochan Castle
and Penkill Castle are seats in the lower end of the parish; and
not a great way from them are the
ruined Church and Churchyard of Old
Dailly, containing the grave and monument of two
martyrs of 1685 . There is no
village.
" I pass Old
Dailly, lonely-looking spot : A few small stones appear above the graves
Of those who are
below. How soon they are forgot ! That aged tree so solemnly that waves,
Has witnessed many a
tear and many a sigh, And many a striving for the hope that saves
From cold despair.
How sad it is to die ! How mournful in the silent grave to lie !
"
The parish of Dailly
contains most of the Girvan Valley coal field, ascertained to be
about four miles long by half-a-mile broad. The seams in descent
are:.-Main coal, 10 to 12 feet in thickness; little coal, 3 to 4 feet;
Ailsa Craig belongs
to this parish. It is a great conical rock, two miles in circumference
and 1114 feet high, standing alone in the sea, 10 miles west of the
shore at Girvan. It is the native home of innumerable sea-fowl, many
rabbits, and some wild goats. A lighthouse and two fog signal houses were
erected on it in 1884-85, at a cost of £25,000, and are attended by four
keepers. Previous to 1884 it contained only the dwelling of a solitary
tenant and his family on the beach, and the ruins of a square castle
of three stories at a considerable height up the rock, built, we suppose,
about the end of the sixteenth century, by Hugh
Barclay of Ladyland, Kilbirnie, as a
place of refuge and defence for some of the then persecuted Roman Catholic
clergy.
Ailsa Craig 1846
AILSA CRAIG, an island belonging to the parish of Dailly, in the district
of Carrick, county of Ayr. This island lies in the Frith of Clyde, between
the shores of Ayrshire and Cantyre, from the former of which it is distant
eight miles; it is a rugged rock, about two miles in circumference at its
base, rising precipitously from the sea, to an elevation of 1100 feet, and
accessible only on the north-east side, where a small beach has been
constructed. The rock is basaltic, and in several parts assumes the
columnar formation: at a considerable elevation, are the remains of
ancient buildings, supposed to have been originally a castle, with a
chapel. A small portion of its surface affords a scanty pasturage; but it
is frequented only by various aquatic birds, of which the most numerous
are the solan geese; and the sole income arising from the island, is
derived from the sale of feathers, for the collection of which, during the
season, a person resides on the spot. It was in contemplation, some time
since, to make this island a fishing station, for the supply of Glasgow
and Liverpool by the numerous steamers which pass this way, and the
erection of some buildings for that purpose was commenced, but the idea
was subsequently abandoned. The island gives the British titles of
Marquess and Baron to the family of Kennedy, who are the owners of the
property.
From: A Topographical
Dictionary of Scotland (1846)
Contributed to Ayrshire Rootsweb by Mary Muir
[mmuir@aebc.com]
I thought this remark from the
1841
census of Dailly might interest some people. It was found after the
first enumeration district. It is as follows:
The south district of the
Parish of Dailly of which I have been enumerator, is mountainous and
chiefly pastoral, the houses of course much scattered, the length that has
been allocated to me is estimated at 6 and the breath at 3.5 miles. The
numerous antiquities however which abound amply demonstrate that at one
period this part of the parish has been more thickly studded with the
habitations of man. I shall briefly notice a few of the more interesting
of these ancient remains. At the western extremity of this district and
about three miles from Dailly stand the roofless walls of
Old Dailly
Church pleasantly situated and surrounded by aged trees. It used to be
the parish church till about 1750 when it was thought necessary to remove
the church to it's present situation at Dailly, the centre of the parish.
Old Dailly was then a considerable village, but now scarcely a house
remains to mark where it stood. The church has been a long and narrow
building, the doors and windows very small. The summit of the northern
gable still displays the cross a token of its antiquity. In the north end
of the building is the tomb of the Bargany
family, and to the north west that of Kilochan.
In the vestry is a moss covered stone bearing an antique latin inscription
in memory of Patrick Crawford
for eighteen years minister of the parish. It is to be regretted that no
date appears on the stone. Several of our zealous forefathers who suffered
death in the cause of religion have found a resting place here. The
church yard is still used as a burying ground. Half a mile east we
next meet the ruins of
Penkill Castle, once the principal residence
of the Boyds of Penkill and Trochraigue.
It stands on a promontory which projects into the beautiful and romantic Glen
of Penwhapple, till within these last few years a triangular stone was
visible in front of building bearing the initials T. B. M. M and also the
date of erection 1642 but a portion of the front wall having fallen
along with this ancient memorial it has either been carried away or
destroyed. From its situation and appearance it must have been a place of
great strength but the "tooth of time" and also the ruthless
hand of man has done much to impare its stability. It is nearly a century
since it was inhabited. The celebrated Zachary
Boyd D.D. was descended from this family and
probably once resided here. Proceeding again about a mile and in a meadow
on the farm of Knockgirran, the ruins of the ancient catholic
church of Altichapel are traced. Formerly it must have been a place of
vast consequense and it has consisted of several connected buildings, but
nearly all the stones have been carried away for this purposes. It is said
that a church yard also existed here; which is very probable the of a
mudwall being still visible at considerable distance on the east and south
sides and although its surface appears even yet from the soft nature of
the soil the amical action of the scythe we might naturaly infer that it
become so in the course of years. A small streamlet surrounds it on two
sides which tradition says still retains its consecrated influences. I
shall conclude by noticing the _ench Hill which forms the highest part of
the range of the Hadget Hills south of Dailly. It has received its
name no doubt from its summit having been Fortified. The traces of two
walls of stone and mud are still to be seen and are supposed to be erected
by Robert Bruce
after his return from Arran and whose Maternal Castle of
Turnbery is within sight and only a few miles distant. The view from
it is both varied and extensive commanding even the coast of Ireland, the
Mull of Cantyne, the firth of Clyde with Ailsa, Arran, Bute & c and of
course would be a place of great resort in those perilous times. It is
also to be absened that in the tops of several of neighbouring hills
cairns or large collections of stones are met with which must have cast an
immense labour to place them in their present situation but whether they
for defence or over the grave of some warrior or chief or formed part of
the ancient Beacon or are the remains of Druidical superstitions would
perhaps be difficult to determine.
Daniel Mackie
June 1841
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