Notes on the way through
Ayrshire - 100 years ago
DUNDONALD PARISH
On the shore, north of
Monkton. The village of Dundonald stands three and a-half miles
north-east of Troon, one mile and a quarter south of Drybridge
Railway Station, in a landscape beautiful with cultivated fields and
wooded heights, and, together with the ruin of its old Royal Castle,
on the top of a little hill adjacent, it presents a fine primeval
picture. It has Established and Free Churches, a public school, and
a post office. Population (1871), 277.
Dundonald Castle
is in the very old Scottish order of architecture, being a square tower
of several stories, each story consisting of only one room, and the
walls of a prodigious thickness. The first and second stories are still
standing-the second one being remembered traditionally as the King’s
room. Dr. Johnson,
on his tour with Boswell,
is said to have made the ruin ring with laughter at the idea of a
Scottish monarch being contented with such narrow accommodation; and we
Scotch, too, may be disposed to laughter, but it is the laughter of
loyal love for monarchs who honestly regarded their office as a divine
institution for the national good and prosperity, and not one for the
mere worship of useless expense like Turkish and other barbarous
monarchies. Scottish monarchs of that early period - and they have not
yet quite lost their character - it is certain were not to any
considerable extent an imitation of vulgar Eastern rulers, but were, in
the main, a continuation of the aboriginal clan chief, who was quite
above the notion of accumulating property for his own personal use, that
he might prove his superiority to his subjects by more expensive living.
They possessed large estates, nominally private property ; but the
existence of this and other similar towers, in which they were content
to live, shows that they did not make a private use of them. Robert
II., King of Scotland, First of
the Royal House of Stuart,
was the only child of Walter
Stewart, High Steward of Scotland,
by his wife, the Princess Marjory
Bruce, daughter of King
Robert Bruce,
and was born March 2, 1316. It was he who lived at the Castle
of Dundonald. At the age of 23, and while he was yet a subject of
the Crown, he married Elizabeth,
daughter of Sir Alexander Mure of
Rowallan, Kilmarnock. Fordun, who
lived at the same time, says- " He was a comely youth, tall and
robust, liberal, gay, and courteous; and for the innate sweetness of his
disposition, generally beloved by true-hearted Scotchmen." By this
marriage he had four sons and six daughters, and by his second marriage,
two sons and four daughters. At his father’s death he succeeded to the
office of High Steward of Scotland
; and, conjointly with the Earl of
Moray, was appointed Regent
of the
Kingdom during the minority of his
uncle, David II.,
son of King Robert Bruce
by his second marriage. When David
was taken prisoner at the battle of Neville’s Cross, 1346, the
Steward was again appointed Regent; and during the 11 years’ captivity
of the King administered the affairs of the Kingdom with remarkable
sagacity. The release of the King was procured in 1357 ; and on
his death in 1371, Stewart
of Dundonald was proclaimed King
by the title of Robert II.,
in accordance with the destination of the Crown settled by the Scotch
Parliament held at Ayr on the 26th of April, 1315. During his
reign several hostile movements were made across the Borders by both
nations ; and on the 19th of August, 1388, was fought the
determined battle of Otterburn, or Chevy Chase, in which
the Scotch were the victors. Shortly after this proud event,
King Robert, getting old and
infirm, retired from public duty, and lived in peaceful seclusion at
Dundonald, where he died, April 19th, 1390, in the 75th year of
his age and 19th of his reign. It may be explained that the
office of Steward or Stewart of Scotland
was held by so many generations of the same wise and clever family, that
the name of the office came to be regarded also as the family surname.
The change in the spelling from Stewart
to Stuart was
made by Queen Mary,
with the object, it would seem, of suiting it to the style of her French
tutor.
TROON,
the modern chief town of the parish, is a seaport and watering
place, and stands on a promontory six miles north of Ayr. The
promontory, which is about a quarter of a mile broad, and somewhat
rocky, extends fully a mile into the sea, curving to the right, and
forming a picturesque natural harbour, improved by extensive works
constructed about the beginning of this century. The Kilmarnock
and Troon Railway, the first in Scotland, but now reconstructed,
runs to the outer end of the promontory, which is occupied with offices
and other buildings connected with shipping. The town is built on a plan
partly rectangular and partly crescent, suiting the circle of the south
sands, and contains a number of handsome streets, with numerous neatly
built villas and cottages, garnished with flower and other gardens, and
is a healthy resort for sea bathers. It has a post office (with
telegraph, money order, insurance, annuity, and savings bank); British
Linen Company and Union Banks; a large public school; Established, Free,
and United Presbyterian Churches ; railway station, half-a-mile to the
east ; and its chief industries are shipbuilding and sailmaking.
Population in 1871, 2790; in 1881, 2387.
John Kelso Hunter,
artist and litterateur, was born in the parish, December 15th, 1802.
In his childhood he herded; in his youth he served his apprenticeship to
the shoemaking; and after that, he worked at the shoes and at fine art
painting alternately, varying the alternation subsequently with literary
work. As a portrait painter he acquired considerable fame ; and late in
life he published "Retrospect of an Artist’s Life," "
Memorials of West Country Men and Manners," and "Life Studies
of Character." Mr. Hunter,
as an artist and cobbler, worked first in Kilmarnock, and
latterly in Glasgow. For a racy account of his life, see his
"Retrospect." Died February 3, 1873.
THE VILLAGE OF
LOANS is one mile and a-half east of Troon. Fullarton
House, Curreath House, Hillhouse, Auchans
House, Newfield House,
Fairlie House, and Shewalton House, are the chief seats.
Shewalton
has been rendered famous by Patrick
Boyle, Lord Shewalton, son of
David, first Earl of Glasgow; born
1690 ; raised to the bench by the title of Lord Shewalton, 1746; died 1746.
Also, the Right Hon. David Boyle;
born July 22, 1771 ; M.P. for Ayrshire, 1793; Lord
Justice-General of Scotland, 1841; died February 4, 1853.
FULLARTON
stands in a loop of the Irvine, about five miles north of Troon.
It now forms part of Irvine Burgh, to which it is linked by two
bridges. A post office, public school, and Established and Free Churches
are in it. Population, 3990.
The parish contains
coal, sandstone, and also whetstone. The surface rises in the centre to
low hills, and, with the exception of a level strip along the shore: is
embellished with belts and clumps of plantation, and is properly
cultivated. Its length from Irvine River along the shore, south
to the Rumbling Burn, is seven and a-half miles; breadth,
six miles. Area (including Lady Isle, which lies two and a-half
miles south-west of Troon promontory), 12,365 acres. Population, 8086.
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