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100 Years Ago
(Notes on the way - Through
Ayrshire)
Irvine Parish
WEST of Dreghorn. The town of Irvine
stands on Irvine River, near its mouth, in the centre of Irvine Bay,
six and a half miles west of Kilmarnock, 11 miles north of Ayr, and 29 1/2
miles south-west of Glasgow. It is bisected by the river, and connected by
a spacious stone bridge, and also an elegant new footbridge-the section on
the left side, bearing the names of Halfway and Fullarton,
being in Dundonald parish. It is a Parliamentary burgh - uniting
with Ayr, Campbelton, Inverary, and Oban in returning a member - and is
one of the oldest royal burghs of Scotland, having been chartered by King
Robert Bruce in 1308. Ranks
in size and importance in the county next to Ayr and Kilmarnock, and its
ancient and modern architectural features and spacious plan show grace and
dignity suitable to its rank. Population in
1871, 6886; in
1881,
8517. It has waterworks, constructed at a cost of £40,000; a Town Hall,
an Academy, three primary public schools, an industrial school, two
Established Churches, two Free Churches, two United Presbyterian Churches,
a Baptist Church, and a Roman Catholic Church; Royal, British Linen
Company, and Union Banks; a post office, with telegraph, money-order,
insurance, annuity, and savings bank departments; a large and rich
aggregate of shops, and a railway station. It is a seat of Established and
Free Church Presbyteries and Sheriff Courts, and publishes three weekly
newspapers-Irvine Herald, Irvine and Fullarton Times, and Irvine
Express. The shipping is considerable, and other trade of the town
extensive and varied. There are engineering, ironfounding, shipbuilding,
chain-cable and anchor manufacturing, coachbuilding, brewing, and chemical
works, and sawmills. The most interesting antiquity is Irwin Castle,
a fine, old ruin situated in the town, understood to have been a Royal
residence, though the documentary evidence identifying it as such is
rather slight. In the Churchyard is a monument to the memory of James
Blackwood and John
McCoul, who suffered
martyrdom here, December 31, 1666. James
Macknight, D.D., son of William,
minister of Irvine, was born September 17, 1721. Studied at Glasgow
University and at Leyden; ordained minister of Maybole, 1753, where
he published "Harmony of the Four Gospels," 1756, and
"Truth of the Gospel History," 1763; was Moderator of General
Assembly, 1769; removed, first to John Gait,
novelist, was born at Irvine, May 2, 1779. Having, with little success,
tried several occupations, he adopted literature as a profession, laboured
with great industry, and produced a large number of works. The necessity
of immediate returns for his labour caused him to devote much of his time
and energy to the compiling of works for the booksellers. These are
skillful works of *their kind, but Galt’s fame as a man of genius rests
upon his novels, which stand out
quite distinct from all others, because they are inimitable. The most
delightful of his works are his "Annals of the Parish," his
" Entail," and his "Ayrshire Legatees." We
commend these as rare Scotch productions, while we disapprove of novels in
general, as fit only to make silly minds sillier. Died April 10, 1839,
aged 60.
James Montgomery,
poet, son of John Montgomery,
a Moravian preacher, was born at Irvine, November 4, 1771. When
little over four years of age he left Scotland with his parents, who were
natives of Ireland. When he was twelve years old, his father, determining
to go abroad as missionary to the slaves in the West Indies, left him and
his two younger brothers in a Moravian School near Leeds, and took their
mother with him. The parents never returned to the forsaken children, but
died in the West Indies. James, who was apprenticed to a baker, began to
compose poetry. He, however, ran away from his employer, with only three
shillings and sixpence in his pocket. Having trudged along nearly 20 miles
south-eastward, an intelligent shopkeeper at Wath generously took
the benighted boy into his family, where he stayed as shop assistant more
than a year. He next got employment in the office of a London publisher.
By and by he returned to the shop at Wath, but soon after obtained
a situation as clerk in the office of a Sheffield newspaper, and became
editor and part proprietor, as James Montgomery & Co., at. the age of
23. In six months time he was tried, and sentenced to pay a fine of £20
and undergo three months’ imprisonment,
for printing for a street singer some verses on the French Revolution, by
a Belfast clergyman. This was at the time Burns
was threatened with dismissal from the Excise for his French sympathies.
Shortly after this, for publishing in his paper an account
of a riot in Sheffield, reflecting on the character of a certain
magistrate, Montgomery suffered six months’ imprisonment and a fine of £30.
His strong religious and moral nature enabled him to bear these hardships
with equanimity Thenceforward his course became more pleasant, and he
wrote and published a large amount of excellent poetry, full of humane Montgomery
also delivered courses of lectures on "The British Poets." In
1835 he was offered the chair of rhetoric in the University of Edinburgh,
which he did not accept. In 1841, at the age of 70, the poet visited his
native county, and was received in Irvine and other towns with great
enthusiasm; but returned again to his home in Sheffield. During the
remainder of his life, and for some time before this, "the Christian
Poet " enjoyed a pension of 2150 a-year from the Crown. Died at
Sheffield in 1854, aged 83.
Burns,
the poet, in his twenty-third year, commenced business here as a
flaxdresser, in company with another young man who had previous knowledge
of the business; but the shop took fire and was burned to ashes, and he
returned to farm work without a sixpence. Alexander
Macmillan,
founder (in company with his brother Daniel) of the great publishing firm
of Macmillan & Co., London and New York, was born in Irvine, 1818, and
educated here.
Professor David Dickson,
born in Glasgow, 1583, was ordained minister of Irvine, 1618. This
was before the commencement of the civil war, occasioned by the persistent
attempts of Charles I.
to abolish the reformed religion of Scotland, by re-establishing the
ritualistic practices of the Church of Rome, under the name of the Church
of England. Sunday, the 23rd of July, 1637, having been appointed by the
privy council of Charles as a day for commencing the use of the English
liturgy in St. Giles’ Church, Edinburgh, Dickson,
of Irvine, and Henderson,
minister of Leuchars,
together privately instituted a counter movement. In accordance with Roman
fashion, little round cushioned stools, about six inches high, were placed
at the feet of the worshippers to rest their knees on when kneeling at
prayer. As soon as the Dean, arrayed in his surplice (long white linen
robe), began to read the Service Book, the congregation, putting Dickson
and Henderson’s movement into execution, began clapping their hands,
stamping their feet, and shouting "A Pope! a Pope ! Antichrist !
stone him." This silenced the Dean, but the Bishop, relying, no
doubt, on his higher grade to quell the tumult, now ascended the pulpit
and began to read a prayer in fine serene long-drawn ritualistic tones.
But, all of a sudden, an old lady named Jenny
Geddes sprang to her feet, and
exclaiming, "Out thou foul thief! wilt thou say mass at my lug?"
hurled a stool through the air at his head. Other three stools instantly
whizzed by like shot in the same direction, from three old ladies behind
her, named Euphemia Henderson,
Bethia
Craig,
and Elspeth Craig.
Thus began the armed struggle in defence of Scotch religious liberty,
which lasted upwards of half a century, and terminated in victory for the
Presbyterians. Dickson was also one of the leaders in calling the famous
Glasgow Assembly of 1638. He was, in 1640, appointed Professor of Divinity
in Glasgow University. He is author of "Treatise on the
Promises," and various other works. Died in Glasgow, 1663, aged 80.
ANNICK LODGE, a village with
public school, is three miles north-east of Irvine. Population, 352.
The seat of Bourtreehill is one
mile and a half east of Irvine;
and the village of Bartonaolm one
mile and a half north of the town. Populaton, 379.
Bogside Racecourse lies a mile
north-west of the town.
The parish is level and sandy next the
shore, loamy and slightly elevated inland, finely farmed and beautiful
with wood. Length, from Muirhead steading to the shore, at the
joint mouth of the Irvine and the Garnock, four and a half
miles. Area, 3930 acres. Population in 1871, 5875; in 1881, 6013. Irvine
River rises near Drumclog, and flows west to the sea at Irvine, 30
miles.
1868 - 1886 Rev Henry Reid MA (an ancestor)
was minister of the West United Presbyterian Church.
There were two UP churches in Irvine. From an
old map of Irvine (1897) available via NLS (http://www.nls.uk)
it does in fact appear that there were two UP churches. One is shown on
West Road (I believe the premises *may* now be occupied by Royal British
Legion), the other (East UP Church) is shown on Cotton Row.
Rev Henry Reid was married to Catherine
Murdoch Hutchison (daughter of farmer James Hutchison of Blairston, by the
River Doon near Alloway) they were married in 1869 - at that time there
was no manse but the couple stayed in Adelaide Cottage which is shown on
the map of 1897 as being on "New Road" (later became an extension of Bank
Street). In 1872 a manse was built in Kilwinning Road.
Information
supplied by Keith Duncan
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