'Notes on the way
through Ayrshire - 100 years ago' - written late
19th Century
LARGS PARISH
North of West
Kilbride, and the most northerly parish in Ayrshire. The town of Largs
stands on Largs Bay, two and a half miles north of Fairlie. It is a
seaport and
In the the year 1263
Haco,
King of Norway, invaded Scotland
with a fleet of 160 ships; and on the 2nd of October landed his numerous
troops at Hayle, near Largs, where they were encountered by the
Scotch army under Alexander III.,
and disastrously defeated-nearly the whole Norwegian army being slain, and
the mighty fleet captured, which was rendered easy by a providential gale
from the west preventing its timely retreat.
Kelburn House,
seat of the Earl of Glasgow,
stands about one mile and a half south of the town, at some distance from
the shore. In 1296 it belonged to Robert
de Royville (Boyle), whose name
occurs amongst those who did homage to Edward
I. David
Boyle, first Earl of Glasgow, eldest
son of John of Kelburn,
was born 1660;
The village of FAIRLIE
stands on the south verge of the parish. It is a rising and
pretty place, with villa residences, shops, a post office, Established and
Free Churches, a public school, a new steamboat pier, a railway
station, a famous yacht-building yard, and the ruins of Fairlie
Castle, the scene of the ballad "Hardicanute." Population in
1871, 307; in 1881, 685, 13 of whom are in the parish of West Kilbride.
Brisbane House,
in the richly wooded Brisbane Valley, two miles north of Largs, and
one mile from the shore, belongs to the
family of Brisbane, a very
distinguished member of which was General
Sir Thomas Macdougall Brisbane, Bart.
Entered the 38th Regiment as Ensign, 1790; served through the war in
Flanders; was at the capture of St. Lucia, St. Vincent, and Trinidad, in
the West Indies; embarked for the Peninsula, 1812, was in six general
actions under the Duke of Wellington,
and was thanked by Parliament for gallantry; Governor of Australia,
1821-26. Some knowledge of the esteem’ in which he was held during his
lifetime may be gathered from the splendid array of honours conferred upon
him at different times and places. He was M.A. of Cambridge, LL.D. of
Edinburgh, D.C.L. of Oxford, member of the Institute of France, member of
the College of Rome and Naples, member of the Royal Society, London;
President of the Royal Society, Edinburgh; gold medallist of the Royal
Astronomical Society, a Knight of the Grand Cross of Hanover, a Knight of
the Grand Cross of the Bath, &SC. Born July 23, 1773. Died here,
January 27,1860, aged 87.
Knock Castle
stands on the shore, a little farther north; Skelmorlie Castle,
embraced with woods, north of that, and near the village of SKELMORLIE
- fashionable seaside watering place, consisting of Upper
and Lower Skelmorlie, one part being built on elevated ground above
rocks, behind the other, which is on the sands. It has a steamboat pier;
a post office, with money order and savings bank departments; shops, an
Established Church, a public school, gas works, a hydropathic
establishment, and many handsome villas. Population in 1871,407; in
1881,757. With the grand profusion of hill and mountain scenery viewed
across the Firth of Clyde, and ships of every variety and nationality
passing and repassing on the face of the water, and sheltered as it is
from the east wind and open to the western breezes, the situation of Skelmorlie
for health and charming beauty has few equals. A railway station is at WEMYSS
BAY, on the edge of Renfrewshire, one mile and a half north.
Along the shore of Largs
the soil rests in many places on stratified rock of the old red sandstone
class, and is light and carefully cultivated. The greater part of the
parish consists of hills, which rise a mile from the shore in the vicinity
of Largs and Brisbane, and close on the shore in other parts. They
are formed of igneous rocks, covered with soil bearing rather fine
grasses, considering the elevation; and here are unmistakable traces of
tillage farming in ancient times, at a much
greater altitude than at present.
From Fairlie,
north to the source of Kelly Burn, the length of the
parish is nine miles; and from the beach, at Knock Castle,
straight east to the summit of the Hill of Stake (1711 feet high,
and the highest of the range whose tops are the eastern boundary) its
widest part is upwards of four miles-comprising 21,850 acres. Population
in 1871, 4087; in 1881, 5149.
Kelly Burn, the
boundary here between Ayrshire and Renfrewshire, rises four
miles to the east, and ripples down its glen to the sea at Wemyss Bay.
It has dry braes, covered with bent, grass, and thyme, and damp hollows,
with sprotts and rue, recalling the curious old ballad, renovated by Burns,
and beginning---
" There lived a
carle on Kellyburn braes (Hey, and the rue grows bonnie wi’ thyme),
And he had a wife was
the plague o’ his days ; And the thyme it is withered, and rue is in
prime."
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