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1170 |
The name 'Stevenston' is
believed to have derived from Stephen or Steven, son of Richard Loccard
or Lockhart, who acquired a grant of the lands from Richard Morville,
Lord of Cunningham.
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1240 |
'Stevenston' mentioned
in a charter of the Loudoun family |
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1488 |
King James IV of Scotland
appointed representatives in the various districts to keep the peace for
him. The Lord Eglinton
of the House of Montgomerie was appointed for North Ayrshire. Up to this
point the office of King's Bailie for the Cunninghame district was
vested in the Earl of Glencairn. This transfer of power gave life to a
long and bloody feud which lasted more than a century.
The Glencairns
were the Lords of Turnlaw, or as it is better known
Kerelaw Castle. The
people of Stevenston were either serfs or retainers of Glencairn and
would have to bear arms at all times at his command. The first act in
the feud was the sacking and burning of Kerelaw Castle, which has
remained in ruins to the present day.
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1513 |
Representatives of both families
temporarily set aside their feud to fight with James IV at Flodden
against the English. The King was slain and between 5000 and 12000 Scots
lives were lost.
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1547 |
The Statistical Account
of Scotland published in 1841 says ' The first name we have been able to
discover is Mr Stephen Wilkynstone, curate of Steynstoune in 1547 '
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1656 |
The Parish of Stevenston
came into the possession of the Earl of Loudoun, whose family name was
Campbell. From the Campbells it seems to have passed to the Glencairns,
who possessed it both before and after the Reformation. The Campbells
must have retained part of the town, as later we find part of it
referred to Stevenston-Campbell, and the other part known as Stevenston-Cunninghame.
Robert Cunninghame was a
scion of the Glencairns, he was appointed to the exalted position of
physician to Charles II for Scotland.
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1670 |
The old High Kirk was erected. |
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1678 |
A nephew of Sir Robert Cunninghame
ultimately suceeded to the Stevenston lands in 1678. He was also called
Robert Cunninghame and stayed in Auchenharvie
House. He strove hard to
develop the coal trade and began by starting the 'Deep
Shank' pit in the
little holm to the east of Stevenston
High Kirk and burn.
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1680-1700 |
Stevenston Coal now well
known and being produced in great quantities. Cunninghame builds a
harbour at Saltcoats to export the coal to Ireland. Coal Ships limited
to less than 100 tons and usually about 30 to 40 tons. The quantities of
coal available allowed for the cheap production of salt from the 'Saltlands
of Saltcoats'
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1685 |
Kerelaw (Kerila
Estate) was sold by the Cunninghames to John
Hamilton, formerly of Canbusmeith and afterwards of Grange, both near
Kilmarnock.
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1708 |
The part of Stevenston
know as Ardeer sold to the Rev.
Patrick Warner. 32 mines
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1715 |
Robert Cunningham
died. His new method of deep shank mining had one disappointing
feature. The coal which had previously been drawn up an incline out of
the mine on sledges by ponies, now had to be carried up the shank by a
spiral staircase on the backs of the wives and daughters of the miners.
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1719 |
The coal and saltworks
were let to the shipmasters of Saltcoats. Yearly rent £250. Provost
McTaggart of Irvine joined them in the lease. A steam engine was
purchased and set up to pump water out of the mine, only the second to
be set up in Scotland. The remains of the building which housed this
18" cylinder engine can still be seen at Auchenharvie Golf Course.
Problems getting water pumped out with this engine and later a
38" engine was much more successful. Mr Cunninghame of Windyhall becomes manager of the public works.
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1720 |
Mayville built for a
sea captain, Robert Baillie.
Auchenharvie Engine House built ca
1720. The second Newcomen pumping engine to be installed in Scotland.
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1733 |
Sisters of Robert
Cunninghame succeeded to Auchenharvie as heir-portioners.
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1737 |
Elder sister Anna
Cunninghame marries
John Reid, second son of Rev.
William Reid parish minister of Stevenston.
Five children to this marriage: May, Robert, Elizabeth, Anne, and Sarah.
May was married to Robert Baillie
of Mayville and had two daughters: Lesley and Grace (Maria).
Lesley attained immortality to a certain extent
inasmuch as she was the inspirer of two lovely
songs by Robert Burns.
Soon after his marriage John Reid is believed to have taken charge of
the public works. Carried on for the next 26 years with little success
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1744 |
An aisle was added to
the old High Kirk
by the parishoners in Saltcoats.
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1763 |
Public works now let
to a Mr Crawford for 19 years. Then when he died in 1765 his
friends held it till 1767 before giving it up
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1770 |
Robert Reid, eldest son
of John Reid of Auchenharvie succeeded his father and in consequence of
a special arrangement with the heir-portioners, acquired the estate of
Auchenharvie and added the name Cunninghame to his own. He entered into
a co-partnership with Mr Warner of Ardeer to work the coal on their
respective properties. Mr Reid Cunninghame of Auchenharvie being the
sole manager.
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1772 |
Harbour improved at
Saltcoats, and an almost three mile long canal from the coalfield at
Stevenston almost to the harbour at Saltcoats was completed, and
navigated. In those days this was no small undertaking. This was the
first canal, in which any business was done, in Scotland. There were
side branches to every pit in production and no locks were used thus
requiring fairly deep excavation at several locations. The coal was conveyed in
barges and refuse which would normally make up a pit bing was loaded on
the barges and dumped along the route to act as a break to the blown
sand which gave trouble to the canal builders. The canal was 12 feet wide at the bottom, the sides inclined at
45 degrees and the water four feet deep. The barges were able to carry
about 15 tons each. It is believed that the route taken was through the
Stevenston ' Mair
' or Campbell lands crossing the Stevenston burn behind
Ardeer Cottage at the weir. The canal remained in operation until about
1830
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1778 |
Shaft of the Main Misk
Pit sunk. This worked the first and fourth seams of coal and was on the Misk Farmland continuous to the River Garnock which today is inside
Ardeer Factory.
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1784 |
Obelisk erected as a
memorial to Burns's
Bonnie
Lesley. |
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1789 |
Kerelaw Mansion House
built and name changed to Grange. The estate was sold on the death of
John
Hamilton to a Gavin
Fullerton, a West Indian merchant,
who restored the name Kerelaw
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1791 |
The Glencairn title
became extinct as the then Earl, the 14th died without issue.
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1791 |
There was a small
village of some antiquity called ' Piper-Heugh ' which is believed to
have been located near to the Ardeer Mains
Farm. In Dr Woodrow's
Statistical Account of the Parish of Stevenston published in 1791 it lay
about a quarter of a mile east from the town of Stevenston. It consisted
of 14 or 16 houses. Inhabitants were chiefly trump-makers or Jew's Harp
or Ping Pong makers.
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1832 |
Present High
Kirk Church built. Owes it's existence to
the efforts and energy of the
Rev. Dr. Landsborough.
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1845 |
Around this time Stevenston was
visited by a plague in the form of Asiatic
Cholera or, as it was sometimes called Pestilential
Cholera. Over 600 people died from it in
Stevenston over a period of years. Sanitary conditions in
Stevenston at this time were non-existent. Nearly
all who succumbed to the cholera were interred together in the common
ground at the Coorouden Cemetery (New Street). In 1871 the
workmen at Ardeer Ironworks erected a memorial to their memory and to
all who had to be interred in common ground up till that time. The
inscription reads: In this Plot Rest Six Hundred and Six of the
inhabitants of Stevenston Who died between 5th Aug. 1845 and 15th April
1871 To their Memory The Workers of Ardeer Ironworks Dedicate this
Monument. The minute book of the Parochial
Board is merely page after page of applications for poor relief.
Although the Authority were allowed by law under the Poor
Act to grant monetary relief to the poor,
we find that large numbers were being refused and those who were
receiving assistance the amount was a miserable pitance.
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1846- |
Potato famine raging in Ireland.
This lasted several years resulting in large numbers of Irish people
settling in Ayrshire, along with immigrants from Eastern Europe,
Lithuania, and Poland. Many of these were to find employment at the new
Iron Works. Some settled for good others stayed for up to 10 years and
then moved on to the ' New World '.
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1849 |
Glengarnock Iron Company
built five blast furnaces
on the foreshore to smelt pig-iron. Known as the Stevenston
Iron Works.
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1854 |
The Rev.
Dr. Landsborough died of cholera on the
12th September in his seventy-sixth year.. Cholera was raging in
Ayrshire.
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1865 |
City of Glasgow Corporation
Engineers visited Ardeer sandhills with a view to recommending that the
sandhills be purchased and used as a sewage factory for Glasgow !!
Lucky escape.
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1868 |
A sanitary Committee was set up
to endeavour to regulate sanitation. Drinking water was still being
drawn from wells in various parts of the town. The most prolific well
was at the top of the Schoolwell.
Others were at Boglemart
and at the Weavers Brae (Townhead Street). In some cases the wells were actually inside the
dwelling houses covered with a flagstone. In most cases they were
outside and contiguous to their dungheap and dungheaps were everywhere
as some people at that time kept a cow, goat, and/or a sheep at their
back door. In some cases tethered to their front door and they were
herded down the Coorouden to the town's common ground every day.
The common ground, it is believed comprised the land beyond the Railway
Station.
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1873 |
British Dynamite Company
started producing at Ardeer
under the management of Mr Downie,
followed by Mr McRoberts.
There were 40 buildings and less than 100 employees.
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1878 |
Nobel's Explosive Company
formed. |
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1880 |
Nine hole golf course laid out on
the foreshore, stretching from the No 5
Auchenharvie pit to the perimeter of the
Iron Works. Burnside House
in George Street
was the clubhouse and the first tee was on a site occupied now by Carmyle
Place.
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1885 |
Piped drinking water comes to
Stevenston |
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1926 |
Last coal produced from any
Stevenston pit. I.C.I. was formed and new divisions of I.C.I were added to the the Nobel
Industries Ltd at Ardeer |
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1931 |
Stevenston Iron Works
went into liquidation. |
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1930s |
I.C.I. at Ardeer
expanded during the industrial depression. |
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1952 |
Stevenston at long last obtained
Burgh Status, the penultimate burgh to be created in Scotland. |
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