12:
Irvine Bridge (site of)(to go back, close this extra window by clicking the x at top right)
1: Irvine Burns Museum
Address
Eglinton Street, Irvine (at the Provost's lamps)
Opening hours
For the walking tour - open at the start of each tour
Other openings - April to September - Mon., Wed., Fri., Sat. 2.30-4.30 pm
October to March - Saturdays only - 2.30-4.30 pm
Admission free
Exhibits: for the walking tour - audio-visual on Burns in Irvine
(11 minutes)
At other openings - manuscripts, honorary members' letters, stained glass window,
etc, in addition
Website: www.irvineburnsclub.org
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2: Bachelors' Walk
Explained on the tour only. Nothing here.
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3: Elephant Inn (site of)
In 1626, Irvine Burgh Council gave £100 towards the refurbishment of Glasgow University. In 1655, during an outbreak of smallpox in Glasgow, students came here to avoid the disease.
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4: Seagate
The street leading to the seaport when Irvine was first established. It was refurbished by Irvine Development Corporation in 1994.
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5: Seagate Castle
There was a castle in Irvine in 1184, in the form of a wooden tower on a 'motte', the location of which is not known. The first stone Seagate Castle probably dates to the 1360s, constructed by Sir Hew of Eglinton. The greater part of the third and still surviving castle, incorporating the 14th century square stone tower, was built by Hugh, 3rd Earl of Eglinton (1564-85), possibly in 1565, after his marriage to Margaret Drummond. We intend to add a photo in due course.
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6: The Black Man
David Boyle, born at the Parterre House in Irvine in 1772, was Lord Justice Clerk 1811-41 and Lord Justice General and President of the Court of Session 1841-52; he died in 1853. The statue, sculpted by Sir John Steele, was erected in 1867 in the middle of the street between the Parterre and the Town House, and was moved to its present location at Seagatefoot in 1929.
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7: Burns Statue
Robert Burns lived
in Irvine in 1781-82, "learning something of town life" and coming
to the realisation that his poetry was of sufficient merit to be published.
The statue, sculpted by Pittendreigh McGillivray, was donated by James Spiers
and erected in 1896 on the centenary of his death.
Further information is at www.irvineburnsclub.org - see the
page about the statue.
The donor is mentioned below, at no.26 in the churchyard headstones.
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8: Gallows (site of)
A hill on the outskirts of the town (on the original road to Bartonholm and across the river to Saltcoats) served as a site for gallows, and for the burning of witches at the stake in 1650 (12 in March, and 5 in June). In 1813, 31 unemployed men were given work levelling the Gallows Knowe prior to the construction of the new Academy. The Gallowsknoll (at £15 per annum) and the Low Green were still being leased for pasture by the Burgh agricultural committee in 1908.
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9: Churches
Three churches
are visible from this point -
Fullarton Church (built in 1844 as Fullarton Free Church),
Mure Church (built in 1849 as the Irvine Free Church; in 1900
it became the Mure United Free Church), and
St Mary's R. C. Church (built in 1883).
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10: Friars' Croft (site of Priory)
In the mid 14th century, one of the Fullarton family gave land to the Carmelite Friars (the White Friars). Their priory was one of ten Carmelite houses in Scotland. The church properties were feued by the last prior in 1558, and demolition of the buildings must have soon followed, as nothing remained by 1600. It had existed for about 200 years.
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11: Trades Pillar
This eight-sided
pillar was erected in 1996 on the 350th anniversary of the
granting of a common seal to the seven trade guilds of medieval Irvine in 1646.
Further information on Irvine Incorporated Trades - www.irvinetrades.org
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12:
Irvine Bridge (site of)
(In the photo,
the bridge is just beyond the people standing in the street. To
enlarge the picture, click it, then use the Back button to return.)
Though Ayr had a bridge from 1236, Irvine seems not to have, and historian John
Strawhorn ('The History of Irvine', John Donald Publishers Ltd, 1985) suggests
the first timber structure may have been built in the 14th century,
especially as the burgesses could build a tolbooth at that time (1386).
The first stone bridge may have been about 1500 (the first mention
of Bridgegate is in 1506), and certainly before 1533. In 1578, the whole of
Ayrshire was required to contribute to its repair. In 1589 and afterwards the
burgh levied tolls on those crossing it, for repairing the 'decayit brig'. A
few years later, Timothy Pont mentioned Irvine's 'fair stone bridge'. Transporting
coal across the bridge was prohibited in 1695, after which carts had to use
a nearby ford.
Increasing trade led to a new bridge being built in 1748-53
(though only 11 feet wide, as wheeled vehicles were still uncommon), with four
semi-circular arches each of forty feet span, at a cost of £350.
The council obtained parliamentary consent for widening the bridge in
1826, and this was done, to a width of 25 feet; the pontage tolls had
paid for the improvement, and were removed by 1850.
It was provided with iron latticework sides in 1887, widening
it to 38 ft.
The bridge was closed on 10 June 1973, and demolished to make
way for a £5million shopping centre. Many residents of Irvine believe
that the shopping centre could, under less brutalist planners, have easily incorporated
the old bridge as an attractive and functional centre-piece.
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13: Grannie Stane (or Granny Stane)
Described as "one of Irvine's prehistoric puzzles", this boulder is either left behind from the Ice Age or is the last remaining stone of a stone circle - others were removed, by blasting, after the weir was constructed in 1895, but popular protests saved this remaining stone. Pleasure boats and bathing were introduced. The Grannie Stane is visible when the water is low. It is unlikely to have gained its name from various similar sounding Roman and Celtic deities. See the next item also.
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14: Puddlie Doodlie
According to tradition, this ford, the Puddleford, was the site of a skirmish between Wallace and the English - there is no evidence that Wallace was present, but the tradition gained credibility when repeated as fact in the 1920s. An interesting possible origin of the name is as 'holy steps' ('pas de Dieu'), the stepping stones by which the monks from the Carmelite Priory made their way to Church. Some of the stepping stones may have come from the stones later removed, of which the Granny Stane is the last survivor. Use of the Puddleford by horses was prohibited in 1836 to safeguard access to the Puddly Well, one of the public wells all of which were repaired at about that time.
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15: Old Grammar School (site of) (1572 - 1750 - 1816)
We know that the burgh had some responsibility for the upkeep of a school in 1560. In 1572, a burgh school at Kirkgatehead was endowed; it continued there until 1816. Throughout the 18th century the council consistently sought to provide good schooling - they paid the schoolmaster the maximum salary plus other fees and income, they employed extra members of staff, they improved the old building in 1724, after 1750 they completely rebuilt it, giving it two large rooms either side of a vestibule with a bell turret, and they added an extension in 1783. John Galt attended this school in 1787 for two years, and Edgar Allan Poe in the school's last year (1815-16). After 1816, the building was occupied by two free schools, by weavers, and from 1860 by the fire brigade; the line of its gable end can be seen in the adjoining building. The burgh school was replaced by an academy. The old building was demolished, by then boarded up, in the 1960s prior to the extension of the church hall (1968).
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16: Mortuary
The Mortuary at Kirkgatehead was set up in 1908, as one of several innovations organised by the Town Council of that time. During the First World War, in about 1917, it was converted into a bath house for the Royal Engineers billeted in the Church Hall. Later used as a store by the Church, it is now bricked up.
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17: Irvine Parish Church
See our Town and Gown page for the history of the Church (the present building dating from 1773), or the church windows page.
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18-41: Churchyard headstones
18: The Rev. Charles
Bannatyne (last minister of the old church 1751-73)
19: The Rev. James Richmond (first minister of the present church 1774-1804)
20: Provost John Glasgow (thrice Provost: 1742-44, 1746-48, 1750-52) (1764,
the oldest legible stone)
21: Hugh Nisbet and spouse (1596)
22: Surgeon John Fletcher, a resurrectionist (1798-1830)
23: James Steedman, inventor of the screw propeller (1790-1865) (see our special
article, 'Who Invented the Screw Propeller?',
then use Back button to get back here - or open the article as a Firefox Tabbed
Page)
24: Burgess John Thomson, a butcher (1688)
25: James Holmes and Elizabeth Turner (d.1918), maternal great grandparents
of Tony Benn, Labour politician
26: John Spiers, donor of the Burns Statue (see no.7 above)
(d. 1899)
27: Jean Spirling (1790-1870), cousin of the novelist John Galt (see no.62)
28: Provost Charles Hamilton (five times Provost: 1758-60, 1762-64, 1768-70,
1772-74, 1776-78, 1780-82) (d.1783), Provost at the time Robert Burns lived
in Irvine
29: Dr Charles Fleeming, who made several visits to the ill Robert Burns
30: Mary Allan (1778-1851), 'aunt' to Edgar Allan Poe in Irvine in 1815
31: Bailie Robert Fullarton (d.1835), the model for Provost Pawkie in John Galt's
novel 'The Provost'
32: Patrick Hunter (1732-1802), involved with the Buchanites in Irvine
33: Bailie David Sillar (d. 1830), referred to by Burns as 'Dainty Davie', first
vice-president of Irvine Burns Club
34: Bailie Thomas Cumming (d. 1509), possibly the oldest stone in the churchyard
35: Annie Mitchel (d. 1882, aged 7) after a tragic accident
36: <name unknown> (d. 1597), a stone from the previous Kirk
37: Rev. Patrick Boyle (1717-1798), son of the 2nd Earl of Glasgow
38: Duncan Macmillan (1770-1823), father of the publisher who set up Macmillan
Press in London, and great grandfather of Harold Macmillan, Prime Minister 1957-63
39: Helen Miller (d.1827), one of the Belles of Mauchline described by Robert
Burns, and wife of Dr John Mackenzie, the doctor who tended the poet's father
and was first President of Irvine Burns Club
40: French Sailors / Irvine Seamen, a stone set up after a shipwreck at Irvine
harbour mouth in 1876
41: the martyrs James Blackwood and John McCoul, Covenanters executed in 1666
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42: St Inan's Well
One of many wells in the burgh, this one was named after St Inan, who came to Irvine in 839.
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43: Pouther House / Powder House
The Powder House was possibly first constructed in 1642, as records show that orders for large quantities of gunpowder were met in 1643, 1644 and 1646 - James VI had instructed that all royal burghs should have powder magazines. The saltpetre derived from deposits in byres, stables and doocots would be stored would be stored in the Powder House. Plans for rebuilding it were made in 1781, at the time of the Napoleonic Wars, and accomplished by 1801. its use was discontinued in 1880. When the Golffields wash-house was demolished in 1924, its slates were saved by Provost R M Hogg for restoration of the Powder House, a rescue assisted by Rev. Ranken of the Old Parish Church. It was again repaired in 1961.
In the 16th and 17th centuries, pigeon dung provided a major source of saltpetre for the making of gunpowder. Until a better source of saltpetre was found, it was strictly forbidden to put hard floors in dovecotes. The saltpetre (potassium nitrate) was made by mixing the pigeon dung with earth, lime and ashes – don’t do this at home (says the Herefordshire Sites and Monuments Record). The saltpetre was then mixed with charcoal and sulphur to produce gunpowder. There is an excellent summary on the history of gunpowder at www.stories.historians.co.uk/gunpowder.html
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44: Tanzie Well
a few details will be added
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45: Red Cross House
a few details will be added
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46: Townhead
a few details will be added
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47: Glasgow Vennel
a few details will be added
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48: The Buchanites
a few details will be added
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49: Robert Burns Lodgings
a few details will be added
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50: The Heckling Shop
a few details will be added
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51: Parterre
a few details will be added
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52: Orange Hall
a few details will be added
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53:
War Memorial
a few details will be added
(click
the picture to enlarge it
then Back button to return)
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54: Old Police Station
a few details will be added
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55: Town House
a few details will be added
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56: Edgar Allan Poe
A few details of his life may be added
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57: Trinity Church
a few details will be added
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58: Masonic Lodge
a few details will be added
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59: Eglinton Arms Hotel
a few details will be added
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60: Purdie's Close
a few details will be added
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61: Pawkie's Close
a few details will be added
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62: John Galt's House (site of)
a few details will be added
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The End (for the moment)