Volume 6

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The clmrch of Maybole continued to belong to the nuns of North Berwick till
the Reformation. A portion of the revenues of the church was appropriated to
the vicarage, which had been established by the bishop of Glasgow. In Bagi-
mont's Boll, as it stood in the reign of James V., the vicarage of Maybole, in
the deanery of Carrick, was taxed �5 6s. 8d., being a tenth of the estimated
value. Before the Reformation the half of the vicarage of Maybole appears to
have been annexed to the prebend, called Sacrista Major, in the collegiate
church of Glasgow. In 1562 this part of the vicarage was reported as being
only worth 10 marks yearly (e). At the epoch of the Restoration the revenues
of the parsonage of Maybole, the glebe excepted, were held on lease by Thomas
Kennedy of Bargany, for the yearly payment of �22, twenty oxen, and twelve
cows (/). In the church of Maybole a chaplainry, which was dedicated to St.
Ninian, was founded in 1451 by Sir Gilbert Kennedy of Dunure, who granted
to God and to St. Ninian the lands of Largenlen and Brockloch in Carrick, for
the support of a chaplain to perform divine service in the church of Maybole (g).
On the lands of Auchendrane, which is about three miles north-east of Maybole,
there was, before the Reformation, a chapel that was subordinate to the parish
church of Maybole. The ruins of this chapel were extant at the end of the 17th
century (h).
Kirkbride obtained its name from the church having been dedicated to St.
Brigide, whose name was commonly pronounced Bride. Duncan of Carrick
granted the church of Kirkbride with its pertinents to the Cistercian nunnery
at North Berwick (i). The church of Kirkbride continued to belong to the
nunnery of North Berwick till the Reformation. The parish of Kirkbride was
annexed to the parish of Maybole, and from the northern part of the present
united parish of Maybole. It does not appear when this connection took place,
but it was before 1597, and perhaps even before the Reformation. The church
of Kirkbride stood on the sea-coast, about half a mile north of the old castle of
Dunure. The ruins of the church are still extant in the churchyard which
belongs to it. The church of Maybole was finally separated from the convent
(e) MS. Rental Book, 24.                              (/) Ib., 56.
(g) Sir Gilbert's Charter, 18th May, 1451, was confirmed by one from the king, 23d May, 1451.
Regist. Mag. Sig., iv. 204.
(h) Description of Carrick, by the Reverend Mr. Abercromby, the minister of Maybole. MS. in
Macfarlane's Col., where Mr. Abercromby intimates that there was then to be seen the remains of some
other chapels in the parish of Maybole.
(t) Nisb. Herald., ii. App. 39. The granter, Duncan of Carrick, is erroneously made the progenitor
of the Kennedys, who became Earls of Cassillis. He was in fact not their progenitor, but the first of
the Earls of Carrick, as already mentioned.