Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

AYR
nineteen st >.ps ; and had in front a steeple surmounted
by a spire rising to the height of 135 feet, and furnished
with a public clock, called in Burns' Brigs of Ayr ' the
drowsy dungeon clock.' The building dated from some
time unknown to record, and it remained long without
a steeple. A mere belfry, ' for the use of the town and
the Kirk,' was erected on it in 1614 ; a steeple was
projected in 1697, but rose to only the first story in
1715, and was not completed till about 1726. The
entire structure, in consequence of its obstructing and
almost blocking the thoroughfare, was taken down in
1826. — The Fish Cross, round which the fishwives
vended their fish, stood near the river, and was a
very plain structure, with a two-stepped basement
and a surmounting pillar. — The Malt Cross stood near
the site of the present Town-Hall ; was an elegant
structure, with hexagonal base, surmounting pillar,
and crowning unicorn, somewhat similar to the ancient
cross of Edinburgh ; was the scene of a notorious
burning of a lady of the name of Osborne, for im-
puted witchcraft, about the middle of the 17th cen-
tury ; and, after the building of the New Bridge and
opening of the thoroughfare thence to Sandgate, about
1788, was taken down. — The massive three-story man-
sion of the Osborne family on the N side of High
Street, believed to have been the residence of the
reputed witch, was demolished in 1881, and a fine
hotel erected on its site. — A large turreted house stood
near the Osborne mansion, separated from it only by
a lane leading down to the river ; belonged originally to
the Blairs of Adamton, afterwards to the Chalmerses of
Gadgirth ; and later than 1S0O was partly occupied as
the 'Queen's Head Inn.' — An ancient small baronial
tower at the corner of High Street and Mill Vennel
belonged for some time to the Cathcarts of Corbieston,
was purchased by the town council in 1673, and acquired,
one knows not why, the designation of Wallace Tower.
Partly reconstructed in 1731, it gave place in 1834 to an
elegant edifice in the Gothic style, 113 feet high, now
one of the most prominent buildings in the town, and ac-
cepted in popular belief as the veritable Wallace Tower or
true representative of that in which the hero lay. In it
are the clock and bells of the quondam 'dungeon' steeple,
and its front is 'adorned ' with a statue of Wallace, carved
by the well-known self-taught sculptor Thorn. — Newton
Castle, in the Newton suburb, on a site between Garden
Street and the Old Bridge, was a strong edifice, suited
alike for military and domestic purposes. It was taken
by the Norwegians in 1263, prior to the battle of Largs ;
belonged in 1468 to Adam Wallace, a relative of the
Craigie family, and passed, in the time of James V.,
with the lands of Sanquhar, to Sir William Hamilton,
then taking the name of Sanquhar-Hamilton Castle.
In 1585 it was the temporary residence of the Earl of
Arran ; in 1588 passed to the family of Craigie ; and
was demolished in 1701.
The bridges wdiich link Ayr proper to its suburbs are
' The Twa Brigs ' of Burns' famous poem. They stand
within 150 yards of one another. The Auld Brig is the
upper one ; seems, on the evidence of record, to have
been built at some time between 1470 and 1525 ; but is
commonly said, without a shadow of proof, to have been
erected in the reign of Alexander III. (1249-S6), at the
expense of two maiden sisters of the name of Lowe,
whose effigies, now crumbled away, were pointed out
near the S end of the eastern parapet. It comprises four
lofty and strongly-framed arches ; and has a narrow
enough roadway to have been fairly liable to the New Brig
Spirit's taunt about its ' poor narrow footpath of a street,
where twa wheelbarrows tremble when they meet. ' A
ford, the Ducat Stream, immediately above the bridge,
seems to have been the only passage from the town in
olden times ; and, prior to the erection of the bridge, was
yearly the scene of much loss of life during the floods of
winter and spring. The New Bridge was built (1785-
88) chiefly through the exertions of Provost Ballantyne,
to whom Burns dedicated his poem, and it was a neat
structure, with five arches, after a design by Robert
Adam. Injured by the floods of 1877. it was rebuilt
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AYR
(1878-79) for over £15,000, and repaired (1881-82) for
£2000 more, thus fulfilling the Auld Brig's prophecy —
' And tho' wi' crazy eild I'm sair forfairn,
I'll be a brig when ye're a shapeless cairn.'
The railway viaduct, 3 furlongs above the Auld Brig,
is 26 feet wide, and consists of 4 arches, each of 60 feet
span, with a footpath outside the parapet. — The County
Buildings on the NW side of Wellington Square were
built from a design by Mr Wallace, after the model of
the temple of Isis in Home, at a cost of more than
£30,000. They have a portico decorated with columns
of Arran stone ; their upper story contains Justiciary and
County halls, the latter enriched with portraits of the
twelfth Earl of Eglinton, the fourth Earl of Glasgow,
and the late Mr Hamilton of Sumdrum. — The Town's
Buildings, erected in 1828, at the junction of High
Street and Sandgate — the latter in a line with the New
Bridge — were originally a tasteful structure, surmounted
by a beautiful spire 226 feet high, and were greatly
enlarged and improved in 1880-81 at an estimated cost
(considerably exceeded) of £19,952, by the addition of
a fine new police court and a town-hall with stained-
glass portraits of Wallace, Bruce, John Welsh, Burns,
Scott, and Shakespeare, and with a powerful organ.
— The prison, since 18'SO the only one in the shire,
stands near the shore behind the County Buildings,
and contains 149 cells, in which, during the year
ending 31 March 1880, there were confined 1459
criminal offenders, the gross expenditure being £2433.
— The northern station, built by the Glasgow and Ayr
Railway Company in 1840, and standing at Lottery
Ha' in the Newton suburb near the New Bridge, is a
neat Tudor edifice erected at a cost of about £8000. It
was converted into a luggage station in 1857 on the
opening of the southern passenger station at the Town-
head, in connection with the Dalmellington railway,
which southern station is now (1881) about to be
rebuilt. New locomotive sheds were erected in 1877
on the N side of the town ; the engine shed, a fine stone
building, is 300 feet long and 90 broad. — A bronze
statue of Brigadier-General Jas. Geo. Smith-Neill (1810-
57), who fell at the first relief of Lucknow, stands in
Wellington Square, where he was born ; and a monu-
ment to Archibald William, thirteenth Earl of Eglinton
(1812-61), of tournament memory, stands on the W side
of the Square, facing the portico of the County Build-
ings. Designed like General Neill's by Mr Noble, it
was erected in 1865 ; and comprises a granite pedestal
16 feet high and more than 40 tons in weight, and a
bronze statue 12 feet high and 4i tons in weight.
St John the Baptist Church was either the original
church of Ayr or at least a very ancient building, and was
the meeting-place in 1315 of the parliament of King
Robert Bruce which assigned the succession to his
brother Edward. It stood between the town and the
river's mouth, on a site afterwards enclosed within
Cromwell's citadel ; and was a cruciform structure,
with a tower at its W end terminating in a crow-stepped
roof. It continued the parish church till the erection
of Cromwell's citadel, when it was converted into an
armoury and guard-room. The present old parish church
was built in 1653-55, at a cost of £170S sterling, partly
defrayed by Cromwell. It stands in a retired space
behind High Street ; has a cruciform shape, somewhat
resembling that which St John's Church had, yet pre-
sents nothing to vie with the grand Gothic ecclesiastical
edifices of preceding times ; was, not long since, re-
seated and adorned with splendid memorial stained-glass
windows ; and also hasaveryfine organ. The New Church
was built in 1810 at a cost of £5703 ; was re-roofed about
1830, at considerable expense ; and, both without and
within, is handsome enough, though lacking the im-
portant feature of tower or spire. The total sittings in
the two parochial churches are 1982. The parish church
of Newton was built towards the close of last century,
and that of Wallacetown in 1834-36, this being a Gothic
building, raised in 1874 to quoad sacra status. Four
Free churches are Ayr, Martyrs', Wallacetown, and