Ordnance gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 4

KILWINNING
stories which were propagated during the last century,
in order to secure for the lodge the coveted position of
being the first on the Grand Lodge Roll, or to give
colour to its separate existence as a rival grand lodge.
Whatever was the dignity its followers desired for their
Alma Mater during the early part of the last century,
and however difficult it might then have been to recon-
cile conflicting claims, we are left in no doubt as to the
precedence given to the lodge at Edinburgh in the
Statutes of 1599, Kilwinning having positively to take
the second place.' The oldest minute-book preserved by
the Lodge is a small vellum-bound quarto, and contains
accounts of its transactions from 1642 to 1758, but not
regularly or continuously.
Kilwinning is also remarkable for its continuation to
the present time, almost uninterruptedly, of that practice
of archery which was anciently enjoined by acts of the
Scots parliament on the young men of every parish. Its
company of archers is known, though imperfectly, and
only by tradition, to have existed prior to 1488 ; but
from that year downward, they are authenticated by
documents. Originally enrolled by royal authority, they
appear to have been encouraged by the inmates of the
abbey ; and they, in consequence, instituted customs
which easily secured their surviving the discontinuance
of archery as the principal art of war. Once a year, in
the month of July, they make a grand exhibition. The
principal shooting is at a parrot, anciently called the
papingo, and well known under that name in heraldry,
but now called the popinjay. This used to be con-
structed of wood ; but in recent years has consisted of
feathers worked up into the semblance of a parrot ; and
is suspended by a string to the top of a pole, and placed
120 feet high, on the steeple of the town. The archer
who shoots down this mark is called ' the Captain of the
Popinjay ; ' and is master of the ceremonies of the suc-
ceeding year. Every person acquainted with Sir Walter
Scott's novels, will recognise the Kilwinning festival,
transferred to a different arena, in the opening scene of
Old Mortality, when young Milnwood achieves the
honours of Captain of the Popinjay, and becomes bound
to do the honours of the Howff. Another kind of
shooting is practised for prizes at butts, point-blank
distance, about 26 yards. The prize, in this ease, is
some useful or ornamental piece of plate, given annually
to the company by the senior surviving archer.
The parish of Kilwinning, containing also the villages
of Fergushill, Doura, Dalgarven, Bensley, and Eglinton
Ironworks, is bounded N by Dairy, ISTE by Beith, E by
Stewarton, SE and S by Irvine, SW by Stevenston, and
AV by Ardrossan. Its utmost length, from NNE to SSW,
is 5J miles ; its utmost breadth is 5J miles ; and its area is
11,069 acres, of which 79 J are water. The river Gar-
nock here winds 6J miles southward, first 1§ mile
along the Dairy border, next 4 J miles through the in-
terior, and lastly | mile along the Irvine border. Caaf
Water, its affluent, runs 1 mile eastward along the
northern boundary ; and Lugton Water, after tracing
3§ miles of the boundary with Stewarton, meanders 4|
miles south-westward through the interior till it falls
into the Garnoek at a point 1 mile SSE of the town.
A triangular lake, called Ashenyard or Ashgrove Loch
(J x J mile) lies at the meeting-point with Stevenston
and Ardrossan. The land surface slopes gradually up-
ward from the SW to the NE, and, including flat tracts
along the Garnoek and Lugton Water, is diversified by
gentle undulations, but nowhere exceeds 310 feet above
sea-level. It exhibits great wealth of wood and culture ;
and commands, from numerous vantage-grounds, ex-
quisite views of the eastern seaboards, the wide waters,
and the western mountain screens of the Firth of
Clyde. The rocks throughout are carboniferous, with
intersections of trap dyke. Good building sandstone is
quarried ; limestone, ironstone, and coal are largely
worked ; and clay is used for making tiles and bricks.
The soil of nearly one-half of the cultivated lands is a
stiff clay, and that of most of the remainder is a light
sandy loam. From one-fourth to one-third of the entire
area is under the plough ; a good many hundreds of
KINBRACE
acres are under wood ; a considerable aggregate in the
upper district is moss ; and all the rest of the land is
disposed in field pasture, subordinate to the dairy. Dis-
tinguished persons connected with the parish have been
the Earls of Eglinton, the abbot Gavin Hamilton, and
the ministers John Glassford, Principal Baillie, James
Fergusson, Professor Meldrum, Principal George Chal-
mers, and Professor William Ritchie. Eglinton Castle,
noticed separately, is the chief mansion, others being
Ashgrove and Montgreenan ; and, besides the Earl of
Eglinton, 6 lesser proprietors hold each an annual value
of £500 and upwards, 24 of between £100 and £500, 24
of from £50 to £100, and 55 of from £20 to £50. Kil-
winning is in the presbytery of Irvine and synod of
Glasgow and Ayr ; the living is worth £495. An
Established chapel of ease, containing 500 sittings,
was built at Fergushill in 1880. Auchentiber public,
Fergushill public, Kilwinning public, and Eglinton
Ironworks school, with respective accommodation for
110, 237, 700, and 330 children, had (1881) an average
attendance of 73, 170, 437, and 324, and grants of
£59, 15s., £141, Is., £382, 7s. 6d., and £283, 13s.
Valuation (I860) £23,367, (1883) £31,337, Is., plus
£8536 for railways. Pop. (1801) 2700, (1831) 3772,
(1861) 7717, (1871) 7375, (1881) 7037.— Orel. Sur., sh.
22, 1865. See Robert Wy lie's History of the Motlier
Lodge, Kilwinning, with, Notes on the Abbey (Glasg.
187S), and the Rev. W. Lee Ker's Kilwinning Abbey
(Ardrossan, 1883).
Kimelford. See Kilmelfort.
Kimmerghame, an estate, with a mansion, in Edrom
parish, Berwickshire, near the right bank of Blackadder
Water, 3 miles SE of Duns. A handsome Scottish
Baronial edifice, erected in 1851 from designs by the
late David Bryce, R.S.A., it is the seat of Archibald
Campbell-Swinton, Esq., LL.D. (b. 1812 ; sue. 1867),
Professor of Civil Law in Edinburgh University from
1842 to 1862, who holds 1845 acres in the shire, valued
at £38SS per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 26, 1864.
Kinairdy, an ancient castellated mansion in Marnoch
parish, Banffshire, on a promontory at the confluence of
the Burn of Auchintoul with the Deveron, 2J miles
SSW of Aberchirder. Built partly at a very early
period, partly at several subsequent dates, it soars
aloft, in tower-like form, from its picturesque and com-
manding site ; and, together with much surrounding
property, it belonged to the Crichtons of Frendraught,
from whom it passed to the Earls of Fife. — Ord. Sur.,
sh. S6, 1S76.
Kinaldie, a modern cottage ornfe in the NE corner of
Kinellar parish, Aberdeenshire, near the left bank of
the Don and 1£ furlong ENE of Kinaldie station on the
Great North of Scotland railway, this being 10J miles
Kff of Aberdeen, under which there is a post office of
Kinaldie.— Ord. Sur., sh. 77, 1S73.
Kinaldy, an estate, with a mansion, in Cameron parish,
Fife, 4 miles S of St Andrews. Its owner, John Purvis,
Esq. (b. 1820 ; sue. 1844), holds 749 acres in the shire,
valued at £1321 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 41,
1S57.
Kinbattoch, a farm in Towie parish, W Aberdeen-
shire, 1 mile SW of the church. Some tumuli here
were opened in 1750, and found to enclose urns, trinkets,
and Roman medals ; and here too are an ancient arti-
ficial mound (once surrounded by a moat) and ruins of a
pre-Reformation chapel.
Kinbeachie, an estate, with a handsome modern man-
sion, in Resolis parish, Ross-shire, near the SE shore
of the Cromarty Firth, 5 miles SW of Invergordon.
Kinbeachie Loch (2 J x 1 J furl.) sends forth the Burn
of Resolis.
Kinbettoch. See Kinbattoch.
Kinblethmont, an estate, with a modern mansion, in
Inverkeilor parish, Forfarshire, 4j miles N of Arbroath.
Its owner, Henry Alexander Lindsay-Carnegie, Esq. of
Boysack (b. 1836 ; sue. 1S60), holds 3670 acres in the
shire, valued at £5172 per annum. — Ord. Sur., sh. 57,
1868.
Kinbrace. See Kildonan.
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