Old Photograph The Mill of Beith Scotland

Old photograph of the Mill of Beith in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The water mill of the Barony of Hill of Beith stood on the Muir or Roebank Burn at Mill of Beith where there is a linn or waterfall, called the Warlock Linn or Warlock Craigie. The present day Mill of Beith dates from the late 18th to early 19th century, being a small rectangular rubble built building with an offset square kiln. The lower part of the wheel splash wall is faced with ashlar. The wheel was mid breast, about 3 feet wide by 16 feet in diameter, and was fed from a dam on the burn which ran through a lade under the road running to the mill.



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Old Photograph Main Street Dalrymple Scotland

Old photograph of cottages, horse and cart and children on Main Street in Dalrymple, Ayrshire, Scotland. The name Dalrymple comes from Gaelic meaning " flat field of the crooked pool or river ". The village is relatively modern, although the parish and church of Dalrymple are older. When the community was first established around 1800, there were two streets, Main Street and Garden Street. The village grew slowly until the late 20th century, when council housing was built to house families from coal mining villages in the area that were suffering an economic decline. Dalrymple is in the Doon Valley, on the north bank of the River Doon. At one time the Minister ran a school out of the church, and Robert Burns the Bard of Scotland, was a pupil.



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Old Photograph Isabel Patrick Memorial Hall Gateside Scotland

Old photograph of the Isabel Patrick Memorial Hall in Gateside, a small village about half a mile east of Beith in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The Isabel Patrick Memorial Hall is a building in the Gothic style. The surname Patrick has several origins. In some cases it is an Anglicised form of the Gaelic Mac Phádraig, derived from world elements meaning " son of Patrick ". This Gaelic surname is derived from the Latin Patricius, which is in turn derived from word elements meaning " member of the patrician class ". In other cases, the surname Patrick is a shortened form of the surnames Mulpatrick and Fitzpatrick. The surname Patrick is common in Ireland due to Scottish emigration.



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Old Photograph River Garnock Scotland

Old photograph of the River Garnock flowing through Glengarnock in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The River Garnock, the smallest of Ayrshire's six principal rivers, has its source on the southerly side of the Hill of Stake in the heart of the Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park. About a mile and a half south of this starting point the untested stream tumbles over the Spout of Garnock, the highest waterfall in Ayrshire, once thought to be the river's origin. The river then continues, for a total length of 20 miles or so, through the towns of Kilbirnie, Glengarnock, Dalry and Kilwinning to its confluence with the River Irvine at Irvine Harbour.



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Old Photograph Kaimes Ironworks Institute Muirkirk Scotland

Old photograph of the Kaimes Ironworks Institute in Muirkirk village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The tarworks at Kames were founded in 1786, and the ironworks were established the following year. The blackband ironstone seams were exhausted in 1901, however imported iron ore from Spain sustained operations for a few more years, but the ironworks closed in 1923. Opencast coal mining being in the 1950's, but this too soon came to an end in 1968. Kaimes Ironworks Institute was built at the same time as Kaimes Church, now demolished, " for the spiritual need and recreation of the people " working at the adjacent ironworks, again little now survives. Although the Institute now stands virtually alone, it was once the focal point in a thriving community, surrounded by miners' cottages. However, following the closure of the ironworks and coal mines the surrounding buildings were gradually demolished. In 1975 the Institute became Kaimes Outdoor Pursuits Centre, but is currently empty.



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