(History of)
KILMARNOCK, SCOTLAND
by
ARCHIBALD M'KAY
1864
This is a book on the history of Kilmarnock
from the earliest time to
the year 1863. The original book had 350
pages, appendices, and an
index. I have republished this book in order
to make it available to
the general public. It is hard to find a
copy of the original and only
a few of these books may exist in U.S. libraries.
As you all know, this locality is where the
Boyds first appeared; the
Kilmarnock (Dean) Castle, home of the Boyds
for generations, is located
less than a mile from the burgh. Therefore,
a history of the town contains
much of the history of the Boyds. This is
not a work of genealogy but a
work of the history of the place, although
genealogical information
may be found among its pages.
The history of the town is very interesting
and detailed to no small
degree with information on the early Christian
and later Christian
churches, politics, charters, disasters;
by flood, storm, and panic.
It has a lot of the history of the covenanting
movement as it pertains
to the burgh of Kilmarnock.
For lovers of Robert Burns, much information
on his life can be found
and many of his poetical effusions have been
added that were not in
the original book. "The Ayrshire Plowman"
or the "Bard of Mossgiel"
spent much of his life in Kilmarnock and
the first printing of any of
his work was printed in the town. It
has 28 chapters as listed below.
CONTENTS
1. Antiquity of the town--origin of
its name........................................1
2. Dean Castle described--its associations........................................7
3. Origin of the Boyds, and notices
of the early family members....11
4. Lord Soulis--notices of the Boyds
(cont.)......................................15
5. The Covenanters............................................................................22
6. The Covenanters (cont.).................................................................28
7. Charters granted to the town, Rebellions
of 1715, 1745-46.........33
8. The Earl of Kilmarnock at the battles
of Falkirk and Culloden
taken prisoner--tried
and sentenced to be executed....................40
9. Behaviour of the Earl after the
sentence--his execution.............45
10. Appearance of the town, 1750--its trades,
public buildings.........54
11. Pastimes of the people--the fairs, King's
birthdays, etc..............62
12. Religious character of the people--violent
induction of the
Rev. William
Lindsay...................................................................69
13. Early Schools and schoolmasters--the
Academy and other
educational
institutions................................................................78
14. First Dissenting Churches--notices of
their ministers................87
15. Letter-press printing introduced--notice
of John Wilson--Burns
and his Kilmarnock
patrons.........................................................93
16. Commercial Statistics--disastrous fires--fearful
calamity in
the Low Church..................
........................................................101
17. Public improvements--Town Hall--old road
through the town
from Glasgow
to Ayr....................................................................109
18. First Kilmarnock periodicals--sketches
of James Thomson,
John Burtt,
and John Kennedy...................................................114
19. Dean Park meeting for Parliamentary Reform--
Radical move-
ment of 1819-20...........................................................................118
20. Statistics, the cholers, Kilmarnock Newspapers,
etc., Sketch
of Robert
Crawford.....................................................................123
21. King Street United Presbyterian and other
churches.. ..........129
22. The Shaw Monument--Memoir of Sir James
Shaw...................134
23. Astronomical Observatory, Sketches of
Thomas Morton,
Professor
Robert Findlay, Francis G.P. Neison, Thomas Y.
McChristie
and Professor James F.W. Johnston.....................139
24. The fine arts, Sketch of James Tannock....................................146
25. Poetical writers, Sketches of John Ramsay,
Marion P. Aird
and Alexander
Smith...................................................................150
26. The remarkable Inundation of the 14th
July, 1852...................155
27. Literary Institutions, Masonic Lodges,
etc...............................164
28. Recent improvements, Commercial and other
statistics..........168
APPENDIX
I. CHARTER BY JAMES VI, ERECTING THE TOWN
INTO A BURGH
OF BARONY, 1591......................................................................................179
II. KILMARNOCK LANDS............................................................................182
III. THE TOWN GREEN, RIGHTS AND TITLES
OF THE BURGH........183
IV. THE KILMARNOCK COAT OF ARMS.................................................187
V. THE FURNITURE OF DEAN CASTLE IN 1611......................................188
VI. CLEANING THE STREETS IN 1735.......................................................189
VII. THE RED STEUWART............................................................................190
VIII. "RABBLING THE MINISTER"...........................................................190
IX. FASTERN'S E'EN.......................................................................................191
X. PROGRESS OF THE TOWN SINCE 1816................................................192
XI. CLUBS.........................................................................................................194
XII. THE SNOW-STORM OF SATURDAY, 3RD MARCH,
1827..............195
XIII. THE CHURCHYARDS...........................................................................196
XIV. EXTRACTS FROM THE OLD KIRK RECORDS...............................196
XV. THE JUGGS...............................................................................................197
XVI. LIST OF THE MAGISTRATES, TREASURERS,
PROVOSTS,
AND CLERKS OF THE BURGH FROM
1695 TILL 1863........................198
The index Lists over 600 people, with surnames
BOYD, STEWART, MUIR,
PATERSON, MONTGOMERY, SMITH, WILSON, THOMSON,
LINDSAY,
FINDLAY, CUNNINGHAM, CAMPBELL, CRAWFORD,
ANDERSON, HOWIE,
ADAM, BELL, BROWN, DICKIE, DUNLOP, DOUGLAS,
HALL, HILL, JAMIESON,
JOHNSON, JOHNSTON and many others.
This edition contains 209 pages with the original
appendices and a new everyname index
and is published in its entirety. Spiral
bound soft cover. $30.00 plus $3 US Priority mail shipping.
Contact
Richard G. Boyd