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Ayrshire (, ) is an historic county and registration county, in south-west , located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety of the historic county as well as the island of Arran, formerly part of the historic county of . Its principal towns include , and Irvine and it borders the counties of and to the north-east, to the south-east, and Kirkcudbrightshire and to the south. Like many other counties of Scotland, it currently has no administrative function, instead being sub-divided into the of , and . It has a population of approximately 366,800.

The electoral and valuation area named Ayrshire covers the three council areas of East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire, therefore covering the whole historic county of Ayrshire but also including the Isle of Arran, and from the historic county of Buteshire. The three council areas together also form the Ayrshire and Arran lieutenancy area.

The largest settlement in Ayrshire by population is , closely followed by , the .

Geography
Ayrshire is roughly crescent-shaped and is a predominantly flat county with areas of low hills; it forms part of the geographic region of Scotland. The north of the county contains the main towns and bulk of the population. East of Largs can be found the Renfrewshire Heights, which continue south to the hill-country around Blae Loch.

Southern Ayrshire shares with the counties some rugged hill country known as the . These hills lie to the west of the A713 (Ayr to road) and they run south from the area almost to the . To the east of this route through the hills lie the Carsphairn and Scaur Hills which lie to the south east of and south of . Glen Afton runs deep into these hills.

Ayrshire is one of the most agriculturally fertile regions of Scotland. Potatoes are grown in fields near the coast, using seaweed-based fertiliser, and in addition the region produces pork products, other root vegetables, and cattle (see below); and summer berries such as strawberries are grown abundantly.

A number of small islands in the Firth of Clyde are part of Ayrshire, the chief of these being , and .

Rivers
The main rivers flowing to the Clyde coast are, from north to south, the following:

File:HorseIsleNearArdrossan(StuartMcMahon)Jun2004.jpg|Horse Isle File:Ayr Beach, Scotland - geograph.org.uk - 16915.jpg|Part of Ayr Beach with the Heads of Ayr in the background File:Boydshillslack2.JPG|Boyd's Hill near Dunlop File:Garnock Water near Glengarnock Castle 2.JPG|The Garnock's Waters near Glengarnock Castle File:View towards Mochrum Hill - geograph.org.uk - 231335.jpg|Mochrum Hill near Kirkoswald File:Lendalfoot from Little Carleton Farm, Lendalfoot, South Ayrshire, Scotland.jpg|Lendalfoot coast, with Ailsa Craig in the distance

History
The area that today forms Ayrshire was part of the area south of the which was briefly occupied by the Romans during the reign of Emperor (see: Roman Britain#Occupation and retreat from southern Scotland). It was inhabited by the , who are presumed to have been . Later, it formed part of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde, which was incorporated into the Kingdom of Scotland during the 11th century. In 1263, the Scots successfully drove off the -army in a skirmish known as the Battle of Largs.

A notable historic building in Ayrshire is , which dates from the 13th century or earlier, and which may have been the birthplace of Robert the Bruce.

The historic or of Ayr was divided into three districts or bailieries which later made up the county of Ayrshire. The three districts were:

  • Carrick in the south. It was situated between the Doon and the wild district of Galloway in the adjoining Stewartries, an area that was little else than a vast tract of hills and mosses.
  • Kyle in the centre, which included the of Ayr, occupied the central district between the in the north, and the in the south and south-west, an area that is quite hilly inland. It was subdivided into "Kyle Stewart", (sometimes called "Stewart Kyle" or "Walter's Kyle") and "King's Kyle," the former embracing the country between the Irvine and the ; and the latter, the triangular portion between the Ayr and the Doon, which is honoured as the birthplace and youthful home of .
  • in the north which included the royal burgh of Irvine was that part of the county which lay north of the Irvine water, and was in an area that is generally level and fertile.

The area used to be heavily industrialised, with , and in Kilmarnock numerous examples of manufacturing, most famously whisky. In more recent history, Digital Equipment had a large manufacturing plant near Ayr from about 1976 until the company was taken over by in 1998. Some supplier companies grew up to service this site and the more distant plant at in Renfrewshire. Scotland's aviation industry has long been based in and around and its international airport, and although aircraft manufacture ceased at the former British Aerospace plant in 1998, a significant number of aviation companies are still based on the Prestwick site. However, unemployment in the region (excluding the more rural South Ayrshire) is above the national average.

Throughout the 17th century, huge numbers of people from Ayrshire moved to , the northern province in , as part of the Plantation of Ulster, many of them with surnames such as Burns, Hamilton, Morrow, Stewart, Flanagan, Kennedy and Cunningham. Today, the Ulster Scots dialect is largely an offshoot of the version of spoken in Ayrshire. The Ulster Scots dialect is still widely spoken throughout and in parts of and County Londonderry, as well as still being widely spoken in West Tír Eoghain and parts of (chiefly East Donegal and ).

Local government
Commissioners of Supply were created in 1667 for each shire, and formed the main administrative body for the area until county councils were created in 1890 under the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889. The 1889 act also led to a review of boundaries of many of Scotland's counties; in the case of Ayrshire the two parishes of and Dunlop, which had both straddled Ayrshire and , were brought entirely within Ayrshire. The of Ayr and Kilmarnock were both excluded from the area controlled by the county council when it was created in 1890, being deemed capable of running their own services.Local Government (Scotland) Act 1889, sections 8 and 105

In 1930 the Local Government (Scotland) Act 1929 was implemented. This brought Ayr and Kilmarnock under the control of the county council, and re-designated all burghs as either or . Ayr and Kilmarnock were both classed as large burghs, allowing them to retain control of many functions, whilst the county's other burghs were all classed as small burghs, ceding many functions to the county council. The 1929 act also abolished the councils. In Ayrshire in excess of 30 parishes were consolidated into ten district councils. The District Councils were Ayr, Cumnock, Dalmellington, Girvan, Irvine, Kilbirnie, Kilmarnock, Maybole, Troon and Saltcoats. Ayrshire County Council was based at County Buildings in Wellington Square in Ayr.

In May 1975 the county council was abolished and its functions were transferred to Strathclyde Regional Council. The county area was divided between four new districts within the two-tier region: Cumnock and Doon Valley, , Kilmarnock and Loudoun and Kyle and Carrick. The Cunninghame district included the Isle of Arran, and , which had until then been administered as part of the County of Bute. For lieutenancy purposes, the last of the county of Ayrshire was made lord-lieutenant for the combined area of the four districts when the reforms came into effect in 1975, with the lieutenancy area being renamed Ayrshire and Arran in 1996.

In 1996 the two-tier system of regions and districts was abolished and Ayrshire was divided between the unitary council areas of (covering the area of the former Kilmarnock & Loudoun District and Cumnock & Doon Valley District), (covering the area of the former Cunninghame District Council) and (covering the area of the former Kyle and Carrick District).

The boundaries of the historic county of Ayrshire are still used for some limited official purposes connected with land registration, being a registration county.

Parliamentary constituencies
There was an Ayrshire constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of Great Britain from 1708 to 1801 and of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1801 until 1868, when the constituency was divided into Ayrshire North and Ayrshire South.

During the whole of the 1708 to 1868 period, and until 1950, the of Ayr and Irvine were parliamentary burghs, represented as components of Ayr Burghs. In 1832 became a parliamentary burgh, to be represented as a component of Kilmarnock Burghs until 1918. Ayr Burghs and Kilmarnock Burghs were districts of burghs, and quite different in character from later Ayr and Kilmarnock constituencies.

From 1918 to 1983 Ayrshire and were treated as if a single area for purposes of parliamentary representation, with their combined area being divided into different constituencies at different times. Scottish local government counties were abolished in 1975, in favour of regions and districts, but the next reform of constituency boundaries was not until 1983.

Constituencies covering Ayrshire may be listed by periods as below, but the story is somewhat more complicated than the lists may imply: until 1918, Ayr Burghs and Kilmarnock Burghs included burghs lying outside both Ayrshire and Buteshire; a particular constituency name may represent different boundaries in different periods; in 1974, there were boundary changes without the creation of any new constituency names.

1708 to 1832Ayrshire and Ayr Burghs
1832 to 1868Ayrshire, Kilmarnock Burghs and Ayr Burghs
1868 to 1918North Ayrshire, Kilmarnock Burghs, Ayr Burghs and South Ayrshire
1918 to 1950Bute and Northern Ayrshire, Kilmarnock, Ayr Burghs and South Ayrshire
1950 to 1983Bute and Northern Ayrshire, Central Ayrshire, Kilmarnock, Ayr and South Ayrshire

Transport
A number of railway lines connect the towns of northern Ayrshire to each other and also to Glasgow, as well as south to and south-east to .

Ferries link Ayrshire to the islands of Arran and in .

Glasgow Prestwick International Airport, serving and the west of Scotland more generally, is located away from Glasgow in Ayrshire; it provides various passenger flights to Spain, Portugal, Italy and Poland. glasgowprestwick.com - Destination Map retrieved 4 July 2016 The name Glasgow was added in front of as per American military airport naming conventions, as the airport was in the past oft-used as a stopover by US military personnel on their way to and from military bases in . Moreover, it is known in history as the only place in Britain visited by , on his way home from army service in Germany in 1960.

Towns and villages in Ayrshire

Places of interest
  • Auchenharvie Castle
  • Barony and Castle of Giffen
  • Clyde Muirshiel Regional Park
  • Corsehill
  • Dalgarven Mill – Museum of Ayrshire Country Life and Costume
  • -
  • Eglinton Country Park
  • Laigh Milton viaduct
  • Ayr Seafront Playpark
  • Burns National Heritage Park
  • The Low Green, Ayr
  • Turnberry (golf course)

People from Ayrshire
  • (1792–1878), poet
  • (1987–), classical violinist born in
  • Sir Thomas Brisbane (1773–1860), soldier and colonial administrator, after whom the city of Brisbane is named. Born in .
  • John Boyd Orr (1880–1971), Nobel Peace Prize winner, born in .
  • George Douglas Brown (1869–1902), novelist, best known for The House with the Green Shutters, born in
  • Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), possibly born in
  • (1759–1796), poet, born in
  • Kenneth Campbell (1917–1941), RAF pilot and posthumous recipient of the , born in
  • James McCosh Clark (1833–1898), mayor of , born in
  • (1764–1812), British
  • John Dunlop (1840–1921), inventor of the , born in
  • (1825–1889), coal baron and industrial capitalist on ,
  • (1843–1930), doctor, missionary and scientist, born in
  • (1862–1928), 5th Prime Minister of Australia (1908–1909, 1910–1913 and 1914–1915)
  • Sir Alexander Fleming (1881–1955), inventor/discoverer of , born in
  • John Galt (1779–1839), author
  • (1953–), singer and former lead-singer of Australian band Men At Work, born in
  • Air Chief Marshal (1947–), current Australian Chief of Defence Force
  • George Houston (1869–1947), landscape painter of Scottish locales,Euan Robson, George Houston: Nature's Limner (Atelier Books: Edinburgh, 1997). born in Dalry
  • (1961–), entrepreneur and philanthropist
  • (1982–), poet
  • The MacDonald Brothers, recording artists and contestants on The X Factor
  • Sir (1959–), classical composer and conductor
  • John McAdam (1756–1836), engineer and inventor of
  • (1811–1894), of the Scottish School of Common Sense and president of what would become Princeton University
  • (1986–), winner of Britain's Got Talent in 2011
  • (1934–2019), sports journalist, born in
  • William McIlvanney (1936–2015), writer, born in
  • , (1943–) CEO of , born in
  • James Henry McLean (1806–1886), physician and United States Congressman from
  • (1957–), improvisational comedian and actor best known for being in Whose Line Is It Anyway?, born in
  • (1754–1839), inventor of and engineer
  • (1979–), James Johnston (1980–), and Ben Johnston (1980–) of
  • Bruce Milligan Nicol, OBE (1913–1987), physician and nutrition scientist
  • (1626–1686), leading figure in the
  • (1687–1768), mathematician and professor of mathematics for 50 years
  • Elaine Smith (1962–), former actress who emigrated to Australia and found fame on television series in 1985 as original character .
  • (1970–), former First Minister of Scotland, born in Irvine

Sports

See also
  • Potato Labour Scandal 1971

External links

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