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Auchinleck
AUCHINLECK, a parish of Ayrshire ; bounded on the north by the
parishes of Mauchline, Sorn, and Muirkirk; on the east by Muirkirk and
Crawford-John ; on the south by Kirkconnel, New Cumnock, and Old
Cumnock; and on the west by Ochiltree. It is a narrow strip of
country, measuring 16 miles in length, while it does not exceed 2 in
average breadth. Its area is estimated, in Aiton's 'View,' at 18,000
Scots acres, of which not one-third part is under cultivation. The
general appearance of the district is wild and bleak; but the western
part of it is more generally cultivated and enclosed. There are some
coal-works in this parish which afford employment to about 60 men, and
free-stone and limestone quarries. The value of coal and lime annually
obtained in this parish is estimated, in the Statistical report of
1838, at £2,990. The rivers Ayr and Lugar skirt the boundaries of the
parish,—the former on the east, the latter on the south and west. The
principal heritor is Sir James Boswell, Bart., to whose ancestor the
barony of Auchinleck was granted by James IV.
Boswell, the biographer of Dr. Johnson, was of this family ;
and carried his illustrious friend hither, while on their tour in
Scotland, to visit his father, Lord Auchinleck, one of the lords of
session. The Doctor appears to have been pleased with his visit, and
it would appear at one time entertained the idea of writing an history
of the Boswells of Auchinleck. " Lord Auchinleck," he writes, " is one
of the judges of Scotland, and therefore not wholly at leisure for
domestic business or pleasure, has yet found time to make improvements
in his patrimony. He has built a house of hewn stone, very stately and
durable, and has advanced the value of his lands with great tenderness
to his tenants. I was, however, less delighted with the elegance of
the modern mansion, than with the sullen dignity of the old castle. I
clambered with Mr. Boswell among the ruins, which afford striking
images of ancient life. It is, like other castles, built upon a point
of rock, and was, I believe, anciently surrounded with a moat. There
is another rock near it, to which the draw-bridge, when it was let
down, is said to have reached. Here, in the ages of tumult and rapine,
the laird was surprised and killed by the neighbouring chief, who
perhaps might have extinguished the family, had he not in a few days
been seized and hanged, together with his sons, by Douglas, who came
with his forces to the relief of Auchinleck." Grose has preserved a
view of the old castle. Near it is the old house of Auchinleck. In the
upper part of the parish are the remains of another old fortalice
called Kyle castle. Population, in 1801, 1,214; in 1831, 1,662. Valued
rent £3,462 15s. 4d. Scots. Real rent, in 1799, £2,870. The total
yearly value of raw produce raised within this parish was estimated,
in 1837, at £16,035. Houses, in 1831, 142. The village of Auchinleck
is 1½ mile distant from Old Cumnock, and 15 from Ayr. It contains
about 600 inhabitants, and is intersected by the Glasgow and Dumfries
road. Many of the families here and throughout the parish are engaged
in flowering muslin by the needle. A lamb fair is held here on the
last Tuesday in August - This parish is in the presbytery of Ayr, and
synod of
Glasgow and Ayr. Patron, Sir James Boswell, Bart. Church built in
1838; sittings 800. Stipend £161 1s. 11d., with a manse, and a glebe
valued at £10. There is a small Antiburgher chapel in the village. The parochial schoolmaster has the maximum salary of £34 4s. 4½d. There are three other schools in the parish, which are attended by about 130 children — The parish of Auchinleck (generally pronounced Affleck by the country-people) was the birth-place of William M'Gavin of pious memory, the author of 'The Protestant;' and of William Murdoch, whose name is associated with that of James Watt, in his splendid career of scientific discovery and mechanical application.
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