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Ochiltree
OCHILTREE, a parish nearly in the centre of
Kyle and of
Ayrshire; bounded on the north by Stair; on the east by
Old Cumnock and Auchinleck on the south by New Cumnock
and Dalmellington and on the west by Stair and Coylton.
It is 8 miles long, 5 miles broad, and a little upwards
of 24 square miles in area. The surface consists of
ridges partly pastoral and partly arable, and of
intervening dingles of moss, meadow, and arable land. The
ridges generally run from east to west, are of various
lengths, and toward the south have an altitude of about
1,000 feet. A thriving plantation, of no great breadth,
stretches nearly across the parish parallel with the Ayr
road; and this, with the plantations of Barskimming,
Auchinleck, and Dumfries-house, in the adjacent parishes,
relieves the landscape from coldness and moorishness of
aspect. Moss of various depths covers a considerable
area, both in the uplands and in the low grounds,
generally rests on a yellowish clay, and frequently
expands into flow moss or wet bog. The soil, for the most
part, is a clayey loam, superincumbent on stiff retentive
clay, and, without deep and close draining, it resists
the processes of improved husbandry; and even where well
mixed with alluvium washed down upon it from the heights,
it remains exuberant in rushes, sprets, and kindred
vegetation. About two-thirds of the whole area is
regularly or occasionally in tillage. Coal and ironstone
exist, but are not worked; and freestone is abundant.
Marl of an inferior quality has been found; but lime
requires to be imported'. There are two lochlets, —one
covering about 27 acres, and the other less. The Lugar
—running north -westward, and not far from its confluence
with the Ayr -traces, for about 2 miles, the
north-eastern boundary. Burnock-water rises in the
southern extremity, and runs northward to the Lugar at
the village. The Coyl, or Coila or Kill, running in the
same direction, touches the boundary in some points in
the west. Faint vestiges exist of two baronial mansions
which belonged to the ancient proprietors of the
Ochiltree estate. A ruined square tower lifts its gaunt
grey form amid the wilds of the most upland region; "but
is unstoried by either document or tradition. The
turnpike between Ayr and Cumnock runs across the north
end of the parish; and subordinate roads, to the amount
of about 16 miles, intersect other districts. The
landowners are 10 or 12 in number, and nearly all
non-resident: the chief are the Marquis of Bute, and Sir
James Boswell of Auchinleck. Population, in 1801, 1,308;
in 1831, 1,562. Houses 272. Assessed property, in 1815,
£8,782. —The village of Ochiltree is pleasantly situated
on the left bank of the Lugar, immediately below the
confluence with it of the Burnock. It stands on the
Cumnock and Ayr road, 4 miles from the former, 11½ from
the latter, and 13 from Kilmarnock. It has about 30
handlooms, employed in cotton-weaving; a considerable
trade in hand-sewing, conducted chiefly by young women,
and fitted to unnerve them for any other employment or
class of duties; a manufactory of reaping hooks; a small
trade in snuff-box-making; and a share in the various
kinds of artificers' work required by a rural and
agricultural population. Annual fairs are held on the
second Wednesday of May, and the first Tuesday of
November. Population 650. —The parish is in the
presbytery of Ayr, and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Patron,
the Marquis of Bute. Stipend £246 10s. 1d.; glebe £15.
Unappropriated teinds £172 7s. 11d. Schoolmaster's salary
£34 4s. 4½d., with £25 fees, and £11 3s. 4d. other
emoluments. In 1834 the parish-school was attended by
115 scholars and 2 private schools by 70. The parish,
till 1653, comprehended, in addition to its present
territory, what now forms the parish of Stair. In the
12th and 13th centuries it was a rectory, under the
patronage of the lords of the manor; but, before 1321, it
was granted by Eustace, the daughter and heiress of Sir
William Colville of Ochiltree, to the monks of Melrose.
In 1530, the barony of Ochiltree was exchanged by Sir
James Colville with Sir James Hamilton of Finnart, for
the barony of East Wemyss in Fife; and, in 1534, it was
exchanged by its new possessor with Andrew Stewart, Lord
Avondale, for the barony of Avondale in Lanarkshire. In
consequence of the latter exchange, Stewart was, in
1542-3, created Lord Stewart of Ochiltree, instead of
Lord Stewart of Avondale. Andrew, Lord Ochiltree, the son
of the preceding lord, acted a stirring part in the
Reformation, and obtained a grant of all the church-lands
and property of the parish, which had been held by the
monks of Melrose.
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