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St.Quivox
QUIVOX (ST.), a parish in Kyle, Ayrshire;
bounded on the north by Monkton and Tarbolton; on the
east by Tarbolton; on the south by the river Ayr,
which divides it from Ayr parish; and on the west by
Newton-upon-Ayr and Prestwick. Its greatest length
from east to west is 5 miles; its greatest breadth is
3 miles; and its area is about 4,000 acres. The
surface in the west and centre is level, and in the
east is somewhat swollen and tumulated. Some parts of
the bank of the river Ayr are steep, and covered with
natural wood and plantation. The soil in the west is
sandy, in the centre is light and gravelly on an
irretentive subsoil, and, in the east border, is a
stiff clay. The whole area, except what is covered by
town and detached houses, and about 250 acres covered
with wood, is arable, and well-enclosed with ditches
and hedge-rows. Husbandry and the dairy flourish, and
are conducted with skill. A five years' rotation,
comprehending two of grain, one of esculent roots,
one of artificial grass, and one of pasture, is
common; and the Ayrshire breed of cattle is
preferred, not only for the dairy, but for the
shambles. The coal-field of Ayrshire, with its
characteristic interior and superincumbent strata,
underlies the whole area. Three coal-mines and
several quarries of prime building-sandstone are
worked. Craigie, in the vicinity of Ayr, and the seat
of Mr. Campbell, and Auchencruive, in the eastern
district, and now the seat of Sir. Oswald, the
representative of Glasgow in the present and in
former parliaments, are both situated on the
picturesque banks of the Ayr, and are spacious and
elegant mansions. The gardens and grounds of
Auchencruive, in particular, are highly embellished
and ornate, and form a powerful attraction to
tour¬ists and to the citizens of Ayr. Wallacetown and
Content [see WALLACETOWN] form jointly a large suburb
of Ayr, and lie compactly or continuously with the
burgh of Newton-upon-Ayr. The only other village is
WHITELETS : which see. The parish is traversed by the
roads from Ayr to respectively Galston and Mauchline;
and has a complement of other roads. Population, in
1801, 2,070; in 1831, 5,289. Houses 692.
Assessed property, in 1815,
£7,832 St. Quivox is in the presbytery of Ayr,
and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Patron, Oswald of
Auchencruive. Stipend £276 1s. 9d.; glebe £8.
Unappropriated teinds £334 18s. 8d. The
parish-church—situated in the centre of the
parish—was built before the Reformation, and altered
and somewhat enlarged in 1834. Sittings 450. The
town-district of Wallacetown, with then 4,199
inhabitants, and 7 places of worship, was, in 1836,
erected into a separate quoad sacra parish. The
population of St. Quivox, quoad civilia, in 1836,
was, according to the statement of the minister,
5,407, leaving to it, quoad sacra, or after the
deduction of the Wallace-town population, only 1,208,
—of whom 999 were churchmen, and 209 dissenters.
There are two Sabbath-schools respectively at the
church and at Whitelets. Parochial-schoolmaster's
salary £30, with 8 bolls of meal, £15 fees, and from
£10 to £15 other emoluments. In 1834 there were 7
non-parochial schools, conducted by 8 teachers, and
attended by 551 scholars. —The ancient church was
originally, and for centuries, called Sanchar, the
antique form of the modernized Sanquhar, from the
Gaelic sean caer, 'the old fort.' In 1212 it was a
rectory; between 1229 and 1238 it belonged to the
short-lived Gilbertine convent, which the second
Walter, the Stewart, established at Dalmulin; and
from 1238, till the Reformation, it belonged to the
monks of Paisley. Though Sanchar continued to be the
name of the several estates which were portions of
the ancient territory or manor, the church, at the
Reformation, looks out under the designation of St.
Kevoc. This name, which is quite unknown in
hagiology, and looks very like a quiz of the
un¬housed and splenetic monks, has undergone the
suc¬cessive transmutations of St. Kevocke's, St.
Keevox, St. Queevox, and St. Quivox.
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