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Straiton
STRAITON, a parish in the extreme east of the
district
of Currick, Ayrshire. It is bounded on the north-west
by Kirkmichael; on the north by Dalrymple; on the
north-east by Dalmellington; on the east by
Dalinellington and Kirkcudbrightshire; on the south by
Kirkcudbrightshire; on the south-west by Barr; and on
the west by Dailly and Kirkmichael. Its greatest
length, from north to south, is 20 miles; its greatest
breadth is 8 miles; and its superficial extent is 82
square miles. The chief head-stream, the lake, and the
river of Doon, successively trace the boundary over all
the east, the north-east, and the north : See DOON. No
fewer than 22 lakes and lochlets occur in the interior.
The largest are Lochs Dercleuch, Finlas, Braden, and
Lochriccar. The first and the second of these
constitute properly one lake, and are jointly 2½ miles
in length; and both they and the third are the scenes
of boating excursions for the purposes of angling.
Girvan-water drains most of the interior; it forms 3
miles above the village of Straiton a series of
immediately consecutive cascades of aggregately more
than 60 feet in depth of wall; it rushes away from them
into a deep and wooded glen; and thence to the village
it flows through a richly cultivated valley, overhung
by heights, some of which are bold and precipitous, and
others feathered at intervals with natural wood. The
Stinchar flows for some distance on the boundary with
Barr. Very numerous rills and streamlets trot and leap
and tumble along to the principal streams; one of them,
a tributary of the Doon, making near Berbeth a sheer
fall of 40 feet. The valleys of the Girvan and the
Doon, and the gentler acclivities of their
bill-screens, are under the plough, and tufted or
frilled with wood; and they offer to the eye some fine
landscapes. The rest of the parish is all upland and
pastoral; and the greater part of it, from the southern
and eastern boundaries inward, is a wilderness of
heights, not mountainous, but never low and
prevailingly bleak, inhospitable, and rocky. Two hills
in the vicinity of the village rise above sea-level
respectively 1,300 and 1,150 feet; and, as well other
heights, command brilliant views of Ayrshire, the frith
of Clyde, Arran, Jura, and the Irish coast. The extent
of uncultivated land is about 11 times that which owns
the dominion of the plough. This parish, like the
adjoining one of Dalmellmgton, is redolent with
reminiscences of the Covenanters; and lifts the
appealing cry of solitude and ensanguined soil against
the murderous oppressors who persecuted confessors to
the death. Of four persons who were martyred about one
period, one is commemorated by a tombstone in the
churchyard. A garrison was stationed during the
persecution, in the old castle of Blairquhan now
erased. Though some cairns and other kindred objects
occur, the chief antiquities are those noticed in our
article on Loch-Doon. Blairquhan-castle, built in 1824,
situated on the Girvan about a mile below Straiton
village, surrounded with a highly embellished demesne,
and exhibiting, in its architecture, is a splendid and
exact specimen of the style which prevailed immediately
before the Reformation. Berbeth is a plain mansion, but
beautifully situated on the Doon, and amid fine
pleasure-grounds. A shooting-box of the Marquis of
Ailsa overlooks the Stinchar, amid precipitous cliifs
and towering hills, and commands a region where the
eagle still builds his eyry, and where game of most
sorts is profusely abundant —The village of Straiton
stands in the western district, 4 miles
south-south-east of Kirkmichael, 6½ south-east of
Maybole, 6¾ south-west of Dalmellington, and 14½
south-south-east of Ayr. It occupies a rising ground
be¬tween two hills on the banks of the Girvan; and,
uniform in its plan, skirted with wood, and overhung by
green declivities, it is one of the most beautiful of
Highland villages. A few of its inhabitants —who
altogether amounted, in 1836, to upwards of 330 —are
employed in weaving cotton fabrics and tartan worsted
cloth for the manufacturers of Glasgow. In 1695, the
Earl of Cassilis obtained an act of parliament for
holding a weekly market, and two annual fairs, at "the
kirktoun of Straitoun." The only other village is
PATNA: which see. The parish is traversed, and the
village of Straiton intersected, by the road westward
from New Cumnock to Girvan, and the new road southward
from Ayr to Kirkcudbright. Population, in 1801, 1,026;
in 1831, 1,377. Houses 235. Assessed property, in 1815,
£6,221. —Straiton is in the presbytery of Ayr, and
synod of Glasgow and Ayr. Patron, the Crown. Stipend
£135 1s. 11d.; glebe £16. Unappropriated teinds £255
14s. 4d. One part of the church is very ancient; and
even the more modern part is of uncertain date, but was
altered and improved 40 years ago. Sittings 444. An
ecclesiastical survey, made in March 1836, exhibited
the population as then consisting of 1,383 churchmen
and 34 dissenters, —in all, 1,417 persons. Part of the
parish, provided with a church of the Establishment and
a United Secession meetinghouse, belongs to the quoad
sacra parish of Patna. There are two parochial schools,
situated respectively at Straiton and at Patna; and two
non-parochial schools. Salary of the Straiton
schoolmaster, £31 10s., with £31 fees, and £3 other
emoluments; of the Patna schoolmaster, £11, with £25
fees. The church belonged successively to the monks of
Paisley, the monks of Crossraguel, and the royal chapel
of Stirling.
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