|
|
Girvan is a quiet
and pleasant town situated on the south Ayrshire coast. It is surrounded by
green rolling hills and looks out over sandy beaches to the Irish sea, with
views of Ailsa Craig, the Isle of Arran, and on a clear day the coast of
Northern Ireland. Invergarvane, as Girvan used to be
known, came into existence legally on the 6th of May 1668 when King Charles
the second granted a charter conforming the right to form the village of
Girvan into the Burgh of Barony in favour of Thomas Boyd, younger, of Penkil.
It gave him the
right to build a seaport with harbour and fort, and all the privileges
thereof; including two weekly markets and two yearly
fairs. Although legally
Girvan was not called into existence until 1668, It has been suggested that
there was a settlement on the site since as early as 5000 BC. In a
statistical account of 1845 there was mention of pre-historic cairns dating
back to 2000 BC, and in the 60's the
discovery of a Bronze Age Urnfield on the east side of the town established
its antiquity once and for all. The relics
found at this archaeological site date back to 500-1500 be. These burial
urns were given to the Hunterian
Museum of Glasgow University, and may have been made from the fine clay of
the Bank Burn, which runs through the town. Bones also found at Urnfield
suggest the cremated remains of a young woman. Pre-historic forts and
earthworks are
also evident in the Girvan locality, being sited at Dowhill, Doune Hill,
Troweir and Dinvin. Physical evidence of earthworks can still be seen today
at Dinvin four miles south of the town on the road to Newton Stewart. This
is a typical with a central mound, and is widely
supposed to have been used for protection and refuge against Norse raiders,
who were active in the Firth of Clyde until 1263 when the Norse threat was
ended at the battle of Largs. Early Celtic Christianity and the influ-
ence of St Ninian spread from Galloway northwards as far
as Colmonell, 10 miles south of Girvan. The Celtic church founded many
monasteries and chapels during the middle Ages. Chapel Donan, 2 miles north
of Girvan may have been
one; it was mentioned as a ruin in a charter of 1404 as the 'capell sancti
Donnani de Crayack'. The old Kirk of Girvan was sited at the Kirk yard in
Old Street where there can still be found 17th century gravestones. The Kirk
like many others was dedicated to St Cuthbert in the 13th century. Later in
the 17th century there was a strong Covenanting movement in Carrick and
there are reports of a "turf" Kirk on the Saugh Hill where the Girvan people
chose to worship according to their own consciences, without dictation from
the political establishment. In the 18th century a larger second Kirk was
built in Kirk Square where a fountain now stands. The present church
building in Montgomerie Street
with its great spire was built in 1884 in the Gothic style. Girvan also lay
on one of the busiest pilgrim ways in Scotland before the reformation,
of Whithorn. Many thousands of people passed through Girvan on the way.
Some of the more
famous historical visitors were Robert the Bruce, who held court at
Knockcushan in February 1329 before travelling to Whithorn to seek peace,
and James IV who passed through the Area at least 15 times in the latter
part of the 15th century on his way to Whithorn. With the establishment of
the Kingdom of Scotland and the Norman influence, the monasteries became
more estab- lished and very powerful, controlling around one third of the
land in Scotland. One such was the Cluniac monastery of Crossraguel
established in the early 13th century; Girvan is mentioned as part of the
Abbey territory, a control that did not end until 1668 and the Charter of
Confirmation to Thomas Boyd.
In the 17th century it is suggested that Girvan had Jess than
200 inhabitants'.
The wealthier townspeople lived in the High street, which
stood above the present flushes car park, and the other inhabitants, mainly
craftsmen, trades
people and some fishermen, lived in Old Street, the Flushes and Knockcushan.
Old Street was also the site of the
famous Ship Inn, which was visited many times by Robbie Burns when he was
studying navigation and land surveying at Kirkoswald. During the 18th
century Girvan began to grow, with the changes made by the Turnpike acts of
1774 and 1791. Safer roads linked Girvan to villages and towns both to the
north and south.
Girvan had two tollgates, one at Piedmont which is the old name for the
estate now known as Glendoune in the south, and the second was at Bridge
Mill to the north. Better Roads
helped the trade of Girvan and especially its more active participation in
the cotton industry. In 1776
Glasgow and Paisley rapidly developed as the centres of the new textile
industry especially in cotton and silk, employing new spinning machinery.
One of the satellite towns in this new development was Girvan. New carding
and spinning techniques, developed due to the
influence of Arkwright's inventions, were
already being adopted in factories. However, weaving remained a craft, the
bulk of production being the few looms in the master weavers home.Such weavers' houses were
sited in the Piedmont area of Girvan along
Ballybroke Road, and later in Wilson
street named after the laird's factor.Also in this area of Girvan
was the South Parish Church, known in the 1850s as the "Kirk on the Green"
as at the time it stood on it's own in open land. The plot was later
bordered by Henrietta street and Louisa Drive, streets which were named
after the Duchess de Coigny and her daughter. In the statistical account of
1793, Girvan had a population of 1,725, of whom 63 were of Irish birth. It
is described as having a small harbour and a convenient beach at the flushes
near the Bank Burn for the landing and repairing of boats. A site that is
presently being used for the very same purpose! Salmon were also caught at
the mouth of the river Girvan. Smuggling was also mentioned the principal
contraband being tea and brandy, which proved very profitable. In the 19th century Girvan, like many
other towns, was benefiting from the agricultural and industrial
revolutions, bringing with them a transport revolution and the railway
reached Girvan in 1869.
The passenger station was built near the harbour, with a large turntable to
turn the steam engines around. (A further development extended the railway
line by a bridge over the river to Newton Kennedy
to assist the shipping of coal.) The station became a goods yard when the
railway was extended to reach Stranraer in the South, and a new passenger
station was built at that time. Today there is a caravan site between the
river Girvan and the old goods yard, and where the turntable once stood is
now a home for retired people. Traces of the old dock and the bridge can
still be seen when the tide is out. The population of Girvan increased during
this period from 2,260 inhabitants in 1801, to 3,100 in 1811. By 1851 it
risen to 8,600, falling to 4,900 by 1891 and then slowly rising again.
Figures report populations of 6,100 in 1931 and 7,200 in 1947. Today, the
figure stands at around 7,440. Behind these figures lies the immigration
of Ulster Irishmen in the early 19th
century followed by the immigration from the whole of Ireland caused by the
potato famine of the 1840s. During these decades the number of looms in
Girvan rose from 100 to 2,000. The drop in the later 19th century was due to
three main factors:
-
The gradual decline of the craft weaving
industry in favour of the large factory style developments in Glasgow,
Paisley and Kilmarnock;
-
Girvan as a port was itself
in decline because as ships grew in size, the small harbour was unable to
effectively cope with the increase in shipping tonnage;
-
The second generation of
Irish immigrants opted to find work in Glasgow, Paisley and industrial
Lanarkshire, some even venturing as far as the USA and Canada.
The rise in the population in
the first half of the 20th century can be explained by the development of
Girvan as a seaside holiday resort, popular with the population of Glasgow.During World War 2 Girvan received a new
lease as a manufacturing area. Alginate Industries Limited, set up their
factory in 1941/42 to obtain alginates from brown seaweed. They now sell
their product all over the world. After the war the town council acquired
the industrial site on part of which Grants Distillery now stands. Over the
years this site has seen many industrial enterprises develop, textiles,
dairy products, dental hygiene products, and electronics are a few of the
present day industries.To this day Girvan remains a
small and quiet seaside town with its own character, style and attractions,
maybe best summed up by the Rev Roderick Lawson who was born in Girvan in
1831, the son of a rope spinner. He wrote the following poem
. |
|
|
|
|
|
Property |
|
|
|
Owners |
|
|
|
Users Tools |
|
|
|
Holidays |
|
|
|
Information |
|
|
|
Overseas Property |
|
|
|
Travel |
|
|
 |
 |
