Rambles Round Kilmarnock, with an Introductory Sketch of the Town

Rise and Progress of Kilmarnock-The Cross-Flesh Market Bridge-Corn Exchange-Clerk's Lane-Fore St.-High Church and Burying Ground -King Street-Wellington Street-Fever Hospital-Portland Street. BEFORE starting on a ramble through Kilmarnock, I deem it necessary to give a sketch of the town in former times, seeing that it owes much of its present prosperity to the enterprise of days gone by. The knowledge that "Auld Killie" may be justly considered the metropolis of Ayrshire may suggest comparisons highly satisfactory to our sense of vanity, and the glories of progress, but let it not be forgotten that all things of which we may be inclined to boast will have their day, and that nothing is immutable below,

"The glories of our birth and state

Being shadows, not substantial things."

With this simple introduction, then, I open my subject by stating that the origin of the town is shrouded in obscurity. It is generally supposed that an early promoter of Christianity named Saint Marnock built a church and therein expounded the tenets of his creed. Houses in time sprang up in its vicinity and formed a village, which gradually increased into the proportions of a town.

As far back as authentic history goes, Kilmarnock seems to have been under the feudal jurisdiction of the Lords Boyd, who were barons of the district, and dwelt in Dean Castle, the ruins of which still stand in a vale on the bank of the Kilmarnock Water, about a mile and a-half north-east of the town. In 1591 it was created a burgh of barony, and in 1672 a second charter was conferred upon it, that endowed it with

further privileges. In 1609 Timothy Pont visited it when surveying Cunninghame, and makes mention of it thus:"Kilmernock-toune and kirk-is a large village, and of great repaire. It hath in it a veekly market; it hath a faire stone bridge over the river Mernock, vich glyds hard by the said toune till it falles in the river Irving. It hath a pretty church, from vich the village, castlle, and lordschipe takes its name," &c. At that early date Kilmarnock seems to have been a place of considerable importance, manufactures being carried on to some extent in it. In 1695 the first magistrates were appointed; these were chosen by the Superior from a list presented to him by the Council annually. This system continued until 1745, afterwards the Council appointed the bailies.

Kilmarnock did not make much progress as a town until the middle of the eighteenth century, or until after it was freed from baronial jurisdiction; then it began to prosper civically and commercially. About this time, the author of "The History of Kilmarnock" says, "the town presented a mean and inelegant appearance. The streets were crooked and narrow; the houses were low and poorly lighted; and to many of them that were two storeys high were attached outside stairs that not only confined the already limited thoroughfares, but gave to the houses themselves a rude and clumsy aspect. The principal streets at that time were those now called High Street, Soulis Street, Fore Street, Back Street, Croft Street, Strand Street, and Sandbed Street, which, with some buildings at the Cross, Nethertonholm, and a few back tenements and lanes, formed the whole of the town." In 1777, or nearly fifty years after the introduction of the manufacture of woollen fabrics, Loch in his "Essays" makes mention of it as a place of considerable manufacturing importance, and states that it was possessed of two hundred and forty looms for the weaving of silk, sixty for the weaving of carpets, forty for the weaving of linen, thirty for the weaving of blankets, thirty for the weaving of serges and shalloons, twenty for the weaving of duffles, and six stocking frames; also of being possessed of two tanyards and a good trade in shoes. As business increased so grew the population, and from an obscure village Kilmarnock came to be the most important town in Ayrshire. Dr. Webster states that the

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