Ayr

Ayr, the county town of Ayrshire, at the mouth of the river Ayr, 40½ miles SSW. of Glasgow by rail. It is a clean and handsome town, the principal streets well built; while to the south, towards the racecourse, many elegant villas have sprung up of recent years. The Town's Buildings, with a spire 226 feet high, were erected in 1828, and greatly enlarged in 1881. The so-called 'Wallace Tower' is a Gothic edifice of 1834, 113 feet high. There are also the County Buildings, modelled after the temple of Isis in Rome, and the Academy (founded 1764; new building, 1880). Three bridges span the river, and connect Ayr proper with Newton-upon-Ayr and Wallacetown—a railway viaduct, and the 'Twa Brigs' of Burns. Of these the narrow four-arched 'Auld Brig' dates probably from the end of the 15th century, and the 'New Brig' (1788) was rebuilt in 1879. There are bronze statues of General Neill, the Earl of Eglinton, and Robert Burns, (1891). Part of the tower of the 12th-century church of St John, turned into a fort by Cromwell, is still standing. The Carnegie Free Library was opened in 1893. The harbour, formed by the river, is protected by piers and a breakwater; improvements on it, including a wet dock and slip dock, have been carried out since 1874 at a cost of more than £150,000. The trade is a large and growing one, the tonnage of vessels entering the port having increased in ten years from 140,000 to 328,000. The chief export is coal from the Ayrshire collieries. A considerable quantity of grain and timber is imported; and there are manufactures of lace and woollen fabrics, carpets, large saw-mills, &c. A splendid new water-supply, drawn from Loch Finlas, 20 miles distant, was introduced in 1887. At an early date Ayr was a commercial and military place of some importance. William the Lion made it a royal burgh about 1200. During the War of Independence, it formed a regular centre of military operations, and in 1297, while in possession of an English garrison, it was the scene (according to Blind Harry) of the burning by Wallace of the 'Barns of Ayr.' The principal objects of interest near Ayr are connected with the memory of Robert Burns (see ALLOWAY). Ayr unites with Campbeltown, Irvine, Inveraray, and Oban in sending a member to parliament. The municipal burgh was in 1873 rendered contemptuous with the parliamentary, so as to take in Newton and Wallacetown, and was again extended in 1885. Pop. of parliamentary burgh (1841) 15,749; (1861) 18,573; (1881) 20,821; (1891) 23,825.