A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Colmonell, a village and a coast parish of Carrick, S Ayrshire. The village, a neat little place, stands on the left bank of the Stinchar, 4¾ miles W by S of Pinwherry station, and 10½ S by W of Girvan, under which it has a post and telegraph office; at it are the parish church, a Free church, a United Original Secession church, and a public school. A fair is held on the first Monday of May, o. s.
The parish contains also the coast village of Lendalfoot and the stations of Pinmore, Pinwherry, and Barrhill on the Girvan and Portpatrick Junction railway (1876), these being 5,8, and 12½ miles S of Girvan. It is bounded N by Girvan; NE by Barr; E by Minnigaff, in Kirkcudbrightshire; S by Penninghame, Kirkgowan, and New Luce, in Wigtownshire; SW by Ballantrae; and NW by the North Channel. Its greatest length is 13 miles from NW to SE, viz., from Lendalfoot to Loch Maberry; its width from NE to SW varies between 3¼ and 73/8 miles; and its area is 48,153¾ acres, of which 184½ are foreshore and 479 water. The Stinchar winds 7½ miles south-westward through the NW interior, then 2 miles along the Ballantrae border; at Pinwherry it is joined by the Duisk, which, formed by the Pollgowan and Feoch Burns, runs 6 miles north-westward past Barrhill, itself receiving by the way a score at least of rivulets. By the Cree, flowing 6½ miles along all the Minnigaff boundary, the SE corner of the parish is drained to the Solway Firth, whither also two lakes on the Wigtownshire border discharge their effluence- Lochs Dornal (5 x 4½ furl.) and Maberry (1¼ mile x 3 furl.). On the Barr boundary lie Loch Goosey (3 x 2 furl.) and smaller Lochs Crongart and Fanoch; whilst in the interior are Drumlamford (2 x 1¼ furl.) and thirteen yet tinier lakelets. The coast-line, 6½ miles long, is closely followed, at a height of from 12 to 59 feet above sea-level, by the shore road from Girvan to Ballantrae, just beyond which the surface rises rapidly to 200 feet at Bennane Head, 500 at Carleton, and nowhere much less than 100. Inland, the chief elevations to the NW of the Stinchar are conical Knockdolian (869 feet), Knockdaw Hill (850), and Fell (810); to the SE of it, Dalreoch Hill (604), Pinwherry Hill (548), Wee Wheeb (649), Kildonan (659), Shiel Hill (751), and Barjarg Hill (554). The formation is Lower Silurian. The vales contain a good deal of fertile alluvial land, and great improvements have been effected within the last forty years, especially on the Corwar estate, where fully 3500 acres of wild heathery moor and 200 of deep moss have been reclaimed, and now yield excellent pasturage. Great attention is paid to sheep and dairy farming, particularly to cheese-making; and the harvest of the sea is not neglected. Craigneil is a fine old ruin of the 13th century, and other ruined fortalices are at Knockdolian, Knockdaw, Carleton, Kirkhill, and Pinwherry. The mansions are Ballochmorrie, Corwar, Daljarroch, Drumlamford, Kildonan, Knockdolian, and Pinmore; and 12 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 13 of between £100 and £500,4 of from £50 to £100, and 4 of from £20 to £50. Giving off Arnsheen quoad sacra parish, Colmonell is in the presbytery of Stranraer and synod of Galloway; the living is worth £300. The parish church, built in 1772, contains 500 sittings; in its kirkyard lie three martyred Covenanters, one of whom, Matthew M`Ilraith, was slain, says his epitaph, by order of ` bloody Claverhouse.' Five public schools-Barrhill, Colmonell, Corwar, Lendalfoot, and Pinwherry-with respective accommodation for 146,137,60,48, and 69 children, had (1880) an average attendance of 117,75,41,22, and 57, and grants of £90,12s., £55,19s., £41,15s. 2d., £26,6s., and £47,3s. Valuation (1881) £25,502, 7s. 6d., including £628 for railway. Pop. (1801) 1306, (1841) 2801, (1861) 2588, (1871) 2293, (1881) 2191, of whom 1132 were in Colmonell registration district.—Ord. Sur., shs. 7,8,1863.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
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| Feature Description: | "a village and a coast parish" (ADL Feature Type: "populated places") |
| Administrative units: | Colmonell ScoP Ayrshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | Colmonell |
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