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.
St Quivox, a parish of Kyle, Ayrshire, containing Whitletts village and the Walilacetown suburb of Ayr. It is bounded N by Monkton, NE and E by Tarbolton, SE by Coylton, S by Ayr, and W by Newton-upon-Ayr and Monkton. Its utmost length, from ENE to WSW, is 43/8 miles; its breadth varies between ¾ mile and 27/8 miles; and its area is 4930½ acres, of which 54½ are water. The beautiful river Ayr curves 5¼ miles west-south-westward along all the south-eastern and southern boundary, its banks in places being steep and wooded. The surface rises north-eastward to 228 feet above the sea at Brocklehill; but the southern and western districts are low and level, at no point much exceeding 60 feet. The rocks are carboniferous; and coal and excellent sandstone have both been worked. The soil is sandy in the W, in the centre is-light and gravelly on an irretentive subsoil, and on the eastern border is a stiffish clay. Nearly 250 acres are under wood; and almost all the remainder is arable. Mansions, noticed separately, are Auchencruive and Craigie; and 3 proprietors hold each an annual value of £500 and upwards, 2 of between £100 and £500. Giving off since 1874 the quoad sacra parish of Wallacetown, St Quivox is in the presbytery of Ayr and the synod of Glasgow and Ayr; the living is worth £394. The ancient parish church was originally, and for centuries, called Sanchar, the antique form of the modernised Sanquhar, from the Gaelic sean, ` old, ' and cathair or caer, ` a fort.' In 1212 it was a rectory; between 1229 and 1238 it belonged to the short-lived Gilbertine convent, which the second Walter, the Stewart, established at Dalmulin; and from 1238 till the Reformation it belonged to the monks of Paisley. Though Sanchar continued to be the name of the several estates which were portions of the ancient territory or manor, the church, at the Reformation, appears under the designation of St Kevoc. This name is commonly supposed to be derived from Kevoca, a holy virgin of Kyle, who lived in the first half of the 11th century; but Bishop Forbes, in his Kalendar of Scottish Saints (1872), refers it to the Irish saint, Caemhan or Pulcherius, the affectionate form of whose name is Mo-chacmhoc, pronounced Mo-keevoc. The present parish church, near Auchencruive station, is of pre-Reformation date, and, as enlarged about 1825, contains nearly 500 sittings. Two public schools, St Quivox and Whitletts, with respective accommodation for 94 and 180 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 64 and 106, and grants of £49, 16s. and £71, 11s. Valuation (1880) £11, 416, 16s. 2d., (1885) £12, 076, 9s. 8d., plus £2354 for railway. Pop. (1801) 2070, (1831) 5289, (1861) 7097, (1871) 6069, (1881) 7352, of whom 1429 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., sh. 14, 1863.
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
| Linked entities: | |
|---|---|
| Feature Description: | "a parish" (ADL Feature Type: "countries, 4th order divisions") |
| Administrative units: | St Quivox ScoP Ayrshire ScoCnty |
| Place: | St Quivox |
Go to the linked place page for a location map, and for access to other historical writing about the place. Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.