Undiscovered Scotland

 

Mauchline in East Ayrshire can be found astride the busy A76 road from Dumfries to Kilmarnock and about ten miles east of Ayr. Its origins date back to the granting of a swathe of land in Ayrshire to the Cistercian monks of Melrose Abbey in 1165. This land was administered from an abbey built in what is now Mauchline. Remnants remain, including a small tower house that was at first called Hunters Tower, but is now known as Mauchline Castle.

Mauchline was made a burgh by royal charters in 1510, and again in 1610, but both charters have been lost. A map drawn in 1750 showed Mauchline as the focal point of seven radial roads leading to most places of significance in Ayrshire. It’s perhaps not surprising that it gained a post office in 1788. The first coal mine in the area was sunk in 1790. Other early industries included clock making and the quarrying of red sandstone, and a woollen mill followed in the early 1800s. (Continues below images...)

 

From the 1820s, an increasingly important industry was the manufacture of snuff boxes and cigar boxes from highly decorated polished sycamore wood. Over time the range of products made by the firm of W & A Smith, amongst others, expanded significantly. A fire in 1933 stopped production, and W & A Smith closed in 1939. Despite this, what came to be called Mauchline Ware remains internationally famous.

Another notable local industry began in 1851 when what is now Andrew Kay & Company (Curling Stones) Limited was founded in Mauchline. Kays of Scotland retains exclusive rights to harvest granite from Ailsa Craig, off the Ayrshire coast. The company produces the only stones used in competition by the World Curling Federation and is the sole supplier of curling stones to the Winter Olympic Games.

Mauchline also has important links with Robert Burns, regarded as Scotland's national poet. In 1788, he moved from Edinburgh back to his native Ayrshire and married Jean Armour. They set up home together in Mauchline. The room they lived in has been preserved to form part of the Burns House Museum, close to the centre of Mauchline.

Other reminders of their time in the town can be found in the form of a statue of Jean Armour in the town centre, and the Robert Burns National Monument and Memorial Homes, built on the edge of the town in 1898.