Ayr, Ayrshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

These other entries in our collection of descriptive gazetteers are also about Ayr. You may be able to find further references to Ayr in the descriptive gazetteers by doing a full-text search here.

Place Type of entry Source
Ayr Parliamentary District of Burghs Bartholomew
Ayr river Bartholomew
Ayr parish, parliamentary and royal burgh, and county town Bartholomew
Ayr a river Groome
Ayr the capital of Ayrshire, is a seaport, a seat of manufacture, and a royal and parliamentary burgh Groome
Ayr and Maybole Railway a railway Groome

This additional information from our descriptive gazetteers is for locations within the parish or parishes associated with Ayr.

Place Type of entry Source
Barns of Ayr a temporary barrack or encampment Groome
Belleisle seat Bartholomew
Doonholm seat Bartholomew
Doonholm a mansion Groome
Glengaw Burn stream Bartholomew
Mount-Charles a mansion Groome
Mount Oliphant a farm Groome
Rozelle a fine mansion Groome

Travel writing

This website includes the complete texts of books describing journeys around Britain, written between the twelfth and nineteenth centuries. Selecting one of the links below will take you to the first reference to Ayr within the selected text. This will not always be a description of a visit: travellers often mention places other than where they are, for example as a basis for comparison.

Traveller Section No. of Refs.
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 5
Robert Gammage Ayrshire and Renfrewshire 3
William Camden Scotland: South of the Antonine Wall 2
James Boswell August 27th to 31st, 1773: Forres to Glen Moriston via Inverness 1
George Head The Foxdale Mines and the Calf of Man 1

This website includes two large libraries, of historical travel writing and of entries from nineteenth century gazetteers describing places. We have text from these sources available for these places near your location:

Place Mentioned in Travel Writing Mentioned in Historical Gazetteer
Newton upon Ayr 0 2
Alloway 1 2
Prestwick 0 3
St Quivox 0 2
Monkton 0 3
Dalrymple 0 2
Fisherton 0 2
Coylton 0 2
Troon 0 2
Dunure 0 2
Stair 0 2
Symington 0 2
Tarbolton 1 2
Drongan 0 2
Maybole 0 2
Dundonald 0 2
Kirkmichael 0 2
Patna 0 2
Craigie 0 2
Crosshill 0 2

Names from historical writing

The following appear as names for Ayr. Follow the links for what the author actually said:

Name Author Source
AIR Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
AIRE William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).
AYR John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
John Bartholomew Gazetteer of the British Isles (Edinburgh: Bartholomew, 1887).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
AYR AND MAYBOLE RAILWAY F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
AYRE Daniel Defoe A tour thro' the whole island of Great Britain, divided into circuits or journies (London: JM Dent and Co, 1927).
VIDOGARA William Camden Britain, or, a Chorographicall Description of the most flourishing Kingdomes, England, Scotland, and Ireland (London: George Bishop and John Norton, 1610).

NB: These variant names come from our collections of historical travel writing and descriptive gazetteers:

  • The above links take you to the first reference to this particular version of the name within a book of travel writing, or to the relevant gazetteer entry.
  • Some names may derive from research by antiquarian writers such as William Camden and Thomas Pennant into the Roman, Saxon and medieval names of places. Their claims are not always supported by modern place-name researchers.
  • References by travel writers to the place using its "normal" name are not included. Descriptive gazetteer entries are included only if the name does not appear anywhere else.