Kilmarnock, Ayrshire : Historical writing

Descriptive gazetteer entries

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

Place Type of entry Source
Kilmarnock a stream of fair size Groome
Kilmarnock parliamentary burgh, parish, and manufacturing town Bartholomew
Kilmarnock a parish containing a large town Groome
Kilmarnock a royal and police burgh Groome

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

Place Type of entry Source
Beansburn village Bartholomew
Bonnyton a suburb of Kilmarnock Groome
Cambuskethan place with grain mills Bartholomew
Cambuskethan a place with extensive grain mills Groome
Crawfurdland Castle a mansion Groome
Crookedholm a village Groome
Dean ruined seat Bartholomew
Grougar hamlet Bartholomew

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 Kilmarnock 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.
James Boswell August 24th to 26th, 1773: Aberdeen to Forres 1
James Boswell October 27th to November 7th, 1773: Through Glasgow to Ayrshire 1
William Camden Scotland: South of the Antonine Wall 1
Daniel Defoe Letter 12, Part 1: South-Western Scotland 1
John Wesley 1763-4: In Scotland Again; Methodist's Wealth; "No Law for Methodists"; Exhausting Days 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
Riccarton 0 2
Crookedholm 0 2
Hurlford 0 2
Crosshouse 0 2
Kilmaurs 1 2
Craigie 0 2
Fenwick 0 2
Dundonald 0 2
Galston 0 2
Dreghorn 0 2
Cunninghame 0 2
Stewarton 0 2
Symington 0 2
Perceton 0 2
Irvine 10 4
Newmilns 1 2
Tarbolton 1 2
Fullarton 0 2
Dunlop 0 2
Monkton 0 3

Names from historical writing

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

Name Author Source
KIL MARNOCH F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
KILMARNOCK 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).
F.H. Groome Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (Edinburgh: T.C. Jack, 1882-4).
KILMARNOCKE 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.