Glenbuck

Glenbuck (Scottish Gaelic: Gleann Buic) is a small, remote village in East Ayrshire. Historically part of Ayrshire, it nestles in the hills 3 miles east of Muirkirk, East Ayrshire, Scotland.

Glenbuck Loch

The site of the village was slightly to the north-west of Glenbuck "Loch", on the River Ayr, and was surrounded on three sides by South Lanarkshire. The Ayrshire/Lanarkshire border runs North to South across the Loch. The "Loch" is in fact a dam created in 1802 by James Finlay for his Catrine cotton works. Much of the dam banks were created by French prisoners of war. The dam was situated so that the water to power the mill took exactly twelve hours to reach Catrine. The Tenant of West Glenbuck Farm had his rent paid by James Findlay to open the sluice at 18:00 and close it at 06:00, mirroring exactly the working hours of the Mill. The water turned the famous Catrine Wheel which powered the Mill. The double wheel was 15.24 meters in diameter, revolved 3 times per minute, using 240 tons of water whilst generating 500 Horse Power. The water also powered a dozen other water mills downstream. The dam's creation largely drained the valley downstream and thus allowed the road to be relocated into the valley floor along the route of the modern A70 and paved the way for the adjacent railway line around 1839. Previously the land was a dense bog with the old coach road higher up on the opposite side of valley running below Wee Darnhunch then west across the fields along to Darnhunch Farm where gaps in the stone walls (dykes) shows the old Toll Route.

Railway enthusiasts considered the Loch - dissected by the 1830 line - to be an exceptional place to photograph trains with still water either side of the line and many photos, well known to steam buffs exist. The last local train through Glenbuck station and over this dam was in 1964. The first steam railway in Scotland was between Troon & Kilmarnock had iron rails made in Glenbuck Iron works.

Economy

Glenbuck was once a thriving coal mining community, but the last mine was closed in 1931. The village was unable to provide jobs for the unemployed miners and suffered decline as a result. There is an informative collection of memories of Glenbuck here.

It was also an early centre for pig iron making and early coal blast furnaces were built and remained till recently. Used from 1795 to 1813 these belonged to the Glenbuck Iron Co. whose papers are lodged with the Scottish Records office. Local lore says the firm did early research (pre Coalbrookdale) to make steel from coal with supposed advice from experts from Toledo. A deep study of local iron work was published by Donnachie and Butt, I L & J (1965) 'Three 18th century Scottish ironworks'.

Weaving was also common and 'Stair Row' in Glenbuck was the street where the weavers lived and worked. The last traditional weaver passing away in 1880 ('Cairntable Echoes'- 2002 p 122)

Glenbuck House

A local mine owner Charles Howatson built (1879) a splendid high Victorian estate house known as (photos here) Glenbuck House and he forested all around the loch. He was in his middle years when he built and developed the estate with fine and still extant steadings. He passed in 1914 - in following decades his inheritors in order to avoid paying tax on the family home eventually removed the roof (after 1945?) and the house soon dissolved as the softer red local Mauchline sandstone is highly friable when exposed to rain and this fine house was built and turned to dust in less than a century and utterly demolished by 1948 after a brief plan to turn it into flats by Ayr County Council. The loch car park occupies its site.

Sports notability

Status today

Little of the original village exists. Opencast coal mining in the 1990s resulted in the demolition of just about all of the properties that remained (The School, Kirk, Mitchell's Coal Yard, Hillside market gardens, two blocks of council houses, various outlying farms Airdsgreen, Grashill. etc. Spireslack farmhouse remains but surrounded on all sides by open casting). Of the seven remaining houses still extant - four are still occupied including a taxi firm and artists (see links). A wind farm developer administers most of the properties but since taking control (Nov 1st 2010) left West Glenbuck farmhouse empty which has led to further depopulation of the village. Lochside Cottage now in private ownership was the 'new' toll house and Wee Darnhunch was the old toll house for the earlier higher road which was manned by Robert Burns's maternal uncle - John Brown in the 1790s. Glenbuck is mentioned by Robert Burns's poem The Brigs of Ayr.

West Glenbuck Farm land is where one of the best examples of a flanged Bronze Axe head in Scotland was found when ploughing - this item is held by the National Museum in Edinburgh and a picture is printed in the Society Of Antiquaries of Scotland notes by Arch. Fairbairn 1913-27. The C38 road in is still maintained by the council and the Shankly memorial is visited most weeks along with a new River Ayr Way walk which loosely follows the 44 mile length of the river to the coast. The innovative river walk begins at a totem pole, inscribed "Muirkirk", down near the loch. There is also a permanent bird hide on the loch to observe local waterfowl. A useful local collection of Muirkirk Advertiser items provides much historic data and articles along with births, deaths and marriages for Glenbuck. It is available in the village directly from the publisher and via East Ayrshire Council library services in Muirkirk.

References

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External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Glenbuck.

Coordinates: 55°32′N 3°59′W / 55.533°N 3.983°W / 55.533; -3.983

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 10/26/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.