Kilmaurs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Kilmaurs is a town in the county of East Ayrshire, Scotland, on the Carmel, 21.1 miles south by west of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway. Pop. (1901), 1803.
It was once noted for its cutlery, shoe and bonnet factories, and there were iron and coal mines in the neighbourhood. The parish church, Kilmaurs Glencairn, dates from 1170, and was dedicated either to the Virgin or to a Scottish saint of the 9th century called Maure. It was enlarged in 1403 and in great part rebuilt in 1888.
Adjoining it is the burial-place of the earls of Glencairn, the leading personages in the district during several centuries, some of whom bore the style of Lord Kilmaurs. The aisle contains the restored tomb of the 7th. Earl with his wife and eight children. Their family name was Cunningham, adopted probably from the baillie which they acquired in the 12th century.
The De Morville family lived at Tour nearby. The family built Kilwinning abbey, a daughter was the mother of John Baliol and another member was one of the murderes of Thomas a Becket.
The town was made a burgh of barony in 1527 by the earl of that date. Burns's patron, the thirteenth earl, on whose death the poet wrote his touching "Lament," sold the Kilmaurs estate in 1786 to the marchioness of Titchfield.
Kilmaurs has strong links with the Cunninghame family who are associated with the toun of Lambroughton for a significant period during their rise to power.
One sad story is told of a couple who killed themselves in Victorian times by tying each other together and then jumping from Milton Viaduct into three feet of water. They were buried in the Kilmaurs-Glencairn churchyard in an unmarked grave. It transpired that they had become bankrupt and were fearful of what poverty would bring.
This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
