Kilbirnie / North Ayrshire – Page 2 – Kilbirnie, Local History and Cultural Things

Glengarnock Steel War Memorials

The metal one is still there on the side of a building by the Steel Works. The inscriptions are here

Maypole Street

As it’s May, its a good time to remember where Maypole Street was in Kilbirnie. It looks like it was more or less where Knoxville Rd is and Stoneyholm Mill sat on Maypole Street. I am guessing that when the Knox family built at least one of their houses there, the road was widened and changed, becoming Knoxville Rd. It’s hard to know where it was exactly, I will need to dig out some old maps.

Ancestry shows a Samuel Hood being born at number 7 Maypole Street, Kilbirnie. Later documents show a softer spelling and it was known as Maybole Street. (with a B)

As it was known as Maypole Street, there would actually have been a tree or a pole put up there in May for people to dance around and the oldest person in the town would have had the honour of decorating it.

It’s hard to picture that by today’s standards.

Maggie McTaggart, Kilbirnie 1920

I have this death certificate for Maggie McTaggart who died at Dennyholm, Kilbirnie on April 27th 1920. She was the sister of my Great Grandfather.

It is interesting to see the other people listed here, definitely Kilbirnie names and sad deaths from 1920. Thomas Kane and Patrick Bannon both died in 1920.

KIlbirnie and Glengarnock Shared Memories

You can read the book here – you need to sign up but it is completely free.

Townhead, Kilbirnie

Here is an old and a new picture of Townhead Street. The long white building which is demolished where the trees are in the new picture was Martin’s Shed, a local meeting place. Gospel Hall meetings took place there before the Gospel Hall was built in 1897.

Hamilton Gray Park

Hamilton Gray Park, the son of Samuel Park and Isabella Gray, was born in Kilbirnie, Scotland, on 25th November 1826. It seems he became a Mormon and was baptised in the town. Most likely in the river Garnock before emigrating to Utah.

I had no idea that there was a Mormon Church in the town at that time – the whole story is here https://localhistoryvideos.com/kilbirnie-scotland/