Category: Kilbirnie / North Ayrshire

The Bing, Fudstone, Kilbirnie (a poem)

I couldn’t resist publishing this again, it’s my poem about the “Bing” which was a huge amount of debris that sat as a mound at the corner or Place View and Newhouse Drive, Kilbirnie before it was converted into a small playpark for kids around 1983 or 1984.

In Scottish terminology, a “Bing” refers to a large pile or heap of waste material, especially the waste rock and debris piled up in the process of mining, such as coal mining. These Bings are remnants of the industrial era, particularly in Scotland’s coal mining regions, where they were created from the spoil that was brought to the surface during the mining process. Over time, some of these Bings have become landmarks or have been reclaimed for various uses, while others still dominate parts of the Scottish landscape.

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Catherine Greenan Loughran

Here is a picture of my Great Grandmother, Catherine Greenan. She lived in Kilwinning and had a really huge family with my Great Grandfather John Loughran. I have a number of photos of her and older members of the family if anyone wants to see them. They were intertwined with the Gartland family, another local family around North Ayrshire. Her daughter Mary married my Grandfather Andrew.

She was well known locally as a ballroom dancer, the Barrfield Pavilion, Largs, was one of her places. They used to chalk the heels of her shoes.

She died in Ireland in the late 1920s/1930s, where she spent a lot of her time with John’s family and is buried in St Mary’s Churchyard, Dunamore, nr Cookstown, Co. Tyrone, in an unmarked grave along with older members of John’s family. John was also taken back from Dalry and interred there when he died.

In this picture she is wearing the infamous sealskin coat which everyone fought over when she died. I believe it went to Anna Mariah Campbell, from Kilmarnock.

Witch Burning: Remembering Bessie Dunlop.

This is a poem I have written about Bessie Dunlop. A female burned as a witch, from Dalry.

Witch of Lynn, Dalry, arise
Return across our minds and skies
Free us from our bonds and chains
As deep divisions rise again

Banish sadness in your path
Hatred gone and Love at last
Minds of hatred let them rot
Come in peace Bessie Dunlop

Continue reading “Witch Burning: Remembering Bessie Dunlop.”

How the Longbar got it’s name.

I was trying to explain to a friend about the “Longbar”  when he asked me where the name came from.

It was built on top of another earlier group of houses known as “the Lambert”. Over time and with the number of folk moving in with different accents it then became known as the Lamber, then langbar wth the brogue northern Irish accent among others.

By the 1950s it had evolved into “Longbar” because people thought langbar referred to the Scottish word “lang” which meant “long” and the Government starting putting up signposts with the name.