Kilbirnie / North Ayrshire – Page 3 – Kilbirnie, Local History and Cultural Things

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/

Hugh McDonald Watson, Soldier WW2.

I don’t know much about him except that he lived in Muirend Street. Kilbirnie. He became quite well known.

Let me know if you have any further information.

The photo came from The Ardrossan and Saltcoats Herald.

Beith High Church, Windows and Tower

Hebron Hall, Glengarnock

Kilbirnie Home Guard

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.