Beith Auld Kirk pictures

These pictures of the inside and outside of Beith Auld Kirk are very striking.  The first line of pictures show a monument

One version of the story tells me that  this is  a monument which was installed up at Spiers School. After that was demolished in the 70s the monument was removed and placed behind the Kirk in 1985…. in the Kirk yard where you can still see them today. Another person told me these were actually from Gielsland House and are called “the Gielsand marbles”.

If you know the history of these, please let me know.

 

Co-op and School at the Den (Barkip)

The Den was a hamlet on the main road between Beith and Dalry  – it had it’s own school, bank and shops, Episcopal church etc and was demolished in the 1900s.  You can see the pictures above of the Co-op and School which was known as Kersland Barony.

The Den (Barkip) was largely replaced with the Lambert which became known as the Lambar, then langbar and subsequently “corrected” to Longbar by the council. It is easy to see how that could have happened with the number of Northern Irish accents around at that time.

By the way – I’ve moved this site to a now host, corrected the broken links  and moved in existing subscribers.  If you see any problems, let me know.

 

Private William McEwan First World War

This is from the Newspaper, The Scotsman dated 1915 about a Kilbirnie man who was sadly killed during the First World War. William McEwan. I’ve highlighted the name in red, at the bottom of the page.

This is from the Newspaper, The Scotsman dated 1915 about a Kilbirnie man who was sadly killed during the First World War. William McEwan. I’ve highlighted the name in red, at the bottom of the page.

william mcewanDownload

Death of Robert Houston – 1940

Robert Houston was an Artist, born in Kilbirnie in 1891. He attended Spiers School in Beith and became very famous in the word of Art along with his brother George Houston, another famous artist. Another brother James is perhaps better known in the town as James Houston the architect who designed lots of local buildings […]

Robert Houston was an Artist, born in Kilbirnie in 1891. He attended Spiers School in Beith and became very famous in the word of Art along with his brother George Houston, another famous artist. Another brother James is perhaps better known in the town as James Houston the architect who designed lots of local buildings and memorials including some of the W and J Knox Buildings and an installation in the Auld Kirk. Their office and house was at Bridgend, which was demolished so the cinema could be built (latterly a bingo hall and then it became Radio City) and subsequently the office ended up at the bottom of School Wynd in later years ran by his son, also called James. More details about the company and the family can be found here. The genealogy which leads into the Logan family can be found here.

robert houstonDownload

General Mathew of Place – Death Intimation

This is from the newspaper “The Scotsman” dated August the 4th 1932.

This is the man who unveiled the War memorial and was something of a war hero locally and nationally. He was married to Lady Janet Muir Knox and lived at Place House, across from the Golf course which was demolished some years back. If you want to know more about him, you can click here https://josephmctaggart.org/major-general-sir-charles-mathew/

They are both buried in the family vault – if you go the the huge imposing Knox monument in Kilbirnie old cemetery you will find it just next to there. There is a huge headstone which resembles a birthday cake, which when moved opens up a huge vault underneath. Last I heard it was completely flooded inside. There are more details in the Knox section of this site.