OS1/3/5/16
| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| [continued from page 15] The Rampart is everywhere faced on the outside with a wall strongly and exceedingly well built of hewn-stone inclined at the proper angles & entire. The whole is sustained on arches which formed convenient securities for Garrison stores and provisions The breadth of the rampart in this place is 120 feet. The works now sweep almost directly West running parallel to the sea side & when first executed had occupied the whole of the dry ground on this side, Though the sea has now retired to a considerable distance leaving a fine sandy beach yet some of the old inhabitants remember when the Walls here were washed by the tide at high water This seaward Curtain is 512 feet long & tho [though] the rampart continues of the same height viz about 20 or 25 feet above the level of the sands yet it has been narrow and without arches having been composed of solid Earth faced with the same solid masonry as already described. At the termination of this sea wall & joining the Western angle of the fortifications is a 4th bastion which though smaller than the others has been Constructed with equal care & skill ++ A Curtain 272 feet running nearly South conducts to a 5th bastion but here the original rampart can no longer be traced though the Garden Walls of the adjacent houses are built upon its foundations & clearly show its position. The 6th & last bastion has occupied the Southern angle of the fort, but of this no part now remains. A long Curtain & deep broad ditch has formed the principal defences toward the town joining the South to the Eastern bastion whence we started in this description of the fortifications. - Stat. Acct. [Statistical Account] of Ayrs[hire] |
Continued entries/extra info
[Page 16]Sheet 7 Ayr
"In 1652, Oliver Cromwell, finding the ground around the Church
"a fit situation for a fort, took possession of it for that purpose,
"and converted the Church into an armoury.
Stat Acct. [Statistical Account] 1842 Page 35.
"The castle is supposed to have existed so late as 1652, when Cromwell
"built the fort of Ayr; but this is doubtful.
Patersons Hist. [History] of Ayr Page 161
Transcribers who have contributed to this page.
Nellie- Moderator, JCB
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