OS1/3/47/23
| List of names as written | Various modes of spelling | Authorities for spelling | Situation | Description remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| PRESTWICK | Prestwick Prestwick Prestwick |
James McCowan David Hutchison Andrew Smith |
027.10 | A large and irregular village a great number of the houses being detached which gives it a scattered appearance The houses are generally one storey High the most of which are slated & in good repair it contains a Post office & two school houses there are also three Public Houses The only object of interest belonging to Prestwict Burgh is the Old Church which stands on rising ground at the North West end of the village. A little further North & on the West side of the Railway once stood the Gallows Know but which is now level with the Ground. The etymology of "Prestwick" (Priest-town) points to some ecclesiastical origin, but as to what that is neither record or tradition furnished the smallest light" |
Continued entries/extra info
[Page] 23Parish of Monkton & Prestwick (united)
" Monkton and Prestwick, owe their origin to the religious houses erected at the respective villages.
The burgh of Prestwick is one of the most ancient in the county. In the original grant by Walter
the high Stewart to the monks of Paisley, as we have already seen, the church is styled "ecclesiam
de burgo meo de Prestwic" the church of my burgh of Prestwick. This was in the beginning
of the reign of William the Lion, about 1165. According to the received charter granted by James
VI., as administrator for his son. Henry duke of Rothsay, Earl of Kyle Carrick and Cunning-
-ham , Lord of the Isles, As dated 19 June 1600, the burgh had existed as a free burgh of the barony for
617 years before the period of the renewal. This would carry the erection of the burgh back to
the year 983, " far before the epoch of records" as Chalmers observes, "and still farther from
the truth!" It is well known that James VI, as well as most of the writers of his time, were inclined
to the fabulous, in reference to the matters of antiquities and there can be little doubt, that it was
indulged in to some extent in the renewal of the Prestwick charter. The burgh in all
likeliehood erected by Walter the High Stewart; and consequently styling it "my burgh
of Prestwick," was in every sense highly proper. He was lord of the northern portion of Kyle
(Kyle Stewart) and Prestwick was the head baronial burgh of the district where the
head courts of the baillery were held. By their charter the freemen of Prestwick were entit-
-led to choose a provost, two baillies, and councillors, with power to grant franchises to
several trades, to hold weekly markets, and a fair on the 6th of December the feast
of St. Nicholas the patron of the burgh. The lands belonging to the burgh extend to
about "1000 Scots acres, and are divided among 30 farmers, or barons, as they are
called, each of whom possesses a lot of arable land, and a right of pasturing
a certain number of sheep and cattle on the common."
Paterson's History of Ayrshire (1847)
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DANIALSAN, JCB
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