Ayrshire
Milestones

Illustrated Catalogue of

Ayrshire Milestones

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Turnpike 9 page 1

Turnpike 9, page 4

 

Milestone at Hillhead on Ayr to Cumnock road

From David Thom, 26 July 05: My late father was born & brought up in "Milestone Cottage", Hillhead, Coylton. The cottage stands on the north side of the (A 70) Ayr - Ochiltree - Cumnock road adjacent to the junction of the B742 (Hillhead - Annbank) road [The immediate descent from Hillhead to Meadowhead Farm was known as Black's Brae by the locals.] The cottage was, of course, named as such because of the milestone which was incorporated in the front garden wall. It's a long time since I was last in Hillhead but I believe the milestone is still there. You will, no doubt, already know about this but, if not, I hope it is on interest. (Sadly I can't remember the mileage from Ayr which was incised on the stone.)

From David McClure: Thank you for the information. It is the Ayr 6 milestone and you can see it here. The cottage however is no more. Have you a photograph of it that I could add to the site?

From David Thom 5 Aug 05: As the family 'ancestral' photograph collection was wantonly disposed of several years ago I can no longer access several interesting scenes of Hillhead from around 1890 / 1900, "Milestone Cottage" included! I am puzzled, though, as 'Milestone Cottage' stood on the East side of the B742 Coylton-Annbank road and its junction with the A70 Ayr-Cumnock main road. The photograph shows the milestone on the West side of the junction, adjacent to the War Memorial. One of my relatives remembers that back in the 1950s he asked why the cottage was named 'Milestone' when the stone was across the road! I now have 'subliminal recall' from family lore that the milestone had, at some time, been re-located to its present site - a situation which caused perplexity to the resident Thom family, but the cottage retained its name! There was, I believe, at one time, a house or cottage on, or very near to, the site of the present War Memorial. A Mr. Liddle (Liddell) who was manager of one of the local pits lived there with his family. My memories of Coylton are diminishing with age but I clearly remember the late 1940s when the main road was considered to be busy if more than one vehicle an hour travered along it!

From David Thom, 27 March 2006: I see from the clipping below (courtesy of Free Historical Maps GAZETTEER) dated circa 1880, that the Hillhead milestone was indeed on the West side of the Coylton -Tarbolton road, and not in its present position on the East side of the road. No sign of 'Milestone Cottage' on the map - it must have been built just after the map was drawn.

 
Turnpike 9 page 1

Turnpike 9, page 4

 
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