(County and Presbytery of Ayr. Synod of Glasgow and Ayr.)
By the Reverend Mr Thomas Thomson.
Name, Extent, Surface, &c
The parish of Dailly is situated nearly in the center [sic] of Carrisk, one of the three districts of the county of Ayr. The name is probably descriptive of the principal part of the parish, which consists of a dale or valley stretching along the banks of the river of Girvan, and bounded on both sides by hills of moderate height. From NE to SW the parish extends in the line of the river about 6 miles in length, and varies irregularly in breadth from 6 to 4 miles. The number of acres it contains has never been ascertained by actual measurement, but probably exceeds 17000. Prior to the year 1650, its limits were of much wider extent, comprehending a great part of what was then erected into the parish of Barr. Even within its present more moderate bounds, it exhibits great variety of surface. Gentle and irregular slopes, interspersed with holms and meadows, and beautifully diversified with natural woods and plantations, occupy the lower part of the valley, above which the hills on both sides rise with various degrees of steepness, and stretch out, especially towards the south, into bleak, heathy, [35] and uncultivated moors. The only river in the parish is the Girvan, which in its ordinary state is of very moderate breadth, and no where navigable. It is fed by numberless smaller streams from the hills, some of which descend through deep and woody glens, admired for picturesque and romantic beauty. Of these glens by much the most remarkable and extensive lies on the eastern extremity of the parish, near Kilkerran, the seat of Sir Adam Fergusson. It has lately been made more accessible by a path of nearly a mile in length, cut along the brink of the torrent; and will, in time, receive a vast addition to its present beauty from the trees which have been planted on its craggy and precipitious banks. Near the lower extremity of this wild and romantic dell, once stood a chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, from which it still retains the name of the Lady–glen.
Minerals and Mineral Springs
The useful minerals with which this parish abounds are coal, lime, freestone, and marl. The fields of coal, in particular, are uncommonly rich and extensive, and were it not for the expence of land carriage to the coast, and the want of a good harbour at Girvan, might supply the demands of an extensive exportation. Except towards the lower extremity of the parish, they lie mostly on the declivity of the hills on the north side of the valley. Those on the lands of Mr Hamilton of Bargeny and Mr Kennedy of Dunure alone, are at present wrought; and furnish about 9000 tons annually, at the rate of 3s 4d per ton, merely for home consumptions. It deserves to be mentioned, that a single seam, belonging to Mr Kennedy, measures 18 feet in thickness, and lies in so favourable a postion, that the coal is drawn out on sledges at a very moderate expence.
[36] The principal lime–work in this district is at Craighead, a hill near the western extremity of the parish, belonging to Mr Hamilton of Bargeny. The east face of this hill consists of one vast unbroken mass of lime–stone, the dimensions of which are imperfectly known. In consequence of the increased demand for lime as a manure, the rent of this quarry has within the last twenty years risen from £10 to £245 per annum. Argillaceous marl is found in most parts of the parish, and has of late been used as a manure with great success. Beds of freestone are very numerous and extensive: some of them uncommonly fine, and much esteemed in ornamental building. The principal ridge of hills on the south side of the valley appears to consist chiefly of this substance, interspersed with strata of marl and lime–stone, over which are piled up enormous masses of pudding stone. Those on the north side are probably of a similar structure, on some of them are found extensive rocks of a basaltic nature, in the rude and irregular form distinguished by the name of trapp. In none of them have veins of any kind of metal been discovered. In many places the land was formerly covered with a vast number of those “solitary masses of granite,” so frequent in some other parts of Scotland, and the origin of which has so long puzzled the ingenuity of the naturalist. Splitting and removing these has proved an expensive, but necessary step, to the complete improvement of the soil.
Many small chalybeate springs, scattered over different parts of the parish, seem to indicate the existence of extensive strata of iron–stone; but their source have never been explored. On the declivity of the range of hills towards the north, a water, strongly impregnated with calcareous [37] earth, burst out at different parts of the surface, in which may be distinctly traced the process of petrifaction, as it is commonly, though very unphilosophically, called. Large masses of opaque petrified moss are here formed; but the rapid evaporation of the water, in consequence of its free exposure to the sun and external air, prevents the concretion of the calcareous earth into those beautiful chrystalline forms so much admired in the spars [sic] of Derbyshire.
Soil
The nature of the soil is as various as the surface is diversified. Along the banks of the river, the holms [indistinct] and meadows, in some places of considerable extent, are generally of a light, but very fertile, soil, and capable of the highest cultivation. Wheat, though not a general crop, has been raised on some of them with great success. The more elevated grounds, which principally occupy the lower part of the valley, are chiefly arable, and, in favourable seasons, produce excellent crops of oats and barley. Those on the south side of the river are mostly of a light and dry soil, resting on a bottom of gravel, and are peculiarly favourable for pasturage. On the north side they are, in general, better, in consequence of a larger admixture of clay, both in the soil and inferior strata. The mountainous parts of the parish are almost solely appropriated to the pasturage of sheep and cattle, and although certainly inferior in value, are supposed greatly to exceed in extent the cultivated valley below. The soil is thin, wet, and spungy [sic]; and in many places covered with large tracts of moss, from which, before the general use of coal, the inhabitants were supplied with the greater part of their fuel.
[38]
Climate
[38 missing; 39]
has not been aided by the introduction of trade or manufactures. Formerly a very considerable importation of corn annually was necessary for the subsistence of the inhabitants, but of late, besides abundantly supplying the demands of an increasing population, the farmer has been able to spare a little for the consumption of some neighbouring districts.
The lands, however, in this parish, and indeed throughout the greater part of Carrick, seem better calculated by nature for pasturage than for agriculture, and justify the character given them in the sixteenth century by Buchanan, “Pascuis foecunda, non infelix frumento.” The rearing and feeding of cattle, therefore, has always been a principal, and perhaps [40] the most profitable branch of employment to the farmer. Improvement in this department has gone hand in hand with that of agriculture, and has not, in its effects, been less remarkable or beneficial. By means of that great and rapid rise in the price of cattle, to which, chiefly, the origin of improvement in this country may be traced, the farmer has been induced and enabled to meliorate his pasture land; in consequence of which, and in part also of attention to the breed, the stock has in a few years greatly increased in number, and still more in value. The cattle are mostly of the well known Galloway breed, intermixed with a few imported from Ireland and Argyleshire. A considerable number is here completely fattened for the markets of this country; but by much the greater part is bought up by drovers, to be more highly fed for the English market, in the richer pastures of the South.
The moorland in the mountainous part of the parish, hitherto regarded as incapable of melioration, is mostly employed in the pasturing of sheep. By a judicious selection of the best and strongest sheep for the purpose of breeding, the stock has of late been considerable mended, and the attention to that subject, which now begins to be more generally awakened, will no doubt gradually lead to higher improvement. When fed to proper age, they are much esteemed for the delicacy of their flesh; but the farmers believe it more profitable, on the whole, to bring them to market at two, or, at most, three years old. They are found to be extremely hardy, but are in general of rather a small size, and their wool is not remarkable either for quantity or fineness. The most intelligent farmers, however, seem very much to doubt the expediency of importing a larger and more delicate race; and, though not averse to experiment, will probably be cautious in parting with the present hardy breed of the country, inured to the cold, wetness, and bleak exposure of their native hills.
[41] The number of those fed on the improved pastures of the valley is comparatively small, but the great profits they are found to bring, will probably lead to its increase. In the course of a single season, they generally treble their value; and a small parcel of indifferent ewes, introduced into rich pasture about the end of October, have, with their lambs and fleeces, been known in one year to rise from 5s to 20s each.
The following statement of the quantity and value of stock, and of the annual produce of land, in the parish of Dailly, has been collected from the best information which could be procured; and approaches, perhaps, as nearly to accuracy as can be expected, in an inquiry where we must often resort to probable calculation and conjecture, to supply the place of absolute certainty and truth.
Value of Stock
|
|
£ |
|
|
£ |
|
|
125 |
Draught horses, at |
12 |
0 |
0 |
1500 |
0 |
0 |
25 |
Saddle and carriage horses |
20 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
0 |
0 |
970 |
Best cattle |
5 |
10 |
0 |
5335 |
0 |
0 |
480 |
Inferior cattle |
3 |
10 |
0 |
1680 |
0 |
0 |
500 |
Best sheep |
0 |
16 |
0 |
400 |
0 |
0 |
4300 |
Inferior sheep |
0 |
9 |
6 |
2042 |
10 |
0 |
|
Total value of stock |
|
|
|
11457 |
10 |
0 |
[42]
ANNUAL PRODUCE
Crops |
No. of acres under each |
Produce per acre bolls |
Price per boll |
Total price per acre |
Total produce bolls |
Total Value |
£ |
s |
d |
£ |
s |
d |
£ |
s |
d |
Oats |
800 |
5 |
0 |
15 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
4000 |
3200 |
3 |
3 |
Bear and Barley |
90 |
6 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
6 |
0 |
0 |
540 |
540 |
0 |
0 |
Pease |
30 |
5 |
0 |
16 |
0 |
4 |
0 |
0 |
150 |
120 |
0 |
0 |
Potatoes |
80 |
25 |
0 |
8 |
0 |
10 |
0 |
0 |
2000 |
800 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
Stones |
per Stone |
|
|
|
Stones |
|
|
|
Meadow hay or
Natural grass |
366 |
150 |
0 |
0 |
3 |
1 |
17 |
6 |
55000 |
68 |
10 |
0 |
Sown grass |
233 |
150 |
0 |
0 |
4 |
2 |
10 |
0 |
35000 |
583 |
6 |
8 |
Flax |
5 |
37 |
0 |
13 |
6 |
24 |
19 |
6 |
185 |
127 |
17 |
6 |
Straw at 2s 6d per boll of corn |
0 |
11 |
3 |
|
450 |
0 |
0 |
Pasture at £1 10s per horse; £1 5s per cow; and 2s 6d per sheep |
1637 |
10 |
0 |
Annual produce of gardens, at 10s per family |
184 |
0 |
0 |
Annual produce of woods and plantations about |
200 |
0 |
0 |
Annual produce of Coal–works |
1500 |
0 |
0 |
Annual produce of Lime–works |
700 |
0 |
0 |
Total value of annual produce |
11,727 |
4 |
2 |
[43]
State of Landed Property
No considerable property in land has been sold in the parish for several years past; and almost the whole has remained in the possession of the same families for many generations. The lands are at present divided, but in very unequal portions, among eight proprietors; five of whom usually reside in the parish; viz. Mr Hamilton of Bargeny, Sir Adam Fergusson of Kilkerran, Sir Andrew Cathcart of Carleton, Mr Kennedy of Dunure, and Captain Kennedy of Drummelland. All of these gentlemen inherit more extensive landed property elsewhere; but their ancestors, probably at a very remote period, had fixed the residence of their families in this beautiful valley. Even in the sixteenth century, Buchanan says of the water of Girvan, “Multis amoenis villis cingitur.” And to the constant residence of so many country gentlemen, this parish, no doubt, still owes much of its beauty. Among the most obvious proofs of this, may be mentioned, the plantations of forest trees which have been made in addition to the natural woods of the country. Those on the estate of Kilkerran, made by Sir Adam Fergusson, and his father the late Lord Kilkerran, in this parish, and within the contiguous borders of Kirkoswald and Maybole, cover about 400 Scots acres. Those on the lands of Dalquharran occupy 127 acres, and have been made chiefly by the present proprietor Mr Kennedy. This gentleman has lately built a very magnificent house in the modern castle style, on a plan of the late Mr Robert Adam. The plantations, as well as natural woods, on the other estates in the parish, are also considerable.
Rent of Land
The valued rent of the parish is £3265 10s 6d Scotch. The real rent has, as usual, kept pace with the increase of wealth and progressive melioration of land. In 1740, the annual rent of the whole parish scarcely amounted to £1000 Sterling: and during 20 succeeding years, its rise [44] was
[44 missing; 45]
Years |
Births |
Deaths |
Marriages |
Mal. |
Fem. |
Tot. |
Mal. |
Fem. |
Tot. |
1751–1760 |
207 |
181 |
388 |
165 |
143 |
308 |
76 |
1761–1770 |
182 |
205 |
387 |
135 |
142 |
277 |
84 |
1771–1780 |
198 |
206 |
404 |
126 |
143 |
269 |
103 |
1781–1790 |
280 |
262 |
542 |
157 |
180 |
337 |
106 |
Total |
867 |
854 |
1721 |
583 |
608 |
1191 |
369 |
Average |
21.6 |
21.3 |
43 |
14.5 |
15.2 |
29.7 |
9.2 |
From the above table, and from the register of births for preceeding [sic] years which remain, may be collected, according to the common rule of calculation,the following statement of the progress of population in the parish for the last hundred years.
Average of |
[period of years] |
|
|
Souls |
Births |
4 |
1693 to 1696 |
34 x 26 |
884 |
Births |
20 |
1711to 1730 |
26.7 x 26 |
694 |
Births |
20 |
1731 to 1750 |
23.7 x 26 |
850 |
Births |
20 |
1751 to 1770 |
38.7 x 26 |
1006 |
Deaths |
20 |
1751 to 1770 |
29.2 x 36 |
1051 |
Births |
20 |
1771 to 1790 |
47.3 x 26 |
1229 |
Deaths |
20 |
1771 to 1790 |
30.2 x 36 |
1087 |
Births |
10 |
1781 to 1790 |
54.2 x 26 |
1409 |
Births |
5 |
1786 to 1790 |
60 x 26 |
1560 |
According to this statement, the number of inhabitants appears, during the first twenty or thirty years of the present century, to have been decreasing. For this decrease, if it ever [46] existed but it the defects of the register, no obvious cause can be assigned. It is certain, however, both from the preceding calculations and from actual survey, that, for the last thirty or forty years, the population has been gradually and rapidly increasing. The return stated by Dr Webster, whose report was drawn up in the year 1755, is 839.; and if this account be not accurate, which, however, the preceding statement affords some ground to suspect, the population of the parish must, since that period, have nearly doubled. On a survey in the year 1791, the number of inhabitants stood as follows:
Males |
781 |
Females |
826 |
Total number of inhabitants |
1607 |
Return to Dr Webster in the year 1755 |
839 |
Increase in 36 years |
775 |
According to their respective ages they may be arranged in the following order:
[47]
|
No. of Persons |
Ages |
From |
1 to 10 |
423 |
|
10 to 20 |
306 |
|
20 to 50 |
603 |
|
50 to 70 |
216 |
|
70 to 100 |
59 |
|
Total |
1607 |
It may be here remarked that no very extraordinary instances of longevity, well authenticated, have occurred of late in the parish. A man who died lately at the age of 97, and a man and woman both at the age of 94, are the only instances worthy of notice.
The inhabitants are collected into 368 families, so that there are nearly 4½ [check fraction] persons in each family. As marriage is not discouraged either by a deficiency of the necessaries of life, or by an excess of its luxuries, the number of those who continue unmarried after the usual age of entering into that connection is comparatively small. This will more distinctly appear from the following statement; to which it may be premised, that had the number of unmarried persons been taken from those above the age of twenty five, as would have been more proper, it would probably have been very considerably diminished:
Number of persons under 20 years of age |
729 |
unmarried above 20, and under 50 |
215 |
unmarried above 50 |
27 |
married persons |
574 |
widowers |
19 |
widows |
43 |
Total |
1607 |
From a comparison of the total number of marriages and births for the last forty years, it may be collected than the [48] number of children produced, at an average, from each marriage, is nearly 42/3.
In the calculations offered above of the probable amount of population at different periods, it was supposed, as usual, that the annual averages of births and of deaths were, to the total number of inhabitants, respectively, as 1 to 26 and to 36. On a comparison, however, of the annual numbers of births and deaths from the year 1781 to the year 1790, with the actual state of population in the year 1791, the respective proportions appear, during that period, to have been as 1 to 29.6 and to 47.6. Of course, the number of births is to that of deaths as 47.6 to 29.6; or nearly as 5 to 3. The proportion between the annual marriages and the whole population is nearly as 1 to 160.
By far the greater number of the present inhabitants have been born and educated in the parish. Almost the whole are Scotch, with the exception of a few Irish, whom the rising wages of labour have of late induced to settle in the parish. The number of settlers, from other parts of Scotland and from Ireland, is, however, much more than counterbalanced by that of those who leave the parish and resort to towns, tempted by the higher wages of manufactories and domestic service.
Occupations, Mode of Living, &c
The inhabitants live mostly in the open country, and chiefly in the lower and more cultivated part of the parish; only an inconsiderable proportion, not exceeding 170 souls, reside in a small village contiguous to the church. The great body of the people derive their subsistence from agriculture, and the common mechanical arts connected with it. It is computed that nearly one third of the whole families in the parish are supported by the wages of common labour. Most of them, however, also rent a garden, and a piece of indifferent ground for pot–herbs, potatoes, and sometimes a little corn and flax. No considerable [49] manufacture has ever been established in the parish. The only artificers are those every where required for supplying the common necessaries of life. A considerable number of women, in the lower ranks, employ the greater part of their time in working up the inferior wool of the country into a coarse and flimsy cloath [sic], which is carried to the fairs of Ayr and Maybole, and bought up for exportation at the rate of 8d or 10d per yard. By this species of rude manufacture, a few unmarried women and widows earn the greater part of a very scanty subsistence; but, in general, the profits of it are consumed in purchasing and working up the finer wool into cloaths for themselves and their families. The following table will give a distinct view of the division of the inhabitants according to their respective occupations and modes of subsistence.
Proprietors of land, residing |
5 |
Clergyman |
1 |
Schoolmaster |
1 |
Farmers above £10 under£20 |
20 |
Farmers above £20 under £50 |
16 |
Farmers above £50 under £100 |
8 |
Farmers above £100 under £200 |
3 |
Shop keepers |
3 |
Ale housekeepers and retailers of spirits
(most of whom follow a separate occupation) |
18 |
Blacksmiths, including 4 apprentices |
11 |
Masons |
16 |
Carpenters and joiners, including 7 apprentices |
22 |
Weavers |
26 |
Shoemakers, including 1 apprentice |
9 |
Taylors, including 7 apprentices |
20 |
Butcher and Baker |
1 |
[50] Millers |
|
[50 missing; 51]
Poor
The wages of artificers and common labourers are in ordinary cases sufficient for rearing and maintaining a family; but do not always enable them to lay up a fund for old age or accidental disability. In such situations, they either receive occasional assistance, or are inrolled [sic] on the list of paupers, for regular supply from the charitable funds of the parish. Idiots and furious persons, and the children of those who die in poverty, are also usually provided for from the same funds. These funds arise almost entirely from voluntary contribution, and consist of weekly collections at the church, penalties, dies on proclamation of marriages, and the interest of about £200 [something missing here?]; amounting, on an average of the [52] last ten years, to no more than £38 per annum. These funds are solely in the management of the minister and kirk–session; and, in distributing a sum so moderate, the most rigid oeconomy, and vigilant attention, are required to discriminate the objects of real distress. The number of poor at present on the roll is about 40, all of whom receive assistance in their own houses; except idiots and children, for whom a regular board is paid. As the scanty allowance which can be afforded by the session is seldom adequate to a complete maintenance, some of the most helpless and indigent receive a licence, which usually procures them a small pension from the different residing heritors, and intitles them to ask alms within the parish. When these means are insufficient, they are obliged to have recourse to their own industry or to common begging.
Religious Establishment
All the inhabitants of this parish profess the established religion, with the exception of a few seceders, not exceeding five or six, attached to the sects of Burghers or Antiburghers. The stipend of the minister consists of 3 chalders of meal, and 1 of bear; £400 Scotch, and an augmentation of £25 Sterling granted in 1785. The glebe consists of seven acres of arable land, worth about £10 per annum. The value of the whole living amounts, at an average, to about £105 Sterling. The manse was built in 1758, and cost about £190. In 1696, the church was removed from Old Dailly to its present more centrical situation. It was rebuilt in 1766, and cost £600. The interest of these two sums at the rate of 7per cent raises the annual expence of the ecclesiastical establishment to about £160.
School
Besides a few private teachers, occasionally employed by those in the more remote parts of the parish, there [53] is a regular parochial school in the village, in which are taught English, Latin, French, writing, arithmetic, and book–keeping. The number of scholars is usually from 40 to 60. The salary of the school–master is £8 6s 8d which, with the school fees, a house rent free, and his salary and perquisites as clerk to the kirk–session, raises the annual income of his office to nearly £30.
Miscellaneous Observations
In antiquity, this parish has nothing very rare or curious to boast of. At a place called Machry–kill, there remain the vestiges of a small church or chapel, probably dedicated to St Macarius. In this parish, and indeed throughout Carrick, the names of places, not evidently modern, are all of Celtic origin; and by a skilfull [sic] etymologist might all perhaps be traced to some local circumstance or peculiarity of situation. A considerable number occur in composition with the words Bal, Drum, Knock, and Kil; as Balibeg, (i.e. a little town) Balcamy, Drumgirnan, Drumochreen, Knockrocher, Knockgerran, Kilochan, Kilkerran, Kilgramie. There are many more which cannot be reduced to any of these classes.
In the customs and manners of the people, there is nothing very peculiar or characteristic. The farmers are intelligent and respectable; those in the lower ranks are industrious, honest, and much less addicted than formerly to habitual intemperance. They are in general attentive to the education of their children; for there is scarcely an individual in the parish who has not been taught to read and write English. They discover no peculiar bias to any particular profession. Their inland situation protects them from catching the infection of a seafaring life; and the number of those who have at any time enlisted in the army has been very inconsiderable.