An Ayrshire sailor of the Great War: Able Seaman John Newall

John Newall was a Girvan sailor whose eventful active service during the First World War came to a tragic end. Called up as a navy reservist on the outbreak of war, he was sent to the Indian Ocean to take part in operations against German East Africa, now part of Tanzania. John survived when his […]

“There’s nothing quite like an Ayrshire Tattie!”

This exhibition was due to open on the 5th April 2020 at the McKechnie Institute, Girvan. The topic was chosen partly to celebrate the award of PGI status to the ‘Ayrshire Earlies’, and partly because – we love them! We want to thank everyone who has offered their expertise, time, and permission to share these […]

South Ayrshire’s links with the birth of the RAF

On the morning of Sunday 1 April 2018, exactly 100 years after the Royal Air Force came into being, a service of commemoration will be held at Girvan’s Doune Cemetery. The service will honour the memory of the man considered to have the best claim to be the father of the RAF, Sir David Henderson. […]

Ayrshire and the Great War U-Boat threat

Engineers surveying the seabed of the Firth of Clyde and the North Channel on the route of a planned undersea power cable recently came across a wreck. It was identified as that of a First World War German submarine, or U-Boat, either UB-82 or UB-85. Much press coverage resulted, due to the bizarre claim made […]

Sawney Bean – Ayrshire’s Favourite Cannibal

On a ledge of rock jutting out high on a cave wall, four figures lie motionless, hoping to remain unseen in their hiding place. The setting is Ayrshire’s rocky Carrick coast in the early 1600s, and the fugitives are young Launce Kennedy of Kirrieoch, his friend the schoolmaster of Maybole, and the two daughters of […]

An Ayrshire smuggling vessel: the career of the Lord Charles – Part 2

The first instalment told how Ayr lawyer and banker Thomas McClelland began his diary with an account of the career of the former Irish revenue cutter Lord Charles. She came into the possession of William Brackenridge, tenant of Dowhill Farm north of Girvan and head of the smuggling company based in the nearby hamlet of […]