Situated 9 miles (14.5 km) south of Ayr and 12 miles (20 km) northeast of Girvan in South Ayrshire, the town of Maybole was a centre for the Kennedy family and the Earls of Cassillis. It lay at the heart of the ancient division of Carrick, with important sites including the 17th-century Maybole Castle and a 14th-century church.
Industries have included footwear and agricultural tool production and a coal mine was opened in 1822 nearby at Dalzellowlie by Sir Charles Ferguson of Kilkerran. Today it is a commuter centre for those who work in Ayr and beyond - the old industries which made it famous have long since disappeared. There is a railway station at Maybole.
The parents of the poet Robert Burns (1759-96), William Burnes and Agnes Broun, came from Maybole. The artist Robert MacBryde (1913-66) and trumpeter Tommy McQuater (1914 - 2008) were born here. Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh visited in 1956.
