Straiton, a village and a large parish of Carrick, S Ayrshire. The village, towards the NW of the parish, stands, 380 feet above sea-level, near the right bank of the Water of Girvan, 67/8 miles W by S of Dalmellington and 7 ESE of Maybole, under which it has a post office.
The parish, containing also most of Patna village, is bounded NE by Dalrymple and Dalmellington, SE and S by Carsphairn and Minnigaff in Kirkcudbrightshire, SW by Barr, W by Dailly and Kirkmichael, and NW by Kirkmichael. Its utmost length, from N by W to S by E, is 173/8 miles ; its breadth varies between 13/8 and 9 miles ; and its area is 815/8 square miles or 52, 2492/3 acres, of which 2448½ are water. Desolate Loch Enoch (6½ x 4½ furl. ; 1650 feet), at the southern extremity of the parish, sends off Eglin and Gala Lanes 63/8 miles north-north-eastward to the head of Loch Doon (55/8 miles x 6½ furl. ; 680 feet), whose western shore belongs wholly to Straiton, whilst the eastern is divided between Carsphairn and Dalmellington, and, issuing from whose foot, the river Doon winds 12 miles north-westward along all the north-eastern border, till, a little below Carnochan, it passes off from Straiton. (See Ness Glen.) From a point 7 furlongs below its source in Barr parish, the Water of Girvan winds 7¼ miles north-by-eastward, 87/8 miles north-westward, and 6½ furlongs northward along the Kirkmichael boundary to within 2½ furlongs of Cloncaird Castle. It thus has a total course here of nearly 17 miles, though the point where it first touches and that where it quits the parish are only 10 miles distant as the crow flies ; and early in this course it travers four lakes, of which Loch Bradan (1 x ¼ mile ; 900 feet) is much the largest. The Stinchar, early in its course, runs 3 ½ miles north north-westward and west-south-westward along or close to the Barr boundary, on which lies also Linfern Loch (42/3 x 3 furl. ; 980 feet). Of eight other lakes and lakelets the chief are Lochs Macaterick (1¼ mile x 4¾ furl. ; 990 feet), Ricawr (6 x 5 furl. ; 960 feet), Derclach (4½ x 1¼ furl. ; 870 feet), and Finlas (1½ mile x 2¾ furl. ; 840 feet), sending off their superfluence to Loch Doon ; and triangular Loch Spallander (3 x 2 furl. ; 695 feet), on the Kirkmichael boundary. Sinking along the Doon to 295, and along the Girvan to 300, feet above sea-level, the surface thence rises to 1005 feet at Keirs Hill, 1163 at Turgeny, 1160 at Craigengower, 929 at Benan Hill, 1252 at the Big Hill of Glenmount, 1716 at Craiglee, and 2270 at Mullwharchar. The valleys of the Girvan and the Doon, and the gentler acclivities of their hill-screens, are under the plough, and tufted with wood ; and they offer to the eye some fine landscapes. The rest of the parish is all upland and pastoral ; and the greater part of it, from the southern and eastern boundaries inward, is a wilderness of heights, not mountainous, but wild and solitary, with nothing save rocks and heather. The extent of uncultivated land is about eleven times that which owns the dominion of the plough. The rocks exhibit great diversity, and afford wide scope for the study of the geologist. Granite prevails above Loch Doon ; greywacke and greywacke slate adjoin the granite ; along the Girvan are trap rocks, interspersed with mountain limestone ; and rocks of the Carboniferous formation, comprising workable coal, ironstone, and limestone, occur around Patna. The soil of the arable lands is clayey and retentive on the Doon, light and gravelly on the Girvan, and very diversified in other places. The chief antiquities, excepting only some cairns, have been noticed in our article on Loch Doon. Mansions, noticed separately, are Blairquhan Castle and Berbeth House ; and the chief proprietors are the Marquis of Ailsa, Sir E. Hunter-Blair, Bart., and A. F. M `Adam, Esq. Giving off a portion to Patna quoad sacra parish, Straiton is in the presbytery of Ayr and the synod of Glasgow and Ayr ; the living is worth £393. The parish church, St Cuthbert's, is a plain old building, with an earlier Gothic aisle, and, as altered and repaired in 1787 and 1813, contains 414 sittings. Two public schools, Patna and Straiton, with respective accommodation for 180 and 98 children, had (1884) an average attendance of 108 and 62, and grants of £98 and £53, 10s. Valuation (1860) £10, 347, (1885) £14, 988, 13s. 3d. Pop. (1801) 1026, (1831) 1377, (1861) 1544, (1871) 1443, (1881) 1241, of whom 701 were in the ecclesiastical parish.—Ord. Sur., shs. 14, 8, 1863.
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errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from
the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be
different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original
text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity.
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