The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS) is all independent non-departmcntal government body financed by Parliament through the Scottish Office under the sponsorship of Historic Scotland. It is directed hy the Comm issioners under a chairman and, with a complement of 3mund sixty permanent member, of staff, it is based in Edinburgh.

The main objectives of the Royal Commission are: to record and interpret the sites, monuments and bu ildings of Scotland's past, to promote a greater appreciation of tlleir value through the maintenance of the National Monumcnts Record of Scotland (NMRS) and to present them more directly by selective publications and exhibitions.

The National Monuments Record of Scotland is the successor of the Scottish National Buildings Record, which was set up in 1941; it now comprises complementary Archaeological and Architectural elements touching ou all aspects of the human environment.

The objective of the NMRS, which is open to the public, is to provide an information service based on a central archive of pictorial and documentary material relating to archaeological sites, ancient monuments and historic huildings throughout Scotland. It has a particular responsibility to supply the Ordnance Survey with archaeological information for mapping purposes and performs a lead role in the development of local Sites and Monuments Records.

ISSN 1358-3441

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Address for Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland correspondence: (National Monuments Record of Scotland)

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RCAHMS BROADSHEET 1

MUIRKIRK AYRSHIRE An Industrial Landscape

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The Tarworks and Colt Burn The tarworks, which was S11Ch an important catalyst in the industrialisation of Muirkirk, was rounded in 1786 by Archibald Cochrane, ninth Ea rl o rDundonaJd; subsequently the lease was bought by John Loudon MacAdam, who was later to 1Jnd fa me as a road engineer , but the works was never profitable thereafter, and finally closed in 1809. Today, the foundations oftlle still-house and several other buildings a re still vis ible, together with an impress ive bank or kilns. T he mines that lie to the west. a lmost cert.a inly include t.he earliest. wodungs known in the district. Drainage was always a problem in this part of the mineral field, and at some stage the Col t Burn was divert.ed along a cutting on1he sontll side of the site.

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Wellwood, Kames and Catchyburn The impact of the ironworks on the moorland to the south of Muirkirk was dramatic. Here raw materials for the blast furnaces - iron ore, coal and limestone - have all been wrought, and the remains of the various pits and quarries are interwoven in a web of successive roadways, tramroads, inclined planes and railway lines. The earlier mines are usually characterised by a rounded spoil heap with a central shaft, and many have the remains of a circular horse-engine platfoffil , which would originally have powered the lifting gear. These mines are linked together by a network of trarnroads and are overlain by the later inclined planes that carried down the limestone from the massive workings around the south-east side of the area. The spoil dumps of the

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limestone quarries dwarf those of the earlier coal mines and display a character­istic pattern of dumping in well-defined barrow-runs. The construction of several lades is also a feature of the landscape, and the most impressive is that known as the Great Lade, which provided power to drain the coal mines near the ironworks.

The map presented here is derived from the detailed survey of the mining remains; it also includes several structures which have now been demolished. The depiction of the ironworks is from the first edition of the Ordnance Survey map of 1856. Thc football pitch in the centre of the map gives a good indication of the scale and extent of the mining remains.

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The coloured map-extracl oflhe Ironworks I j reproduced by perm/JS/on of Ihe 7 ru,~ fe es of lhe NotlOllOt Library a/Scollalld

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Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland

MUIRKIRK, AYRSHIRE An Industrial Landscape

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VieW showing a water-filled hmestone quarry and barrolV-runs oJ spoil. The dark, circular hollows are the sltes of old coal shafts.