Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald - July 1866
AS many of the strangers visiting the coast may not know where the finest views may be obtained, we give the following extract from the New Statistical Account of Scotland regarding the scenery of the parish of Stevenston. It is from the pen of the late Rev. Dr Landsborough :
The aspect of the parish, indeed, from several points of view, is remarkably pleasing. One of the best views of it is as you approach Stevenston from Kilwinning. In the fore-ground you have the church and part of the village. The noble back-ground is formed by the wooded heights above Seabank, surmounted by the magnificent peaks of Arran in the distance. The view from the south, though of quite a different character, is scarcely inferior to this. From the shore, all the principal residences in the parish are seen on the gentle acclivity before you. Ardeer, with its green wood and terraced gardens, is conspicuous on the right.
More inland, you have Hullerhirst on a very commanding site, and Hayocks still prominent over a thriving young plantation. Worthy of the centre of the scene, you behold the mansion house of Grange and the ivy-mantled turrets of ancient Kerelaw, embowered in the woods stretching onward to the distant glen. In the fore-ground, you have the stately church and modest mansion above the subjacent village, on a situation not surpassed by any on the coast. Lovely Mayville salutes you on the left, breathing odours from a thousand shrubs and flowers. Sheltered, and sweet, and cheerful Seabank presents itself on the west, with its green fields and woody braes, and Martello towers, and mounted battery. And the tower and spire of Saltcoats form a good termination on the left ; for, though it has few surrounding trees to give softness to chimney tops and architectural angles, it compensates at times by its forests of masts, a most interesting feature in sea-coast scenery.
And still more delightful are the views from the parish. Arran to the southwest, beyond all doubt, forms the most striking feature in the landscape. -Westward the view embraces Ardrossan Castle and harbour and town, as well as the Isles of Bute and Cumbraes, and is terminated by part of Cantyre, and by the two pinnacles of Jura, and a hill in the north of Islay. To the south and south-west you have the Craig of Ailsa, as it were, floating in the wave; and in favourable states of the atmosphere you have at times a distant view of Ireland. More to the left you see Irvine, Troon, and Ayr, and the coast of Carrick, till it meets with Wigtownshire, near Lochryan.
More to the east you have the towers of Kilwinning, the Castle and extensive woods of Eglinton, the distant Galloway hills near Carsphairn, and the Carrick hills above Straiton; and towards the north-east you see a rich track at Cunninghame, about Kilmaurs and Kilmarnock; while snore remote you see Loudoun hill arising from the plain, as if to vie with Ailsa Craig on the other side emerging from the deep. Strangers in proceeding from Stevenston to Saltcoats, observe an old castle near the shore. We blush not to tell that it is the remains of the engine-house in which was erected, in 1719, the second steam-engine that has ever been employed in Scotland.
