Airds Moss is a large area of moor in East Ayrshire, the site is a protected area because of the extensive blanket bogs. In 1680 it was the location of a clash between troops loyal to King Charles II and the covenanters under Richard Cameron in which Cameron was killed.
Airds Moss lies between the towns of Cumnock and Muirkirk [1] and situated between the rivers Ayr and Lugar. [2] Aird Moss is twenty-five kilometres (16 mi) long and eight kilometres (5.0 mi) wide and it is the largest area of blanket bog in the southern part of the old Strathclyde Region which has not been subjected to afforestation. [1]
Airds Moss is known in the history of Scotland as the site of the Battle of Airds Moss. This took place on the 22 July 1680 when a party of 112 government troops commanded by Andrew Bruce of Earlshall loyal to King Charles II came across a group of covenanters on the road between Cumnock and Muirkirk. The covenanters were the smaller company and their leader was Richard Cameron. A brief battle occurred in which 9 covenanters were killed, 5 were captured and the rest escaped. Cameron was one of those killed, as was his brother Michael. 28 of the government troops were killed. The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh where they were later hanged. [3] The battle is commemorated by a memorial in the shape of a squat obelisk with an inscription which was erected by the Scottish Covenanters Memorial Association. [4] The famous Scottish infantry regiment, The Cameronians, took their name in honour of Richard Cameron. [3]
Airds Moss was the location of the Tarrioch Ironworks, the only 18th century charcoal-fired blast furnace in southern Scotland. The Tarrioch Ironworks were constructed in the early 1730s by the Earl of Cathcart to take advantage of locally available materials, wood from the river valleys was used to make charcoal, water was diverted from the river to power a waterwheel which powered the furnace bellows and the local quarries produced hematite iron ore. The ironworks were in operation for around 20 years. [5]
Airds Moss is one of the few areas of comparatively low-altitude blanket bog left in south-western Scotland, elsewherein this region conversion to agricultural use and afforestation have reduced the original extent of blanket bog. In some parts of Airds Moss the vegetation has been altered by historical drainage and quarrying for hematite and these areas are dominated by purple moor-grass ( Molinia caerulea ). Other parts of the site, where there is surface patterning and extensive area of more typical bog vegetation are dominated by heather ( Calluna vulgaris ), deergrass ( Trichophorum cespitosum ) and cross-leaved heath ( Erica tetralix ) while white beak-sedge ( Rhynchospora alba ), cranberry ( Vaccinium oxycoccos ) and carpets of the moss Sphagnum magellanicum can be locally abundant. [6] The SAC has an area of around one thousand three hundred hectares (3,200 acres), of which roughly nine hundred hectares (2,200 acres) consists of a mosaic of mire vegetation communities. [1]
The area qualifies as a Special Protection Area because it contains breeding and wintering hen harrier, merlin, peregrine falcon, short-eared owl and European golden plover. Slightly more than four hundred hectares (990 acres) of the Moss is managed as a wildlife reserve by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds with the aim of improving the condition of the site and the neighbouring floodplain to benefit wildlife. This has included blocking drainage ditches and thousands of dams have been installed to restore water levels. [1]
Ayrshire is a historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine and it borders the counties of Renfrewshire and Lanarkshire to the north-east, Dumfriesshire to the south-east, and Kirkcudbrightshire and Wigtownshire to the south. Like many other counties of Scotland it currently has no administrative function, instead being sub-divided into the council areas of East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. It has a population of approximately 366,800.
East Ayrshire is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquarters of the council are located on London Road, Kilmarnock. With South Ayrshire and the mainland areas of North Ayrshire, it formed the former county of Ayrshire.
A bog or bogland is a wetland that accumulates peat as a deposit of dead plant materials – often mosses, typically sphagnum moss. It is one of the four main types of wetlands. Other names for bogs include mire, mosses, quagmire, and muskeg; alkaline mires are called fens. A baygall is another type of bog found in the forest of the Gulf Coast states in the United States. They are often covered in heath or heather shrubs rooted in the sphagnum moss and peat. The gradual accumulation of decayed plant material in a bog functions as a carbon sink.
Richard Cameron was a leader of the militant Presbyterians, known as Covenanters, who resisted attempts by the Stuart monarchs to control the affairs of the Church of Scotland, acting through bishops. While attempting to revive the flagging fortunes of the Covenanting cause in 1680, he was tracked down by the authorities and killed in a clash of arms at Airds Moss in Ayrshire. His followers took his name as the Cameronians and ultimately formed the nucleus of the later Scottish regiment of the same name, the Cameronians. The regiment was disbanded in 1968.
Cumnock is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just outside the town boundaries, Craigens, Logan and Netherthird, with the former ironworks settlement of Lugar also just outside the town, contributing to a population of around 13,000 in the immediate locale. A new housing development, Knockroon, was granted planning permission on 9 December 2009 by East Ayrshire Council.
The Flow Country is a large, rolling expanse of peatland and wetland area of Caithness and Sutherland in the North of Scotland. It is the largest expanse of blanket bog in Europe, and covers about 4,000 km2 (1,500 sq mi). It is an area of deep peat, dotted with bog pools and a very important habitat for wildlife, as well as climate change mitigation. As peat is largely made up of the remains of plants, which are themselves made up of carbon, it locks up large stores of carbon for thousands of years. This carbon would otherwise be released to the atmosphere and contribute to global warming. The Flow Country is currently being considered as a potential World Heritage Site on account of its unparalleled blanket bog habitat. It could be part of the Global Peatlands Initiative.
The Portlethen Moss is an acidic bog nature reserve located to the west of the town of Portlethen, Aberdeenshire in Scotland. Like other mosses, this wetland area supports a variety of plant and animal species, even though it has been subject to certain development and agricultural degradation pressures. For example, the Great Crested Newt was found here prior to the expansion of the town of Portlethen. Many acid loving vegetative species occur in Portlethen Moss, and the habitat is monitored by the Scottish Wildlife Trust.
Muirkirk is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. It is located on the north bank of the River Ayr, between Cumnock and Glenbuck on the A70.
Muirkirk & North Lowther Uplands Special Protection Area is an extensive area of moorland extending south from near Darvel in northern Ayrshire to near Kirkconnel in Dumfries and Galloway. The SPA is of outstanding interest for its variety of upland habitats and breeding birds.
Lugar is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. Lugar is in Auchinleck Parish, Kyle District, Ayrshire. It is 1.5 miles (2.4 km) ENE of Cumnock, and about 1-mile (1.6 km) from Cronberry and 2 miles (3.2 km) from Gaswater. Lugar was a station on the Mauchline and Muirkirk branch of the Glasgow and South Western Railway. Lugar is about 16.5 miles (26.6 km) SE of Kilmarnock.
Cronberry is a small hamlet situated north-east of Cumnock and one mile north-east of Lugar, in East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Driven grouse shooting is the hunting of the red grouse, a field sport of the United Kingdom. The grouse-shooting season extends from 12 August, often called the "Glorious Twelfth", to 10 December each year. Large numbers of grouse are driven to fly over people with shotguns. Driven grouse shooting first appeared around 1850 and became popular in the later Victorian era as a fashionable sport for the wealthy. The expanding rail network allowed relatively easy access into the remote upland areas of Britain for the first time and driven grouse shooting developed in tandem with this by providing shooting in a convenient and reliable form. Large numbers of birds are driven over a fixed position providing a regular supply of fast moving targets without the need to seek out the birds. The development of the breech-loading shotgun was also an essential ingredient in the development of the practice as it allowed more rapid reloading in the field matching the availability of target birds.
The Battle of Bothwell Bridge, or Bothwell Brig, took place on 22 June 1679. It was fought between government troops and militant Presbyterian Covenanters, and signalled the end of their brief rebellion. The battle took place at the bridge over the River Clyde between Hamilton and Bothwell in Lanarkshire, Scotland. The battlefield has been included in the Inventory of Historic Battlefields in Scotland and protected by Historic Scotland under the Historic Environment (Amendment) Act 2011.
Muirkirk railway station was a railway station serving the village of Muirkirk, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
David Hackston or Halkerstone, was a militant Scottish Covenanter, remembered mainly for his part in the murder of Archbishop James Sharp of St. Andrews in 1679 and his involvement in the events of 1680 which led to his capture and execution.
Forsinard Flows is a national nature reserve (NNR) covering much of the area surrounding Forsinard in the Highland council area of Scotland. It lies at the heart of the Flow Country, a large, rolling expanse of peatland and wetland area of Caithness and Sutherland that makes up almost 5% of the world's blanket bog. The reserve is managed by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB), and is designated a Category II protected area by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Much of the NNR overlaps with the designated area of the Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands Special Protection Area and Special Area of Conservation.
The Caithness and Sutherland Peatlands is a large area of blanket bog and peatland, covering a number of disconnected regions across the historic counties of Caithness and Sutherland in the far north of Scotland, across an area known as the Flow Country. With a total area of 143,503 hectares, it is one of the largest recognised conservation sites in the UK, and is the largest Ramsar Site in Scotland.
Events from the year 1680 in the Kingdom of Scotland.
Whitelee Moor is nature reserve of the Northumberland Wildlife Trust, in Northumberland, England, near Carter Bar. A large part of the moor is blanket bog.