South Ayrshire is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto Dumfries and Galloway, East Ayrshire and North Ayrshire. South Ayrshire had an estimated population in 2021 of 112,450, making it the 19th–largest subdivision in Scotland by population. With an area of 472 sq mi, South Ayrshire ranks as the 15th largest subdivision in Scotland.
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.
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley is a county constituency of the Scottish Parliament at Holyrood, covering parts of the council areas of South Ayrshire and East Ayrshire. It elects one Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) by the plurality method of election. Also, it is one of nine constituencies in the South Scotland electoral region, which elects seven additional members, in addition to the nine constituency MSPs, to produce a form of proportional representation for the region as a whole.
Annbank is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is around five miles east of Ayr. Originally a mining settlement, it once had a rail link to Ayr via the Auchincruive Waggonway.
Glenbuck is a small, remote village in East Ayrshire. It is nestled in the hills 3 miles (5 km) east of Muirkirk, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
New Cumnock is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It expanded during the coal-mining era from the late 18th century, and mining remained its key industry until its pits were shut in the 1960s. The village is 5+3⁄4 miles southeast of Cumnock, and 21 miles east of Ayr.
Joppa is a former hamlet in South Ayrshire, Scotland, about one mile which now forms the eastern portion of the built-up part of Coylton, situated about one mile east of Belston, on the A70 road.
Trabboch is a hamlet in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Built as a miners village in the 1880s, it was owned and leased by Wm. Baird & Co., Ltd. and at one time had 94 dwellings. The miners rows stood, until demolition in 1969, on the Stair and Littlemill road, about two miles south of Stair, in that parish. The name is locally pronounced 'Traaboch'.
Gateside is a small village in North Ayrshire, Scotland about 1⁄2 mile east of Beith on the B777.
Riccarton is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It lies across the River Irvine from Kilmarnock, this river forming the boundary between Riccarton and Kilmarnock parishes, and also between the historical districts of Kyle and Cunningham. The name is a corruption of 'Richard's town', traditionally said to refer to Richard Wallace, the uncle of Sir William Wallace. The parish also contains the village of Hurlford.
The Loch of Trabboch or Dalrympleston Loch (NS440211) was situated in a low-lying area below the old Castle of Trabboch, once held by the Boyd family in the Parish of Stair, East Ayrshire, Scotland.
Loch Fergus is a freshwater post-glacial "Kettle Hole" sometimes recorded as Fergus Loch. It is quite visible and is situated in a low-lying area close to the B742 road between the farms and dwellings of Trees, Lochfergus and Bowmanston in the Parish of Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland. The loch lies to the north of Martnaham Loch, four miles east-southeast of Ayr. It drains to the southwest into the Snipe Loch.
Martnaham Loch is a freshwater loch lying across the border between East and South Ayrshire Council Areas, two kilometres from Coylton, in the parishes of Coylton and Dalrymple, three miles from Ayr. The loch lies along an axis from northeast to southwest. The remains of a castle lie on a possibly artificial islet within the loch. The Campbells of Loudoun once held the lands, followed by the Kennedys of Cassillis.
Lochend Loch, which once had nearly three acres in surface area is now only a small freshwater loch remnant. It lies in the South Ayrshire Council Area, lying on the hill above Joppa, between Gallowhill and Lochend Farm.
Kerse Loch, also recorded as Carse Loch (1841) is a small freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire Council Area, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole, Parish of Dalrymple, Scotland.
Loch Shield, originally Loch of Scheel was a freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire Council Area, now drained, near Drongan, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole, Parish of Ochiltree, Scotland.
Sundrum Castle is a Scottish medieval castle located 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) north of Coylton, South Ayrshire, by the Water of Coyle river. It was built in the 14th century for Sir Duncan Wallace, Sheriff of Ayr. The castle was inherited by Sir Alan de Cathcart, who was the son of Duncan's sister. The Cathcarts sold Sundrum in the 18th century, where it eventually fell into the possession of the Hamilton family. The Hamiltons expanded the castle in the 1790s, incorporating the original keep into a mansion.
Millmannoch, also once known locally as the 'Mill of Mannoch' or Kilmannoch, is a ruined mill and hamlet in the old Barony of Sundrum, South Ayrshire, Parish of Coylton, Scotland about a mile from Coylton and Drongan. The 'Trysting Tree' of Robert Burns's poem The Soldier's Return stood nearby. A smithy was once located here in addition to the miller's cottage and later, a farm.
The Bickering bush (NS41863635) thorn grew near Caprington on the lands of Monksholm or Maxholm, Riccarton, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The old farm house at Maxholm sat in hollow on the old Caprington Castle estate and to the north and west its fields bordered the River Irvine. The thorn was located, as recorded on the OS map, near to the confluence of the Kilmarnock Water and the River Irvine, downstream of the Simon's Burn's confluence on the south bank of the river.
The castle known as Gadgirth Old Ha' or Gadgirth Old Hall, was the first castle at Gadgirth, held by the Chalmer family, standing on a whinstone promontory overlooking the River Ayr in the Parish of Coylton, the old district of Kyle, now part of South Ayrshire, Scotland.
