Ayrshire is a historic county and registration county, in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. The lieutenancy area of Ayrshire and Arran covers the entirety of the historic county as well as the island of Arran, formerly part of the historic county of Buteshire. 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 32 unitary 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.
Kilmarnock is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main commercial and industrial centre.
Kilmarnock and Loudoun was one of nineteen local government districts in the Strathclyde region of Scotland from 1975 to 1996.
Grange Academy is an 11–18 non-denominational secondary school based in Kilmarnock in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It serves the Bonnyton and town centre areas of the town, with the associated primaries being Crosshouse Primary, Annanhill Primary, Hillhead Primary, Gargieston Primary and Shortlees Primary.
Catherine Mary Jamieson is a Scottish business director, currently a director at Kilmarnock Football Club and former politician. She served as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party in Scotland from 2000 to 2008. She previously served in the Scottish Executive as Minister for Justice from 2003 to 2007 and Minister for Education and Young People from 2001 to 2003. Jamieson was Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley from 1999 to 2011 and was a Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2010 to 2015.
Hurlford is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, situated on the outskirts of Kilmarnock, the largest and administrative centre of East Ayrshire and East Ayrshire Council. It has a population of 4,968. Hurlford's former names include Whirlford and Hurdleford. The village was named Whirlford as a result of a ford crossing the River Irvine east of Hurlford Cross, near Shawhill. It shares its name in Gaelic, Baile Àtha Cliath with the Irish capital Dublin. The census locality is called Hurlford and Crookedholm.
Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock is a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was created for the 2005 general election from parts of the old Ayr and Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley constituencies. It has been represented since 2024 by Elaine Stewart of Scottish Labour.
Kilmarnock and Loudoun is a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP), using the first-past-the-post voting system.
Kilmarnock Academy, formerly Kilmarnock Burgh School, is an 11–17 co-educational state-funded secondary school in Kilmarnock, Scotland, currently serving in its third location on Sutherland Drive in the New Farm Loch area of the town. Previous sites for Kilmarnock Academy include College Wynd, erected during the 1680s–1690s, Green Street, erected in 1752, and Elmbank Drive, erected in 1898.
Saint Josephs' Academy is a Roman Catholic secondary school in New Farm Loch, Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland. Whilst the school is located in Kilmarnock, it serves the entire Catholic secondary school aged population in East Ayrshire, with the school being the only Roman Catholic secondary school within the local authority area. This means for families in all areas of East Ayrshire, St. Joseph's Academy is a catchment Secondary school. A long-standing inter-authority arrangement sees a small number of primary seven pupils attending St. Xavier’s Primary School in Patna, transition to Queen Margaret Academy located in Ayr, South Ayrshire instead of Saint Josephs' Academy at the start of S1.
Ayr Academy is an 11–18 non-denominational secondary school situated within the Craigie Estate area at University Avenue in Ayr, South Ayrshire. It is the sixth largest secondary school in South Ayrshire, with a pupil roll of 607 in 2023–2024. Established during the thirteenth century in 1233, Ayr Academy is one of the oldest schools in the United Kingdom and Scotland.
William Lynch Coffey is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician. He has been a Member of the Scottish Parliament (MSP) for Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley since 2011, and previously Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2007 to 2011, before boundary changes.
Bonnyton is a former village in East Ayrshire which is currently an area in the western part of the town of Kilmarnock in southwest Scotland. It is home to a mix of residential and commercial properties, centred around estates such as Bonnyton Road, Munro Avenue and Gibson Street.
Elections to East Ayrshire Council were held on 3 May 2012, the same day as the other Scottish local government elections. The election is the second using 9 new wards created as a result of the Local Governance (Scotland) Act 2004, each ward elected three or four councillors using the single transferable vote system form of proportional representation. The new wards replaced 32 single-member wards which used the plurality system of election.
Eleanor Allen Moore was a British painter who was born in Northern Ireland, but became one of the group of painters known as the "Glasgow Girls".
Alan Brown is a Scottish National Party (SNP) politician who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun from 2015 until 2024. Brown previously served as the SNP spokesperson on Energy Security and Net Zero (2022–2023), Energy and Climate Change (2020–2022), Transport (2017–2020) and Infrastructure and Energy (2017–2018) in the House of Commons.
The Robert Burns Academy is a secondary school located in Cumnock, East Ayrshire, Scotland, which opened to pupils in October 2020 following the merger of Cumnock Academy and Auchinleck Academy. The current Head Teacher, Tracy Stewart, also serves as the Head of Barony Campus, which includes Robert Burns Academy, Lochnorris Primary School, Cherry Trees Early Childhood Centre, and Hillside School.
Irvine Valley is one of the nine electoral wards of East Ayrshire Council. Created in 2007, the ward elects three councillors using the single transferable vote electoral system. Originally a four-member ward, Irvine Valley was reduced in size following a boundary review and has elected three councillors since the 2017 East Ayrshire Council election.
Lillian Jones is a Scottish Labour Party politician who has served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for Kilmarnock and Loudoun since 2024. Prior to being elected as an MP in July 2024, Jones served as a councillor for the Kilmarnock West and Crosshouse ward within East Ayrshire Council from 3 May 2012 until her resignation on 2 September 2024, as well as working within NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde.
