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.
Ayr is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland. A former royal burgh, today it is the administrative centre of the South Ayrshire Council, and the historic county town of Ayrshire. With a population of 46,982, Ayr is the 15th largest settlement in Scotland and second largest town in Ayrshire by population. The town is contiguous with the smaller town of Prestwick to the north. Ayr submitted unsuccessful bids for city status in 2000 and 2002, and as part of the wider South Ayrshire area in 2022.
Girvan is a burgh and harbour town in Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Girvan is situated on the east coast of the Firth of Clyde, with a population of about 6,450. It lies 21 miles (34 km) south of Ayr, and 29 miles (47 km) north of Stranraer, the main ferry port from Scotland to Northern Ireland.
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.
Troon is a town and sea port in South Ayrshire, situated on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Troon has a port with ferry and freight services, and a yacht marina. Up until January 2016, P&O operated a seasonal ferry service to Larne. In May 2006, a ferry service to Campbeltown was added, although this was withdrawn the following year. Since March 2024, Caledonian MacBrayne have operated a ferry service to Brodick on the Isle of Arran.
Prestwick is a town in South Ayrshire on the west coast of Ayrshire in Scotland about 30 miles southwest of Glasgow. It adjoins the larger town of Ayr to the south on the Firth of Clyde coast, the centre of which is about two miles south, and the small village of Monkton to the north. It had a population of 14,901 at the 2011 census.
Kyle is a former comital district of Scotland which stretched across parts of modern-day East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire. It is supposedly named after Coel Hen, a legendary king of the Britons, who is said to be buried under a mound at Coylton.
Drongan is a former mining village in East Ayrshire, some 8 miles (13 km) east of Ayr and west of Cumnock. It had a population of 4686 in 2011.
Central Ayrshire is a constituency of the British House of Commons, located in the south-west of Scotland within the North Ayrshire and South Ayrshire council areas. It elects one Member of Parliament (MP) at least once every five years using the first-past-the-post system of voting.
Ayr was a county constituency of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1950 to 2005. It elected one Member of Parliament (MP) by the first-past-the-post system of election.
James Brown, OBE, DL was a Scottish Labour politician.
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.
Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley was a county constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until 2005. Half of the constituency was incorporated into the new Ayr, Carrick and Cumnock constituency, with the remainder incorporated into the new Central Ayrshire constituency and the expanded Kilmarnock and Loudoun constituency.
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.
Tarbolton is a village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is near Failford, Mauchline, Ayr, and Kilmarnock. The old Fail Monastery was nearby and Robert Burns connections are strong, including the Bachelors' Club museum.
Springside is a village in the parish of Dreghorn, in the council area of North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is three miles from Irvine, 1+1⁄2 miles west of Crosshouse, and four miles from Kilmarnock. In the 18th, 19th and mid-20th centuries, the locality was a highly industrialised coal mining district. The settlement is on the Garrier Burn, which forms the boundary with East Ayrshire. Springside had a population of around 1364 in 1991. The A71 now bypasses the village, 1⁄4 mile to the south.
Fail Monastery, occasionally known as Failford Abbey, had a dedication to 'Saint Mary', and was located at Fail on the bank of the Water of Fail, Parish of Tarbolton near the village of Tarbolton, South Ayrshire. Most of the remaining monastery ruins were removed in 1952. The official and rarely used title was House of the Holy Trinity of Failford or the Ministry of Failford.
The Glasgow and South Western Railway operated a number of cross-country lines in Ayrshire.
Dalrymple is a village and parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland, lying in the Doon Valley on the north bank of the River Doon. The population is around 1,347.
Weston Bridge Platform railway station or Weston Bridge Halt railway station was opened to serve miners travelling to the Ayr Colliery No. 9 Pit that stood near Annbank and those from the village that worked at other pits in the area, East Ayrshire, Scotland. The station was on the line that was originally part of the Ayr and Cumnock Branch of the Glasgow and South Western Railway. The location was well chosen as it lay close to the village, the hamlet of Burnbrae and at the busy crossroads at Weston Bridge.
