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.
Dumfries and Galloway is one of the 32 unitary council areas of Scotland, located in the western part of the Southern Uplands. It is bordered by East Ayrshire, South Ayrshire, and South Lanarkshire to the north; Scottish Borders to the north-east; the English county of Cumbria, the Solway Firth, and the Irish Sea to the south, and the North Channel to the west. The administrative centre and largest settlement is the town of Dumfries. The second largest town is Stranraer, located 76 miles (122 km) to the west of Dumfries on the North Channel coast.
Stranraer, also known as The Toon, is a town in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, on Loch Ryan and the northern side of the isthmus joining the Rhins of Galloway to the mainland. Stranraer is Dumfries and Galloway's second-largest town, with a population of 10,593.
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.
Kilwinning is a town in North Ayrshire, Scotland. It is on the River Garnock, north of Irvine, about 21 miles (34 km) southwest of Glasgow. It is known as "The Crossroads of Ayrshire". Kilwinning was also a Civil Parish. The 2001 Census recorded the town as having a population of 15,908. The estimated population in 2016 was 16,460.
In the United Kingdom, there are many 'local authority maintained' Roman Catholic schools. These are theoretically open to pupils of all faiths or none, although if the school is over-subscribed priority will be given to Roman Catholic children.
The Bishop of Galloway, also called the Bishop of Whithorn, is the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Galloway, said to have been founded by Saint Ninian in the mid-5th century. The subsequent Anglo-Saxon bishopric was founded in the late 7th century or early 8th century, and the first known bishop was one Pehthelm, "shield of the Picts". According to Anglo-Saxon ecclesiastical tradition, the bishopric was founded by Saint Ninian, a later corruption of the British name Uinniau or Irish Finian; although there is no contemporary evidence, it is quite likely that there had been a British or Hiberno-British bishopric before the Anglo-Saxon takeover. After Heathored, no bishop is known until the apparent resurrection of the diocese in the reign of King Fergus of Galloway. The bishops remained, uniquely for Scottish bishops, the suffragans of the Archbishop of York until 1359 when the pope released the bishopric from requiring metropolitan assent. James I formalised the admission of the diocese into the Scottish church on 26 August 1430 and just as all Scottish sees, Whithorn was to be accountable directly to the pope. The diocese was placed under the metropolitan jurisdiction of St Andrews on 17 August 1472 and then moved to the province of Glasgow on 9 January 1492. The diocese disappeared during the Scottish Reformation, but was recreated by the Catholic Church in 1878 with its cathedra at Dumfries, although it is now based at Ayr.
Stagecoach West Scotland is an operating region of Stagecoach UK Bus, comprising Western Buses Ltd based in Ayr, Scotland.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow was one of the thirteen dioceses of the Scottish church. It was the second largest diocese in the Kingdom of Scotland, including Clydesdale, Teviotdale, parts of Tweeddale, Liddesdale, Annandale, Nithsdale, Cunninghame, Kyle, and Strathgryfe, as well as Lennox, Carrick and the part of Galloway known as Desnes.
Whithorn Priory was a medieval Scottish monastery that also served as a cathedral, located at 6 Bruce Street in Whithorn, Wigtownshire, Dumfries and Galloway.
The Good Shepherd Cathedral in Ayr, South Ayrshire, Scotland was the cathedral church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway.
The Diocese of Motherwell is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory or diocese of the Catholic Church in Scotland.
The Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway is one of the seven dioceses of the Scottish Episcopal Church. It covers Dumfries and Galloway, Ayrshire, Lanarkshire, Dunbartonshire, Renfrewshire and west Stirlingshire. The cathedral of the diocese is St Mary's Cathedral, Glasgow.
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.
The Diocese of Dunkeld is a diocese of the Latin Church of the Catholic Church in southern Scotland. The current bishop of the diocese is, Andrew McKenzie, having been appointed as the diocese’s eleventh bishop, on 27 May 2024.
The Archdiocese of Glasgow is the Latin Catholic metropolitan see of the Province of Glasgow in central Scotland. The episcopal seat of the developing diocese was established by Saint Kentigern in the 6th century AD. It is one of two catholic metropolitan archdioceses of the Catholic Church in Scotland: the only archdioceses in Scotland. It is the elder of the two bishoprics. Innocent VIII first raised Glasgow a metropolitan archbishopric in 1492. The Metropolis has the dioceses of Motherwell and Paisley as suffragans within the Ecclesiastical Province.
The Cathedral Church of Saint Margaret, also known as Ayr Cathedral, is a Roman Catholic cathedral located in Ayr, Scotland. It is the seat of the Bishop of Galloway, and the mother church of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Galloway. St Margaret's was designated a cathedral in 2007, due to the closure of Good Shepherd Cathedral, Ayr.
Lanemark Football Club was based in the town of New Cumnock, and was one of a number of football clubs formed in the late nineteenth century in and around the Ayrshire coalfield.
Francis Dougan is a Scottish Roman Catholic bishop. He was appointed Bishop of Galloway on 22 December 2023.
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