Historic Mauchline

E. Patricia Dennison, Dennia Gallagher & Gordon Ewart
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Mauchline lies in the foothills of the western slopes of the Southern Uplands, 16km east of Ayr and 13km south of Kilmarnock.

Mauchline was the administrative centre of the regality of Kylesmuir, granted in the twelfth century to Melrose Abbey. It was erected as a burgh of barony in 1510 and a burgh of regality in 1707. The town was noted for its trade in livestock and, in the nineteenth century, for textile manufacture, the leather industry, and the manufacture of wooden snuff and souvenir boxes. The close association of Mauchline and the poet Robert Burns generated a tourist industry, helped after 1850 with the arrival of rail transport. This book is part of the Scottish Burgh Survey - a series designed to identify the archaeological potential of Scotland's historic towns.