Estate of Kilbirnie

In 1886 the Estate of Kilbirnie within the parishes of Kilbirnie and Lochwinnoch was put up for sale.  The title deeds were held by Messrs J. & F. Anderson, W.S., 48 Castle Street, Edinburgh.

The Estate of Kilbirnie, surrounding the town of Kilbirnie, was bound on the north by the Property of Lord Conyngham and the Estate of Castle Semple, on the east partly by the River Garnock and partly by the Estate of Castle Semple and on the west by the Estates of Blair, Whitehill, Brisbane and others.  It covered 5,928 acres, of which 42 acres were woods. 

There were 21 farms whose tenants’ leases were of nineteen years duration, as well as several small holdings.  Except for Plan and Cauldgreen, the farms upon the estate were worked as dairy farms with the celebrated Ayrshire cows being the preferred breed of cattle.  Excluding the rent of the minerals and shootings, the rental value of the estate was £3,818, 11s, 5d (worth approximately £2,615,000 in 2019).

At the time of the sale, the Lanarkshire and Ayrshire Railway was under construction and there would soon be a railway station at Glengarnock and another station at Stoneyholm Road, Kilbirnie, opposite Bridgend School.

The left wing of the auld Kilbirnie Kirk belonged to the proprietor of Kilbirnie estate, and should the estate be divided into lots, would belong to the person who purchased the lot upon which the picturesque ruins of Kilbirnie Castle stood.

Country sports upon the Kilbirnie Estate included Grouse Shooting on the moor and the Low Country Shooting Fair.  During the preceding three seasons the average Bag captured was 174 Brace of Grouse and Black Game, 12 Pheasants, 90 Partridges, 196 Hares and 114 Rabbits.  There was also good trout fishing in the Garnock River which passed through the estate.

Minerals upon the estate consisted mainly of Clayband Ironstone, Shale and Limestone, the greater portion of which were let to Messrs Merry & Cunninghame for a period of 31 years from Whitsunday 1883.  Messrs Merry & Cunninghame’s rights were safeguarded in the bill of sale.

The farms and their tenants on the Estate of Kilbirnie in 1886 were: