Saltcoats was divided between the Earls of Eglinton who owned Ardrossan parish and the Earls of Glencairn who owned Stevenston parish.  A bitter feud between them culminated in the murder of Edward Cunninghame of Auchenharvie, Lord Glencairn in 1526 followed by the destruction of Eglinton Castle in retaliation, forcing the Montgomeries to seek shelter in Ardrossan Castle.

In 1528 King James V intervened on behalf of Hugh, 1st Earl of Eglinton and granted a ‘Precept under the Privy Seal for a Charter’ on 01 February 1528 which created Saltcoats into a ‘Burgh of Barony’.  It allowed Saltcoats to hold annual fairs and weekly markets, to buy and sell freely and to have bakers, brewers, fleshers (butchers), fish sellers and craftsmen.  This legislation also granted Saltcoats the right to have burgesses and annual elections of bailies and other officers to govern the Burgh, and gave the Earls of Eglinton the power to develop trade and industry within their part of Saltcoats.

Saltcoats Annual Fair, held on the last Thursday in May, was one of the oldest in Scotland.  The first fair was opened by the Abbot of Kilwinning and his monks.

In 1928 Provost William D. Kerr proposed the idea of crowning a Queen of the Sea to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Saltcoats becoming a Burgh of Barony.  Netta Duff, a pupil at Ardrossan Academy, was crowned Sea Queen by the Provost’s wife on 25 August 1928 in front of a crowd of over 20,000.  In 1930 Margaret Hamilton, Commissioner of the Girl Guides, organised a concert to raise money for a crown, robes and a sceptre which were designed by George Ritchie.

The ceremony proved to be so popular that it became an annual feature until 1935, with the exception of 1934 when the Ayrshire Pageant took place.  The Sea Queen and her attendants were selected in rotation from the four Saltcoats schools – Ardrossan Academy; Saltcoats Public School (now Caledonia Primary); St Mary’s (on the corner of Springvale Street and Union Street) and Kyleshill School. Between 1936 and 1949 no Sea Queens were crowned.  In 1950 the Crowning of the Sea Queen was restarted, with Matilda McAvoy as the Sea Queen, and ran until 1963 when the event stopped again, restarting in 2000 as part of the Millenium celebrations when Hazel McMaster was crowned the Sea Queen.