FENWICK, a parish, in the district of CunningHAME,
county of Ayr; including the villages of Kirktown
and Upper Fenwick, and containing 20 IS inhabitants,
of whom 35.5 are in Upper Fenwick, 4 miles
(N. N. E.) from Kilmarnock. This place in ancient
times formed part of the parish of Kilmarnock, from
which it was separated in the year 164'2, and called New
Kilmarnock, its present appellation being subsequently
derived from Fenwick hill, in the vicinity of the church.
The parish is nine miles in length and upwards of six
in breadth, and is in figure nearly an oblong. Its surface
rises gradually from the south to the north, and
reaches an elevation of about 700 feet near the part
where the parish joins the Mearns moor. The climate
is moist, and rain is very frequent, and the soil to a
great extent unproductive, several large tracts consisting
of deep moss, which, at many seasons in the year, is
impassable without risk of life. The lower division contains
most of the population, and the land here produces
fair average crops: the higher grounds, bordering on
Renfrewshire, are chiefly pastoral, and of excellent quality;
the stock grazed upon them is of a good breed,
and in superior condition. The process of draining has
been for some time attended to, and much land once
entirely useless is now under tillage, and affords adequate
returns. Limestone is abundant, and is quarried in
several places; coal has recently been discovered in
much larger quantities than were formerly obtained,
and iron has also been found in the same locality in
considerable abundance, one bed measuring five feet in
thickness. The parish contains several small hamlets;
the inhabitants generally dispose of their produce at the
markets of Glasgow and Kilmarnock. Coal is procured
from the neighbourhood of the latter place, and peat is
obtained plentifully from the mosses in the district. An
act of parliament was passed in 184", authorizing the
construction of a branch of three miles and a half, to
Fenwick, by the Glasgow, Kilmarnock, and Ardrossan
railway company. The public road from Glasgow to
Kilmarnock and Ayr passes through the parish. The
annual value of real property in Fenwick is returned at £9366.
Ecclesiastically the parish is within the bounds of the
presbytery of Irvine, synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and in
the patronage of the Earl of Glasgow. The minister's
stipend is £123, of which a part is received from the
exchequer; with a manse, and a glebe of eight acres,
valued at £'24 per annum. Fenwick church, seated on
the right bank of one of the two streams which intersect
the parish, is a plain cruciform structure, built in 1643,
and containing between 700 and 800 sittings. There is
a place of worship for the United Presbyterian Synod.
The parochial school affords instruction in the ordinary
branches; the master has a salary of £'28, with a good
house, built in 1805, a rood of garden, and £'20 fees.
There is a second school, with an endowment of £10 per
annum; and the parish contains a subscription library.
The Earl of Glasgow takes the title of Baron Boyle, of
Fenwick, from this place.