OCHILTREE, a parish, in the district of Kyle,
county of Ayr, 3^ miles (W. by N.) from Old Cumnock;
containing 1601 inhabitants. This place, in various
ancient records called Uchletree, has sorne pretensions to
antiquity. In 1296, Simon de Spalding, then rector of
the parish, swore fealty to Edward I. at Berwick; and
in the reign of Robert I. the church, with all its appurtenances,
was granted by Eustace de Colville to the
monks of Melrose Abbey, to whom it belonged at the
time of the Reformation. The lands that constituted the
barony of Ochiltree were in 1530 exchanged by the proprietor.
Sir James Colville, for the barony of East
Wemyss, and became the property of Sir James Hamilton
of Finnart, who conveyed them to Andrew Stewart,
Lord Evandale, who in 1543 was created Lord Stewart
of Ochiltree. After passing to various proprietors in
succession, the lands were at length vested in William,
first Earl of Dundonald, who gave them to his second
son. Sir John Cochrane. They were forfeited to the
crown by Sir John in 1685; but were afterwards regranted
to his son William, and remained in the family
till they were purchased, about 1730, by Governor Mc
Rae, whose legatee conveyed them by marriage to the
Earl of Glencairn. The lands of the barony now belong
to different families.
The PARISH is about eight miles in length, and five
miles in breadth. It is bounded on the north by the
parish of Stair, on the east by the parishes of Old Cumnock
and Auchinleck, on the south by those of New
Cumnock and Dalmellington, and on the west by the
parishes of Stair and Coylton. The surface, which has
an elevation varying from 400 to 1000 feet above the
level of the sea, is intersected with ridges, running in
nearly parallel directions from east to west, with tracts
of level ground intervening; and the scenery is in some
parts enlivened with small patches oi wood and young
plantations. The lands abound with springs of excellent
quality, affording an ample supply of water and
there are two lochs, the larger of which covers about
twenty-seven acres. The rivers are, the Lugar, which
separates the parish from that of Auchinleck, and in its
course receives the Burnock water and some other
streamlets; and the Coila, which divides the parish
from Coylton. Both of them fall into the Ayr.
In general the soil is a clayey loam, resting on a
subsoil of retentive clay; but in the upland parts of the
parish, mossy, resting also upon clay. The number of
acres is estimated at 15,387, of which 10,242 are under
tillage and in good cultivation, and the remainder hillpasture,
plantations, and waste: the crops are, grain
of all kinds, potatoes, and turnips. The system of
husbandry is improved, and the lands have been partially
drained; but much still remains to be done in
order to render the soil fully productive; the farmbuildings
are inferior to those of many other parishes,
and only a few of the houses are slated, by far the
greater number being thatched. The fences are partly
stone dykes, and partly hedges of thorn. Considerable
attention is paid to the rearing of live-stock. From 3000
to 4000 sheep are fed, for which the hills afford good
pasture: they are of the black-faced breed, with a few
of the Leicester, South-Down, and Cheviot breeds; and
some of the black Egyptian breed, of which the wool is
remarkably fine. About 1050 cows are kept for the
dairy, and there are about 1200 head of cattle besides;
they are all of the Ayrshire breed, and thrive well. The
annual value of real property in the parish is £9521.
Ochiltree House is the residence of the Dowager Lady
Boswell. The village is situated on the site of what is
said to have been an ancient camp, from which circumstance
probably the name of the parish may have been
derived; it is neatly built, and well inhabited. There
is a manufactory for reaping-hooks, some of which are
sent to distant places; and many of the females are
employed in working muslin for the manufacturers of
Glasgow and Paisley. The nearest market-town is Avr,
with which, and with other towns in the vicinity, facility
of intercourse is maintained by good roads kept in repair
by statute labour, and by the turnpike-road from Dumfries
and Cumnock to Ayr, which passes for nearly seven
miles through the parish. Fairs for horses and cattle
are held in the village on the second Wednesday in May,
and the first Tuesday in November; and a savings' bank
has been formed, which is well encouraged. A post-office
is established under Cumnock.
Ecclesiastically this place is within the limits of the
presbytery of Ayr and synod of Glasgow and Ayr. The
stipend of the incumbent is £247: the manse, erected
in 1800, and enlarged in 1833, is a comfortable residence;
and the glebe comprises about nine acres of
land, valued at £20 per annum. Ochiltree church, which
is in the centre of the village, is a neat substantial edifice
erected in 1/89, in good repair, and adapted for a congregation
of 900 persons. The parochial school, also
situated in the village, affords a useful education to
about 100 children: the master has a salary of £34. 4.,
with a house and garden; also £6. 3. 4. per annum, a
bequest by Mr. Patrick Davidson, charged on the lands
of Shield, in the parish of Stair; and school fees averaging
£30. There is a library connected vrith the
school. At a place called the Moat, on the turnpikeroad
to Ayr, was found an urn containing calcined bones,
and subsequently a crown-piece of the reign of James I.
of Scotland, in excellent preservation. There are no
other remains of the ancient castle of Ochiltree than
the foundations, which may still be traced on the bank
of the river Lugar; the walls have been levelled to furnish
materials for buildings and other purposes. On the
same river a detached portion of rock, which rises from
its bed, sixty feet in height, forty feet long, and twenty
feet broad, covered on the summit with shrubs and heath,
presents a singularly romantic appearance, and from its
resemblance to a fort has attained the appellation of
Kemps Castle.