KILMARNOCK, a parish and burgh of barony, in the district of Cunninghame, county of Ayr; containing 19,956 inhabitants, of whom 17,846 are in the burgh, 12 miles (N. N. E.) from Ayr, and 22 (s. w. by S.) from Glasgow. This place, which is of great antiquity, derives its name from the foundation of a church by St. Marnoch, an eminent apostle of Christianity, who flourished in the fourth century, and to whose memory many churches in various parts of the country have been dedicated. The lands, at an early period, were part of the possessions of the ancient family of Boyd, descendants of Simond, brother of Walter the first high steward of Scotland, an