LOUDOUN, or Loudon, a parish, in the district of
Cunninghame, county of Ayr, 8 miles (E.) from Kilmarnock;
containing, with the village of Darvel, and the
burgh of barony of Newmilns, about 5550 inhabitants.
This place is supposed by some to take its name, the
first syllable of which signifies a " fire", and the second
a "hill", from a hill in the extremity of the parish,
which, on account of its commanding height, is conjectured
to have been used as a station for signal-fires. Others,
however, derive the name from the Gaelic term Lod-dan,
signifying "marshy ground", the land in the vicinity of
the river Irvine, on the south, having formerly possessed
this character. The parish approaches in figure to a
right-angled triangle, the greatest length being about
eight or nine miles, and the average breadth three. It
stretches on the east to the county of Lanark, and comprises
19,169 acres, of which 10,720 are in tillage, 3153
bent and moor pasture, 882 in plantations, and the rest
moss. The Irvine, rising in the north-eastern corner,
flows in a direction nearly south for about two miles,
separating Loudoun from Avondale parish in Lanarkshire;
after which, sweeping round the towering hill of
Loudoun, it pursues its picturesque course to the west,
dividing the parish from that of Galston. The system
of agriculture is advanced, and the crops are of excellent
quality. Great improvements have been made within
the last few years on the Loudoun property, comprising
chiefly the erection of very superior farm-houses and the
construction of roads. Large tile- works have been in
operation some years; and other works of the same
kind have lately been erected near the village of Darvel,
which are intended to supply tiles for public sale. The
coal formation is to be seen in almost every part of the
parish; but it is so much disturbed by the trap rock as
to be in some places incapable of being worked: the
trap, of which the columnar trap composing Loudoun
hill is a portion, forms part of a large trap-dyke running
through the whole Ayrshire coalfield in a north-west and
south-east direction. There are also several seams of
ironstone, some of them of considerable thickness; and
these, as well as the coal, are expected shortly to be
wrought. Limestone is abundant, and is extensively
quarried; a bed at Howlet burn, about six feet thick, is
wrought by mining, and is at present let to the Cessnock
Iron Company for smelting purposes. The annual value
of real property in the parish is £96/9.
Loudoun Castle was the seat of the ancient family of
Campbell, Earls of Loudoun, a title now merged in that
of the Marquess of Hastings, the present proprietor of
Loudoun. This fine baronial residence, which was mostly
rebuilt after its destruction by fire about the beginning
of the sixteenth century, has some old portions; but the
larger and more splendid part of the structure was completed
in 1811. One of the square towers, with its battlements
of unknown antiquity, was destroyed when the
castle was besieged by Genera! Monk; but another
tower, larger and higher, built in the fifteenth century,
still remains in good condition. There is an excellent
library containing upwards of 11,000 volumes. The
plantations around the castle comprise a great variety of
trees, some of them brought from America by John,
fourth Earl of Loudoun, who was governor of Virginia
in 1756, and who, during his military services in various
parts of the world, sent home every valuable kind of tree
he met with. He formed an extensive collection of willows,
selected from England, Ireland, Holland, Flanders,
Germany, Portugal, and America; and a laurel, brought
from Portugal, covers with its branches a space 140 feet
in circumference. In the grounds of the mansion is
also a yew-tree of great antiquity, still fresh and vigorous,
and under the shade of which, one of the family
charters, it is said, was signed in the time of William the
Lion; as also one of the articles of the Union by Hugh,
third earl. The parish contains the villages of Newmilns
and Darvel, and the hamlets of Auldton and Loudoun-
Kirk; the first of which is a burgh of barony, and, as
well as Darvel, has a large population, a great proportion
of whom are weavers. Another branch of manufacture
is wool-spinning, at a mill established in 1804, and belonging
to a company of carpet manufacturers in Kilmarnock:
about twenty-five hands are at work. The
agricultural produce is sent for sale to Kilmarnock, and
coal is generally brought from pits three miles distant.
In 184" an act of parliament was passed authorising the
Glasgow and Ayrshire railway company to make a branch
of nearly three miles and a half to Loudoun-Kirk.
Ecclesiastically the parish is in the presbytery of Irvine,
synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and in the patronage of the
Marquess of Hastings: the minister's stipend is £191,
with a manse, and a glebe of sixteen acres, valued at £35
per annum. The church, situated in the village of Newmilns,
is a splendid structure erected in 1844, with
sittings for 1'200 persons, and ornamented with a beautiful
steeple 133 feet in height. There is a place of worship
at Newmilns belonging to the United Presbyterian
Synod, and another at Uarvel for Reformed Presbyterians.
The parochial school, also at Newmilns, affords instruction
in the usual branches; the master has a salary of
£34. 4., with a house and garden, £40 fees, and £10,
the interest of a be(|uest of £200. There arc schools at
Darvel and Auldton, the schoolrooms and dvvelling-
houses being provided by the Loudoun family; and at
Newmilns are two female schools, one of them supported
partly by subscription. The parish has three libraries,
a masonic society, and two or three other friendly societies;
also three charities, one, amounting to £60 per
annum, for decayed burgesses of Newmilns, left by Mr.
James Smith, a native of that place; another, a bequest
of £16 per annum for four old people, by Mrs. Crawfurd;
and the third, a legacy by Mr. Brown, of Waterhaughs,
for the education and clothing of twelve children. The
principal remains of antiquity are, the foundations of a
Druidical temple, on the top of a hill the highest in the
parish except that of Loudoun; the ruins of a castle burnt
by the Kennedys, probably in the time of James VI.;
and a small ancient castle at Newmilns. In the east of
the parish is Wallace's Cairn, marking out the scene of
a conflict between Wallace and a party of English whom
he surprised on their way to Ayr with provisions; and
at a pass, which is traversed by the road, the battle of
Loudoun Hill was fought in 1307, between Bruce and a
body of English troops under the Earl of Pembroke.
The parish is, however, chiefly remarkable for its connexion
with the ancient family of Campbell, long resident
here, and of whom Lambrinus, father of James de
Loudoun, possessed the barony in the reign of David I.
The first earl, who was buried in the church of Loudoun,
was chancellor of Scotland in 1641, and acted a prominent
part in the transactions of that eventful period.
His grandson, the third earl, was also of some consideration,
enjoying the confidence of William III., and holding
the office of an extraordinary lord of session. Flora,
Countess of Loudoun, only child of James, fifth earl, in
1804 married the Earl of Moira, who was raised to the
dignity of Marquess of Hastings in 1816, in acknowledgment
of his highly distinguished services. This lady, who
was the mother of the lamented Lady Flora Hastings,
died in 1840, and was succeeded by her only son, George,
sixth Earl of Loudoun and second Marquess of Hastings,
whose decease occurred in the year 1844, when his only
son, born in 1832, succeeded to the titles and estates.
Lady Flora Hastings, whose sufferings and wrongs excited
so deep a sympathy throughout the whole nation,
was buried in the family crypt at the hamlet of Loudoun-
Kirk, near Loudoun. See Darvel, and Newmilns.