Fergushill
[7] Alexander Crauford of Fergushill is named as a Commissioner of Supply for Ayrshire in the 1685 records of the Parliament of Scotland.
This was a time of hardship and famine in Scotland, known as the Seven ill years; in December 1696, the city of Edinburgh set up a refugee camp in Greyfriars kirkyard to house starving rural migrants.
[12] John was already under financial pressure in 1696 when he purchased Kersland, near Kilbirnie from his wife's elder sister, Jean Ker.
He assumed the name and title of John Ker of Kersland and spent the next 30 years avoiding bankruptcy, including a period as a government spy.
[13] At this point, legal ownership becomes complex but court records from February 1749 show it had been sold by 'Thomas Craufurd of Fergushill, to Neil Macvicar, writer in Edinburgh.
[15] Andrew Armstrong's 1775 publication 'A new map of Ayrshire,' shows Fergushill House located on the north side of Lugton Water, around 75 yards (70 metres) east of the old horse tramway and road bridges, or 'Elbo and Chael' as they were known locally.
Robin Cummell or Campbell, who worked at Eglinton Castle, states that the Fergushill miners were sold with the land, normal practice for the time.
[18] The house was described as 'A good mansion, surrounded by some fine old trees, render the place still worthy of being inhabited by ane honest and descreit gentleman.
[22] Fergushill is described in 1823 as 'a commodious farm house, covered with thatch: but its ancient gardens, pretty well stored with plum and other fruit trees, indicate its former rank.
[16][24] Aerial photographs and observations on the ground show the Chapelholms woodlands still contain the ditch, dyke and coppiced trees that may have formed the boundary between the two baronies of Fergushill and Eglinton.
[25] Townhead of Fulwood belonged to James Fergushill, disposed to him by Alexander Dunlop of that Ilk in 1687; this remained within the family until about 1750, when it was acquired by William Mackie of Mosside.
In modern terms a thousand pounds loss in the 17th century must have been a devastating blow even to the finances of great landowning families.
Rudolf Dehn, who had been a nuclear scientist at Dounreay before going into the ministry; several young people from the Fergushill area joined Erskine Church's youth group at this time.
Nothing much remains, however a Mrs. Miller once lived here and she recollected collecting water from the well which still exists as a circular low brick wall near to the site.
[37] John Thomson's Atlas of Scotland, 1832, marks a 'Baker's Mill' on the Lugton Water, possibly explaining the presence of the surviving weir.
Glass slides bearing choruses and verses used at the Mission Hall are now held by the Kilwinning Abbey Heritage Centre.
[41] John Smith in 1895 records the remains of an old lade , which supplied water to drive a wheel wherewith the old coal-pits used to be drained.
A horse drawn tramway, opened in 1834, which ran up to Fergushill and Doura, ending at the coal pit.
One of the Fergushill collieries stood near the Chapel gate cottage (no longer present) of the Eglinton castle estate; the mine bing still survives amongst a screen of secondary woodland.
William's wife was a tough sort, her comment being on seeing him so encumbered, was that the Forgisal's would need a small plantation of their own to keep them in crutches.
[46] The Fergushill drive entrance into the Eglinton Estate passed Chapelholm Woods was carried over the railway by a bridge; this has since been demolished.
These tileworks was built in 1831 at North Fergushill farm and consisted of a moulding room, kiln and drying stores.
The tileworks were in a field just to the east of an unclassified road between North Fergushill farm and the old Dalry to Kilmarnock railway line.
George Johnston noted there were 480,000 unsold tiles stored at Fergushill and there was no room for the next year’s stock.
