Lands of Ashgrove
Armstrong's map of circa 1747 shows that the only direct inland Kilwinning to Portencross road ran along a route that has now largely been abandoned or is now used only by farm vehicles, etc.
Armstrong's and other maps show that the route was as follows, modern spellings are in brackets: Kilwinning – Ashgrove – Bankend – the Old Clay Road – Muirlaught – Darleith – Ettington (Meikle Ittington) – Knock (Knockewart) – Edward – Hopeton – Springside – Kilbride (West Kilbride) – Arneal (Auld Hill) – Porting Cross (Portencross).
[9] It is not clear whether Ashgrove was built on a new site or replaced the older laird's dwelling; in 1775 both placenames are recorded on Armstrong's map.
[10] An unusually large walled garden survives and OS maps show that it was once an orchard and contained formal paths, a centrally placed sundial and a greenhouse area.
An unmarked Cholera pit is situated at the end of the Long Ride Plantation in an area marked on old OS maps as Ladyacre.
James Cunningham was the chamberlain of Kilwinning and a story is told of him in which he asked Bessie Dunlop's, the witch of Dalry, to help with a case of theft of some barley that was stolen from the barn of Craigends and she was able to tell him where it was.
[12] A son, Arthur Martin, married Isabel Aitchison and moved to the West Indies where he died and his daughters Margaret and Magdalene as co-heiresses, sold the estate to John Bowman in 1766.
[15] Pont records the owner as Alexander Cuninghame and the estate's name as 'Asshin-Zairds'; he comments that the name derives from 'Esch' an ash tree and 'yaird' a measure of an area of land.
John Bowman (see below) purchased Ashinyards when Andrew Martin's son was in his minority; he was himself related in the maternal line to the Cuninghames.
[8] Anne Bowman married Miller Hill Hunt, a captain in the 6th Regiment of Foot who had fought and been wounded at the Battle of Culloden.
Anne, or Lady Bowman as she was known locally, was succeeded by Andrew FitzJames Cuninghame Rollo-Bowman-Ballantyne of Ashgrove and Castlehill, born, 1835, who was the son of Elizabeth and Roger Rollo, her sister and brother in law.
The area has been extensively drained by means of a deep ditch or "cunnel"[20] and only 10% of the surviving loch is open water; a floating raft of vegetation covers the remainder.
It was called a canal because this section of the Burn or lade was cleaned on a three yearly basis and a sluice was once present that regulated the flow of water to Stevenston Mill.
The countryside around Ashgrove Loch is amongst the richest in the area; the fields attract flocks of chaffinch, reed bunting, yellowhammer, and tree sparrow.
The foresters cottage was located on an estate lane near to the south west of the house and was rebuilt as a bungalow in the 1930s only to be vandalised when unoccupied and it was subsequently demolished as a result.
