Glengarnock

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Glengarnock

According to Wikepedia, the place name "Glen Garnock" pertains specifically to the short, sometimes precipitous, section of ravine overlooked by the ruins of Glengarnock Castle north of the town of Kilbirnie, whereas "The Garnock Valley" refers to a wider geographic area drained by the River Garnock in the part of North Ayrshire abutting Renfrewshire, which encompasses the former parishes of Beith, Dalry, and Kilbirnie.

The River Garnock (Scottish Gaelic: Gairneag / Abhainn Ghairneig) is the smallest of Ayrshire's six principal rivers. The headwaters of the Garnock are at an elevation of 522 meters above sea level on the southerly slope of the Hill of Stake located on the boundary of Ayrshire with Renfrewshire. About a mile and a half south of this starting point the Garnock tumbles over the Spout of Garnock, the highest waterfall in Ayrshire, once thought to be the river's origin. The river then continues, for a total length of 20 miles (32 km) or so, through the towns of Kilbirnie, Glengarnock, Dalry, and Kilwinning to its confluence with the River Irvine at Irvine Harbour.

The Kilbirnie Loch is situated in the Parish of Kilbirnie and the ancient Barony of Glengarnock once held by the Cuninghams, a Cadet Branch of the Earls of Glencairn many of whom are entombed at Glencairn Aisle in Kilmaurs (known as the hamlet of Cunninghame until the 13th century), East Ayrshire. It is located about 22 miles southwest of Glasgow.

Kilmaurs later formed part of the estate of the Crawfurds of Kilbirnie as a result of the Honourable Patrick Lindsay acquiring, in 1677, the Glengarnock estates and marrying Margaret, heiress of Sir John Crawfurd of Kilbirnie. Their son became the first Viscount Garnock and in 1707 he had the baronies of Kilrbirnie and Glengarnock combined into the 'Barony of Kilbirnie' at Castle Kilbirnie.