A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
A vision of Britain through time
A vision of Britain from 1801 to now.
Including maps, statistical trends and historical descriptions.
Barns of Ayr, a temporary barrack or encampment, formed by the forces of Edward I. of England, in Ayr parish, Ayrshire, on the SE side of the town of Ayr, on or near the site of the present Townhead quarry, and contiguous to the line of the Roman road from Ayr to Galloway. It had been the scene of many a bloody deed on the part of the English invaders; but on a night of May 1297, when its garrison slept after a deep carouse, it was surprised and fired by Sir William Wallace and 50 of his followers. Approaching it stealthily, he placed a cordon of men around it, heaped combustibles against its walls, and fired it so effectively that it burst at once into a blaze. The startled sleepers, to the number of some 500, either perished in the flames or were impaled on the swords of their assailants. Wallace retired while the fire was burning, and looking back from a neighbouring hill, thereafter known as Barnweel or Burnweel, exclaimed to his followers, ` The Barns of Ayr burn weel. ' Such, at least, is the story told by tradition, firmly believed by the local population, confidently repeated by every history of the deeds of Wallace, and in part confirmed by the Scalacronica, written by Sir Thomas de Grey about the middle of the 14th century. See the Marquess of Bute's -Burning o-f the Barns of Ayr (Paisley, 1878).
(F.H. Groome, Ordnance Gazetteer of Scotland (1882-4); © 2004 Gazetteer for Scotland)
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| Feature Description: | "a temporary barrack or encampment" (ADL Feature Type: "military areas") |
| Administrative units: | Ayr ScoP Ayrshire ScoCnty |
Pages for linked administrative units may contain historical statistics and information on boundaries.