Barony and Castle of Giffen - Burnhouse (The Trap)

Burnhouse (The Trap)

This village or hamlet in North Ayrshire, known locally as the 'Trap', short for 'Man Trap' as the village lies on the old turnpike road from Beith to Kilmarnock, and the more recent and busy Lochlibo Road from Irvine to Glasgow via Lugton where travellers on their return from markets in the old days were encouraged to stop and spend their money at the inn; it was so named by the farmers wives and eventually it was shorted to 'The Trap'. A Crossroads Inn is marked on John Thomson's map of 1828 and in 1858 it had two inns at the crossroads, the Burnhouse Inn and the Waggoners Inn, no longer shown on the 1911 OS.

What is now Burnhouse Manor hotel was present as a private house on the 1858 OS map and as the 'Manor House' in 1911. In the 1870s, whilst nearby Trearne House was being built, Mr and Mrs Ralston-Patrick lived for some time in Burnhouse Manor until the new house was ready for them. A toll house was located on the Dunlop side of the crossroads on the Lochlibo Road, on the Laigh Gree Farm side; it has been demolished.

Burnhouse Manor and 'The Trap' village (2008)

• The Burnhouse Manor Hotel

• Burnhouse village looking towards Lugton

• Another view looking towards Lugton