Local History and Traditions
The Ayrshire Directory 1837 by Pigot & Co comments, a year before Giffen Castle collapsed, on ...the stately ruined castle of the Montgomeries. The same publication also lists a Land Surveyor named John Giffin and a John Giffen who was associated with the schools.
A small hoard of 16th-century coins was found on 7 March 1958 by A Wilson and A M Raeside when ploughing 250 yards (230 m) southwest of Mains of Giffen. The coins had been placed in the bronze container of a small nest of weights, 1½ inches in diameter. This box, and 12 of the 19 coins were retained by the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (NMAS). All Scottish, they dated between 1558 (a billon "nonsunt" of Mary) and 1574 (a half-merk of James VI). The coins are mostly half and quarter-merks of James VI; they were probably hidden in the later 1570s.
Records show that a William Giffen was appointed councillor in 1710 at Corsehill. Trearne house was used by a small boarding school called Gresham House until it was demolished in 1954.
The Lugton Ridges were part of the Barony of Giffen and one was also known as Deepstone.
The Dusk Water which powered Giffen Mill joins the River Garnock at Dalgarven and one of Ayrshire's most interesting natural curiosities, Cleeves Cove cave system is situated in the Dusk Glen, downstream of Giffen, near Cleeves farm.
The herb 'Dusky Cranesbill' is a rare garden escape. It grows in the vicinity of Thirdpart.
In the 1830s 40 locals died from cholera and were buried in a triangular plot at the base of Jamesill Hill. The tradition is that the disease was passed on from a group of gipsies that local boys had gone out to meet.
William Patrick of Roughwood in 1855 employed the builder and mason Robert Snodgrass to construct the 'Barnweil Monument' near Ayr to the memory of William Wallace.
Mossend Farm survives as ruins in a copse next to a whinstone quarry across the lane from the old Dustyridge Farm.
Read more about this topic: Barony And Castle Of Giffen
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