River Irvine - The Course of The Irvine and Its Tributaries

The Course of The Irvine and Its Tributaries

The River Irvine rises in two head-waters, the one in a moss at Meadow-head, on the eastern boundary of the parish of Loudoun or of Ayrshire, and the other a mile eastward in the parish of Avondale in Lanarkshire, near the battle-field of Drumclog.

About 2¾ miles from the point of its entering Ayrshire, it is joined from the north by Glen water, which strictly speaking is the parent stream, on account of its length and the volume of water it carries; for the Glen Water rises at Crosshill in Renfrewshire, a mile north of the East Ayrshire boundary, and runs 6 miles (9.7 km) southward, joined by five rills (small streams) in its progress, to the point of confluence with the Irvine. Swollen by this substantial tributary, the Irvine immediately passes the town of Darvel on the right — 1¾ mile onward, the town of Newmilns — at 2¼ miles farther on, the town of Galston, on the left. The Hagg burn joins before the town, having run past the old ruined castle of Arclowden: Old Loudoun Castle or "The Old Place", near the present Loudoun castle. The Burnanne joins at Galston.

A mile and a quarter below Galston it receives from the north the Polbaith burn; ¾ of a mile lower down, it is joined from the south by the Cessnock water; and 3 miles (4.8 km) later it passes Kilmarnock and Riccarton on opposite sides, and receives on its right bank the tributary of the Kilmarnock (or Marnock) Water. Nearly 22 miles (35 km) onward, measured in a straight line, but 4 miles (6.4 km) or upwards along its bed, it is joined on the same bank by Carmel Water; and 2½ miles farther on, it receives still on the same bank, the Annick Water's contribution. The river now runs 1½ mile in a north-west direction, passing through the town of Irvine; it then suddenly bends round until it follows a southerly direction; and opposite the town of Irvine, when running southward, it suddenly expands into a basin ¾ of a mile broad, which receives the Garnock river at its north-west extremity, and communicates by a narrow mouth or strait with the Firth (previously Frith) of Clyde. The course of the Irvine is recorded as having shifted in an old Eglinton Estates document, a map recording the previous course with a note that the water left the old riverbed in 1758. This altered the confluence of the River Irvine with the Annick Water.

The Irvine is tidal as far as the nature reserve at Shewalton, half-a-mile or so upstream from the confluence with the Annick Water.

The main contributing rivers and rivulets in descending order of their confluences are therefore the Glen Water, Polbaith Burn, Cessnock Water, Kilmarnock Water, Carmel Water, Annick Water, and the Garnock.