Barony of Ladyland - The History of The Barony of Ladyland

The History of The Barony of Ladyland

In the Parish of Kilbirnie were three baronies, Kilbirnie, Glengarnock and Ladyland. The first Lairds of Ladyland were a cadet branch of the Barclays of Kilbirnie. Archibald, as second son, is recorded as having the Barony of Ladyland bestowed upon him by his father, Sir Hugh Barclay. David Barclay of Ladyland was with Mary, Queen of Scots, at Hamilton in May 1568 and probably fought at the Battle of Langside where the Queen's side lost and she subsequently fled the realm.

Hugh (Hew) Barclay of Ladyland was a poet of considerable power and humour and a fervent papist, married to Isobel Stewart, meeting an unusual death by drowning on Ailsa Craig. Sir David Barclay of Ladyland and Auchinheiff (now 'Auchenhove') succeeded his brother Hugh and married Elizabeth Cunningham, the widow of John Craufurd of Craufurdland who had died in 1612, aged only 21, from an injury received at foot-ball. His son, also David, was unfortunate enough to inherit his father's debts and was forced to sell Ladyland to John Blair of Cloberhill in full payment. This was the end of the Barclay's involvement in the barony and by 1654 Sir David Cuninghame was the Laird of Ladyland, a property then valued at £546 17s 8d.

Captain William Hamilton of Ardoch or Airdoch in Kilwinning Parish was the first of the Hamilton's of Ladyland (see illustration of their Coat of Arms). Lieutenant William Hamilton of Gilbertfield in Lanarkshire still owned Ladyland, but rented Gilbertfield, where he lived, making only the occasional visit to Ladyland. William was a published poet and a friend and correspondent of the poet Allan Ramsay. In 1722, Hamilton published an abridged and modernised version of Blind Harry's Wallace, which, though an artistic failure, aroused Robert Burns's boyhood interest and enthusiasm and, as he recorded in the Autobiographical Letter: 'poured a Scottish prejudice in my veins which will boil along there till the flood gates of life shut in eternal rest.'

John Hamilton, 8th of Ardoch, 2nd of Ladyland, sold Ardoch and Ladyland c1712 and purchased Ballybregach in Northern Ireland and renamed it Ladyland. Hamilton's became well established in Ireland and the name Ladyland still exists. John Hamilton sold Ladyland to an Ensign Henry Moncrieff, Collector of Cess for Renfrewshire; Moncrieff than sold the property to Alexander, 9th Earl of Eglinton.

William Cochran of Edge purchased Ladyland in around 1718 from the Earl of Eglinton and lived there with his wife Margaret Orr of Easter Gavin. They had a son and five daughters; William succeeding in 1756 and marrying Janet Glasgow of Pudevenholme, part of the Glengarnock estate. In 1803 their son William succeeded and married Catherine Hamilton on 5 September 1815. Catherine was a distant relation of the Hamilton's of Ladyland. They had two daughters, Agnes and Janet Glasgow Cochran; the eldest inherited upon his death in 1832; she had married William Charles Richard Patrick in April 1832. Agnes's husband, an advocate, was the second son of Dr. Robert Patrick of Trearne and Hessilhead and he took his wife's name to establish the Cochran-Patrick line.

Robert William Cochran-Patrick (1842–1897) was Dean of Faculties at Glasgow University, 1882 to 1885 and was awarded an honorary LLD by the University in 1879. Robert was born at Ladyland and studied at the University of Edinburgh and Trinity Hall, Cambridge. He returned to Ayrshire to live the life of a country gentleman and study archaeology, becoming a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland and of the Society of Antiquaries of London, and in 1874 he was one of the founders of the Ayrshire and Wigtownshire Archaeological Association. Robert was best known as a numismatist and he assembled one of the country's greatest collections of early Scottish coins and medals. He wrote the two volumes of 'Records of the Coinage of Scottish.' Cochran-Patrick was Conservative MP for North Ayrshire, 1880 to 1885. He was also the Chairman of the Governors of the Spier's school at Beith and Provincial Grand Master of the Masons of Ayrshire. Mrs Cochran-Patrick, wife of R. W Cochran-Patrick, was the younger daughter of Mr. Hunter of Hunterston Castle. In 1969 the Lyon Court officially recognised Neil Kennedy-Cochran-Patrick (b. 1926) in the name of the Hunter of Hunterston as being 29th Laird of Hunterston and Chief of Clan Hunter.