The Curse of Saint Winning
A legend tells of Saint Winning sending his monks to fish in the Garnock, however no matter how hard they tried or how long they persevered they could catch nothing. The saint in response placed a curse on the river, preventing it from ever having fish in its waters; the river responded by changing course and thereby avoiding the curse. It is clear that the river has substantially changed its course in recorded history, previously having entered the sea at Stevenston. Ardeer therefore being an island at that time. Blaeu's map printed in 1654 shows this.
It was also noted during the construction of a canal serving early coal pits at Ardeer that the small lochans used to ease construction lay on the old course of the River Garnock.
Read more about this topic: River Garnock
Famous quotes containing the words curse, saint and/or winning:
“In our time, the curse is monetary illiteracy, just as inability to read plain print was the curse of earlier centuries.”
—Ezra Pound (1885–1972)
“A saint is good who wanders constantly.
Water is good which flows continuously.”
—Punjabi proverb, trans. by Gurinder Singh Mann.
“I don’t go that fast in practice, because I need the excitement of the race, the adrenalin. The others might train more and be in better shape, but when I’m racing, I put winning before everything else. I don’t stop until the world gets gray and fuzzy around the edges.”
—Candi Clark (b. c. 1950)