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Donald Lees Reid
Donald Lees Reid BA (Hons) is a Scottish author. He specialises in local and social history and has written books on the history of the Garnock Valley and Doon Valley, including the towns of Beith, Barrmill, Dalmellington, Gateside, Kilbirnie, Patna, and Waterside. He has resided in Beith, North Ayrshire since 1986. A strong emphasis in the books is on the people and the social context of their lives. Donald was born and brought up in Dalmellington, the son of James Reid, a miner for 43 years, and Mary Hose.Reid (2009), Page 72 He retired from the Strathclyde Police Force in 1999 with the rank of Police Superintendent Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories .... In 1994 he was accorded the honour of being selected as Beith Citizen of the Year for his voluntary work.Reid ...
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Dalmellington
Dalmellington ( sco, Dawmellinton, gd, Dail M'Fhaolain) is a market town and civil parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland. In 2001 the village had a population of 1,407. The town owes its origins to the fault line separating the Southern Uplands of Scotland from the Central Lowlands. Dalmellington sits at the issue of a river from the uplands into Dalmellington Moss plain. The town has a history as a rest area, market town, weaving centre and mining village. The Chalmerston open cast coal mine to the north of the village covered some 742 hectares, but the operations have now ceased and the first phase of the site restoration has been completed. The town used to have a working museum to record the history of the area, but it was closed in January 2017. There are many Sites of Special Scientific Interest around Dalmellington, the most notable being the nearby Loch Doon. Selection of local views The Scottish Dark Sky Observatory was located near Dalmellington and is within the north ...
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Scottish People
The Scots ( sco, Scots Fowk; gd, Albannaich) are an ethnic group and nation native to Scotland. Historically, they emerged in the early Middle Ages from an amalgamation of two Celtic-speaking peoples, the Picts and Gaels, who founded the Kingdom of Scotland (or ''Alba'') in the 9th century. In the following two centuries, the Celtic-speaking Cumbrians of Strathclyde and the Germanic-speaking Angles of north Northumbria became part of Scotland. In the High Middle Ages, during the 12th-century Davidian Revolution, small numbers of Norman nobles migrated to the Lowlands. In the 13th century, the Norse-Gaels of the Western Isles became part of Scotland, followed by the Norse of the Northern Isles in the 15th century. In modern usage, "Scottish people" or "Scots" refers to anyone whose linguistic, cultural, family ancestral or genetic origins are from Scotland. The Latin word ''Scoti'' originally referred to the Gaels, but came to describe all inhabitants of Scotland. Cons ...
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Beith
Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court Hill''. History Name Beith's name is thought to emanate from Ogham, which is sometimes referred to as the "''Celtic Tree Alphabet''", ascribing names of trees to individual letters. ''Beithe'' in Old Irish means ''Birch-tree'' (cognate to Latin ''betula''). There is reason to believe that the whole of the district was covered with woods. The town of Beith itself was once known as 'Hill of Beith' as this was the name of the feudal barony and was itself derived from the Court Hill near Hill of Beith Castle. Alternatively, Beith may be derived from Cumbric ''*baɣeδ'', 'boar' (Welsh ''baedd''). The local pronunciation of the name would favour this theory. The Wood of Beit, now the 'Moor of Beith', has been identified as an Arthurian sit ...
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Barrmill
Barrmill is a small village in North Ayrshire, Scotland about east of Beith on the road to Burnhouse and Lugton. Locally it is known as the ''Barr''.Reid, Donald L. (2009). ''Discovering Matthew Anderson. Policeman-Poet of Ayrshire''. Beith : Cleland Crosbie. . P. 49 History General Roy's survey of 1747–1755 shows only the farm of High Barr. A village grew up here due to the employment provided by the several limestone quarries that were present at one time, the Dockra Ironstone pit that was located near the railway line down from Dockra quarry in 1912, and other local industries. The village that developed had a population of 300 in 1876 and 600 in 1951, when the threadmaking industry had just ceased, although the workers still lived in company houses and were transported daily to the threadmaking factory at Kilbirnie. This mill was founded in the mid-19th century to make linen thread, much used at the time for boot and shoe making, and for sailmaking; an offshoot of the ...
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Gateside, North Ayrshire
Gateside is a small village in North Ayrshire, Scotland about east of Beith on the B777. The village Gateside Primary School was opened in 1903, and nowadays it has 74 pupils (2009). The school has an extension built in 1998 which provided indoor toilets and a school hall, which is used by the nursery, PE classes, and for school dinners and assemblies. Another extension is to be built soon. The school is very environmentally aware and has achieved its Green Flag Award (2009). Spier's school stood nearby and the grounds are now a public park used by the Gateside and Beith communities. The Isabel Patrick Memorial Hall is a building in the Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic style. Trearne House stood near Gateside, but it was demolished and the site is now a large worked out limestone quarry. A field behind the primary school was given to the community by the Marshall family who were the village blacksmiths for many years. The meaning of Powgree, Gateside's burn, is suggested as ...
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Kilbirnie
Kilbirnie ( Gaelic: ''Cill Bhraonaigh'') is a small town of 7,280 (as of 2001) inhabitants situated in the Garnock Valley area of North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland. It is around southwest of Glasgow and approximately from Paisley and from Irvine respectively. Historically, the town's main industries were flax production and weaving before iron and steelmaking took over in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The suburb of Kilbirnie in the New Zealand capital of Wellington is named after the town. History Archaeological digs conducted in the 19th century have shown that the area was inhabited during the Bronze Age. A crannog with a connecting causeway was discovered in Kilbirnie Loch. In 1792 Mr Dickie, the miller at the Nether Mill, was building the road near the mill pond when he uncovered an empty stone coffin, 6.5 feet long by 2.5 feet wide. He is recorded to have broken up the coffin and used it in the road's construction. The earth mound known as the ...
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Patna, East Ayrshire
Patna is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, straddling the traditional districts of Carrick and Kyle. It was established in 1802 by William Fullarton to provide housing for workers on the coalfields of his estate. Fullarton's father had worked as an employee of the British East India Company, and the town is named after the city of Patna in the Bihar province of India. Patna lies southeast of Ayr on the A713 to Castle Douglas at its junction with the road to Kirkmichael just north of Dalmellington. Patna lies between the villages of Polnessan and Waterside, and the River Doon flows through it. The Patna Campus was completed in 2012 and hosts Patna Primary School (a non-denominational school. Head Teacher - C. McPhail), St Xavier's Primary School (a Catholic primary school which was formerly located in Waterside but has been moved into Patna, and is also attended by pupils from Dalmellington, Bellsbank, Maybole Maybole is a town and former burgh of barony and police bur ...
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Waterside, East Ayrshire
Waterside is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland, situated about five miles north of Galston on the Craufurdland Water in the Parish of Fenwick. It lies a few miles north of Moscow on the A719 and had a population of 141 in the Census of 2001. History The mill Previously known as Hareshaw Mill this old carding mill dates from 1784 and has gone through a number of uses,Close, Page 126 even hosting a bookshop at one point. The 1856 OS map records the location of the weir, sluice, and lade that diverted and carried water to the mill wheel from the Craufurdland Water. By 1910 the OS maps show that the wollen mill was no longer in use as a mill. Part of the mill became a private dwelling. Although built as a carding mill, Waterside Mill was later also used for weaving. The wheelpit of the mill still survives. In 1910 the building became a creamery, and then a dairy under the management of the Fenwick Farming Co-operative. Waterside village grew up because of the jobs created by ...
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North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and south respectively. The local authority is North Ayrshire Council, formed in 1997 and following similar boundaries to the district of Cunninghame. Located in the west central Lowlands with the Firth of Clyde to its west, the council area covers the northern portion of the historic county of Ayrshire, in addition to the islands forming Buteshire. It has a population of roughly people. with its largest settlements at Irvine and Kilwinning. History and formation The area was created in 1996 as a successor to the district of Cunninghame. The council headquarters are located in Irvine, which is the largest town. The area also contains the towns of Ardrossan, Beith, Dalry, Kilbirnie, Kilwinning, Largs, Saltcoats, Skelmorlie, Stevenston, W ...
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Strathclyde Police
Strathclyde Police was the territorial police force responsible for the Scottish council areas of Argyll and Bute, City of Glasgow, East Ayrshire, East Dunbartonshire, East Renfrewshire, Inverclyde, North Ayrshire, North Lanarkshire, Renfrewshire, South Ayrshire, South Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire (The former Strathclyde local government region) between 1975 and 2013. The Police Authority contained members from each of these authorities. Strathclyde Police had the largest numbers of staff and served the largest population and the second largest area of the eight former Scottish police forces, after the Northern Constabulary. An Act of the Scottish Parliament, the ''Police and Fire Reform (Scotland) Act 2012'', created a single Police Service of Scotland—known as Police Scotland—with effect from 1 April 2013. This act merged the eight regional police forces in Scotland (including Strathclyde Police), together with the Scottish Crime and Drug Enforcement Agency, into a ...
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Police Superintendent
Superintendent (Supt) is a rank in the British police and in most English-speaking Commonwealth nations. In many Commonwealth countries, the full version is superintendent of police (SP). The rank is also used in most British Overseas Territories and in many former British colonies. In some countries, such as Italy, the rank of superintendent is a low rank. Rank insignia of superintendent File:Bangladesh Police SP Rank.svg, File:IT-PS-Sovr.gif, File:SP pakistan 1.png, File:Distintivo Superintendente PSP.png, File:SPF-SO-SUPT.svg, File:Swedish-police-rank-04.svg, File:Supt.svg, United Kingdom Police File:AFPSPR.png, Australian Federal Police File:RCMP Superintendent.png, Canadian Police File:Garda Superintendent.png, Irish Garda Síochána File:경정.svg, South Korean Police File:Superintendent of Police.png, Indian Police Superintendent in several countries Australia In Australia, the rank of superintendent is the next senior rank from chief Inspector and is le ...
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1951 Births
Events January * January 4 – Korean War: Third Battle of Seoul – Chinese and North Korean forces capture Seoul for the second time (having lost the Second Battle of Seoul in September 1950). * January 9 – The Government of the United Kingdom announces abandonment of the Tanganyika groundnut scheme for the cultivation of peanuts in the Tanganyika Territory, with the writing off of £36.5M debt. * January 15 – In a court in West Germany, Ilse Koch, The "Witch of Buchenwald", wife of the commandant of the Buchenwald concentration camp, is sentenced to life imprisonment. * January 20 – Winter of Terror: Avalanches in the Alps kill 240 and bury 45,000 for a time, in Switzerland, Austria and Italy. * January 21 – Mount Lamington in Papua New Guinea erupts catastrophically, killing nearly 3,000 people and causing great devastation in Oro Province. * January 25 – Dutch author Anne de Vries releases the first volume of his children's novel '' Journey Through ...
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