Galston Parish is situated in

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire ( sco, Aest Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir an Ear) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquart ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, some five to ten miles east of

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

and roughly encompasses the southern half of the Upper Irvine Valley (locally known as ''The Valley''). The parish shares strong links with the parish of

Loudoun Loudoun ( gd, Lughdan) is a parish in East Ayrshire, Scotland and lies between five and ten miles east of Kilmarnock. The parish roughly encompasses the northern half of the Upper-Irvine Valley and borders Galston Parish (which encompasses the ...

, with which it shares a border along the

River Irvine The River Irvine ( gd, Irbhinn) is a river that flows through southwest Scotland. Its watershed is on the Lanarkshire border of Ayrshire at an altitude of above sea-level, near Loudoun Hill, Drumclog Moss, Drumclog, and SW by W of Strathaven. I ...

Etymology

The earliest reference to the name appears as ''Gallistoun''.James Mair, ''Pictorial History of Galston'': p. 1, 1988 The consensus is that the name combines the

Gaelic Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...

word ''Gall'' (meaning ''stranger'') and the Anglian word ''tun'' (meaning ''hamlet'' or ''enclosure'').Hugh Maxwell, ''Old Galston'': pp. 3–4, 2001 It is impossible to say who the strangers were, but it is generally accepted that they were

Gaels The Gaels ( ; ga, Na Gaeil ; gd, Na Gàidheil ; gv, Ny Gaeil ) are an ethnolinguistic group native to Ireland, Scotland and the Isle of Man in the British Isles. They are associated with the Gaelic languages: a branch of the Celtic langu ...

, due to the profusion of Gaelic names in the area.

Geography

The parish covers an area of about 61.4 square kilometers (23.7 square miles) and shares borders with six neighbouring parishes: Avondale (east), Kilmarnock (north-west), Loudoun (north), Mauchline (south-east), Riccarton (south-west) and Sorn (south). Of these six parishes, Galston is most commonly linked with Loudoun, because the parishes share strong historical and social links, as well as public services. Within the parish can be found the town of Galston, along with Greenholm and the village of

Priestland Priestland is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 121 (Census 2001) and lies on the A71, around two miles west of Loudoun Hill, ten miles east of Kilmarnock and twenty miles south of Glasgow. It is situated in a valley ...

. The most prominent buildings in the parish are Cessnock Castle and The Barr Castle. In modern times, Galston, Greenholm and Priestland are often said to be in Loudoun, but this is incorrect as all three lie south of the River Irvine, which marks the border between the two parishes. The mistake most likely stems from the fact that in modern times the name ''Galston'' is almost exclusively used to refer to the town, but ''Loudoun'' is still used to define an area.

Auchruglen Castle

The

Castle and Lands of Auchruglen The Castle and Lands of Auchruglen (NS5365436797) was a peel tower in the old district of Kyle held at different times by the Nesbitt and Campbell Clans and located near Newmilns, Parish of Galston, East Ayrshire, Scotland. History A wide va ...

lay within the parish.

Further Study

* James Mair, A Pictorial History of Galston, Alloway Publishing, 1988 * Bobby Young, Galston: Place Of The Strangers, 1999 * Hugh Maxwell, Old Galston, Stenlake Publishing, 2001

References

East Ayrshire Civil parishes of Scotland Galston, East Ayrshire {{EastAyrshire-geo-stub