
Working Lives Home Can You Help? Contact Us Agriculture(30) Commerce(51) Construction(3) Fishing(18) Industry(178) Coal(14) Construction(36) Bridges(2) Building Construction(6) Dam(1) Demolition(1) Docks(4) Harbour(1) Housing(0) Roads(1) Ship Building(14) Manufacturing(101) Mining(16) Processing(4) Quarrying(5) Service(1) Ship Building(0) Services(22) Trades & Occupations(101) Transport(59)	ALF Index Industry / Construction / Housing << Back Spinners' and Weavers' Houses Catrine is the only example of a large cotton making complex and plans show many single-storey thatched cottages, some with wallhead chimneys, together with uniform two-storey cottages (possibly tenements) which appear to be slated. More important - in house construction terms - was cotton handloom weaving as it led to weavers building new houses. The early houses were thatched, and examples can be seen in Fenwick, Darvel, and Kilwinning (although they are now slated). In the 1820s there was a boom in house building and a whole new village - Croshill, near Maybole, was created for immigrant weavers. The cottages are mainly single-storey, but appear to have had two large rooms - one room presumably for the loom(s). Similar cottages can be found in Girvan. Burgh Houses The two-storey 'Burgh House' (sometimes with an attic) was the characteristic West of Scotland type between 1770 and 1840. Burgh houses, which housed the families of tradesmen and professional men, and sometimes shops, are the main surviving 'urban vernacular' buildings in Ayrshire. Workers' Houses In Muirkirk, the first large Ayrshire iron-smelting area, the local iron company provided thatched cottages for miners and slated houses for ironworkers. The ironworking expansion from the 1830s brought construction of housing on a much larger scale. The main form was the single-storey, one or two roomed cottage, usually linked in rows, and normally brick built. The main employer, the Eglinton Iron Company, favoured long straight rows, and constructed 96 houses in Common Row, near Lugar. Merry and Cunninghame at Ardeer Iron Works, constructed houses arranged in squares. The Glasgow and South Western railway also provided workers' houses, notably at Hurlford and Kilmarnock. They consisted of blocks of two-storey flatted terrace houses with external stairs giving access to the first floor flats. Each unit had four flats (two on each level). Images have been allocated into the following categories and subcategories. Industry - Coal - Electricity - Emergency Services - Rescue - Construction - Bridges - Railway - Building Construction - Roofing - thatch - Dam - Demolition - Docks - Harbour - Housing - Roads - Ship Building - Yachts - Manufacturing - Aircraft - Brickworks - Computers/IT - Curling Stones - Engineering - Explosives - Fuel - Furniture - Furniture/aircraft - Hone stones - Ice - Ironworks - Leather - Tannery - Mills - Animals - People - Motor Vehicles - Printing - Railways - Salt - Shoes - Textiles - Carpets - Knitwear - Lace - Water Pumps - Whisky - Mining - Barytes - Canteen - Coal - Rescue - Minerals - Processing - Animal Slaughter - Meat - Quarrying - Service - Ship Building	Search Index
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ALF Index

Industry / Construction / Housing

Spinners' and Weavers' Houses
Catrine is the only example of a large cotton making complex and plans show many single-storey thatched cottages, some with wallhead chimneys, together with uniform two-storey cottages (possibly tenements) which appear to be slated.

More important - in house construction terms - was cotton handloom weaving as it led to weavers building new houses. The early houses were thatched, and examples can be seen in Fenwick, Darvel, and Kilwinning (although they are now slated). In the 1820s there was a boom in house building and a whole new village - Croshill, near Maybole, was created for immigrant weavers. The cottages are mainly single-storey, but appear to have had two large rooms - one room presumably for the loom(s). Similar cottages can be found in Girvan.

Burgh Houses
The two-storey 'Burgh House' (sometimes with an attic) was the characteristic West of Scotland type between 1770 and 1840. Burgh houses, which housed the families of tradesmen and professional men, and sometimes shops, are the main surviving 'urban vernacular' buildings in Ayrshire.

Workers' Houses
In Muirkirk, the first large Ayrshire iron-smelting area, the local iron company provided thatched cottages for miners and slated houses for ironworkers. The ironworking expansion from the 1830s brought construction of housing on a much larger scale. The main form was the single-storey, one or two roomed cottage, usually linked in rows, and normally brick built. The main employer, the Eglinton Iron Company, favoured long straight rows, and constructed 96 houses in Common Row, near Lugar. Merry and Cunninghame at Ardeer Iron Works, constructed houses arranged in squares.

The Glasgow and South Western railway also provided workers' houses, notably at Hurlford and Kilmarnock. They consisted of blocks of two-storey flatted terrace houses with external stairs giving access to the first floor flats. Each unit had four flats (two on each level).