Stevenston is a town in Ayrshire, Scotland, with a population of around 10000. It is one of the Three Towns along with Ardrossan and Saltcoats.
The town is named after Stephan Loccard or Lockhart, whose father obtained a grant of land from Richard de Morville, Lord Cunninghame and Constable of Scotland, around 1170. The town is first mentioned in a charter of c 1240.
The town contains the ruins of Kerlaw Castle, the former home of the Cunninghames of Glencairn and "one of the ruins Cromwell knocked about a bit". His troops took masonry from Kerlaw for repair work in Ayr, but it was the Montgomeries of Eglinton who were responsible for sacking it and burning it during their long running feud with the Cunninghames over which family should control North Ayrshire.
The town was the birthplace in 1768 of Miss Lesley Baillie. Robert Burns met her in 1792 and described her to a friend as "the most beautiful, most elegant woman in the world". She inspired one or two of his love poems, in which she is described as Bonnie Lesley.
The town became a coal mining centre until the pits were exhausted at the end of the 19th century. In the 20th century, the town was a major base for Nobel Industries and later ICI, whose Ardeer site employed many thousands of workers producing explosives and chemicals.
Stevenston lies in the Cunninghame North constituency in the Westminster and Scottish parliaments, however boundary changes to Westminster constituencies will see the town in the new North Ayrshire & Arran seat from the General Election in 2005. Both Westminster and Holyrood seats are held by the Labour Party.
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Last updated: 08-11-2005 11:29:57
