41 Facts About Ayr

Ayr is a town situated on the southwest coast of Scotland.

Ayr has been a popular tourist resort since the expansion of the railway in 1840 owing to the town's fine beach and its links to golfing and Robert Burns.

Ayr is one of the largest retail centres in the south of Scotland and was recognised as the second healthiest town centre in the United Kingdom by the Royal Society for Public Health in 2014.

Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horseracing steeplechase annually since 1965 and the Scottish International Airshow annually since 2014.

Name Ayr can be traced back to a pre-Celtic word meaning "watercourse" or "strong river".

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Areas surrounding modern day Ayr were known to have been occupied by Mesolithic hunter-gathers more than 5,000 years ago.

Ayr was continuously hit by a number of plagues from 1545 to 1647, resulting in the town's port being quarantined and plague victims being removed from the town on pain of death.

Ayr remained a significant port throughout the 16th century, exporting goods such as fish, hide and wool and importing salt and wine.

Ayr played a pivotal role in the Plantation of Ulster throughout the 17th century, in which a significant number of British people settled in present-day Northern Ireland.

The town provided the largest share of colonists from Great Britain, with many colonists from Ayr joining the Earl of Eglinton, Hugh Montgomery's, plant in the Ards Peninsula, and others going on to settle around Belfast.

The separate village of Alloway to the south-east of Ayr was annexed by the town in 1691, despite numerous petitions against this to Edinburgh from residents of the village.

In 1801, the parish of Ayr had a recorded population of just under 5,500, with the adjoining burgh of Newton to the north having a population of just under 1,700 people.

Ayr was connected to Glasgow, and thus the rest of Great Britain, by rail in 1839, with the first service operating in August 1840 to a terminus on North Harbour Street.

Burgh of Ayr Act 1873 resulted in Newton and Wallacetown being absorbed into the Burgh of Ayr.

Newton's more industrial character has left the town today divided into two distinct areas, with areas south of the River Ayr incorporating a mixture of affluent Victorian residential suburbs and modern suburban developments, in contrast to more deprived and industrial areas to the north of the river.

Ayr's growing population following the war resulted in significant slum clearance and redevelopment around the town centre, with the development of new housing estates on the periphery of the town.

In 1929 Ayr was designated as a large burgh and its boundaries were expanded to include Alloway, Castlehill, Doonfoot and Whitletts.

Ayr was represented by a Conservative MP continuously for a period of 91 years – from 1906 until 1997, followed by Labour from 1997 to 2015, and the Scottish National Party from 2015 to 2017.

Ayr is represented at Holyrood by the seven MSPs for the South Scotland electoral region.

Ayr is a coastal town which lies on the mouth of the River Ayr.

Urban area which encompasses Ayr is defined by the General Register Office for Scotland as the adjoining localities of Ayr and Prestwick - this is the 12th largest urban area in Scotland.

Nearest official Met Office weather station to Ayr is Auchincruive, about 3 miles to the north-east of Ayr town centre.

Ayr developed as the central retail hub in the south-west of Scotland after the opening of the town's first department store, Hourstons, in 1896.

In 2016 research conducted by the Local Data Company suggested that Ayr had among the highest number of shops per head in the United Kingdom at one shop for every 270 people.

Only 5 miles north of Ayr is Troon, a golf and seaside resort which regularly hosts the British Open Championship.

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Ayr has three golf courses in Bellisle, Seafield and Dalmilling, as well as a private course called St Cuthberts.

Ayr has hosted the Scottish Grand National horse-racing steeplechase annually since 1966 and the Scottish International Airshow since 2014.

Town is served by the Glasgow Prestwick International Airport just 2 miles north from Ayr, which offers regional and domestic air services across Europe and the British Isles.

Cairnryan, 60 miles south of Ayr, has up to eight daily departures to Belfast and up to seven daily departures to Larne.

Ayr has one school which provides education for those with Additional Support Needs:.

Ayr is served by one independent school that provides both primary and secondary education:.

Ayr is the regional headquarters of the Scottish Ambulance Service for south-west Scotland that is located in Heathfield, next to the site of the old Heathfield Hospital.

Ayr previously had four hospitals: Heathfield Hospital, Seafield Children's Hospital, Ayr County Hospital and Ailsa Hospital.

University Hospital Ayr, completed in 1991, replaced all but Ailsa Hospital which is still open.

Hollybush House on the outskirts of Ayr is used by a charity for the mental health welfare of ex-members of the UK Armed Forces.

Ayr is served by three libraries plus a mobile library.

Ayr Racecourse is a well-known racecourse in Scotland and hosts both National Hunt and flat racing.

Ayr United play at Somerset Park in the Scottish Championship.

Ayr RFC has twice competed in the British and Irish cup involving clubs from Scotland, England, Wales and Ireland.

Ayr Curling Club play at the curling rink in Limekiln Road and Ayr's cricket team plays in Cambusdoon, Burns Wicket.

Ayr only has one leisure centre, the Citadel, which opened in 1997, at the mouth of the River Ayr and at the seafront at the South Harbour area.