Chapter 13

Modern times

Stewarton was granted police burgh status in 1868 under the Police Burgh (Scotland) Act. This gave the town the right to hold courts, appoint bailies and to have its own police station, constabulary and jail.

The first Town Council election was held three years later when nine councillors were elected. From within the Council James Wylie was elected Stewarton's first Provost. He was to remain in office until 1886 and in the one hundred and four years of Stewarton Town Council, he was the longest-serving Provost of the Burgh.

During the life of the Council, seventeen wordily men were to serve as Provost and their names appear at the end of this book.

One strange fact is that half of the Provosts were members of the Cairns Church.

Only three women served on the Council: Mrs Annie Lochhead, Mrs Marion Nairn, and Mrs Bridget McGeechan. The longest-serving Town Clerk was John Hamilton from 1932 to 1976.

The minutes of the meeting of the Council during its first three decades have been lost, so what it accomplished in its infancy is not known. One achievement was the provision of the town hall in 1877. Formerly the large building in the centre of the town, which had been built by Cuninghame of Lainshaw, had been a local market and also a school known as the Cuninghame Institution. When the Town Council acquired the building from Mr Cuninghame they held a bazaar to raise funds to pay for the conversion. It was opened early in 1878 by Sir William Cunningham of Corsehill, MJP. for Ayr Burgh and named the Institute Hall.

The first major undertaking of the Town Council was the provision of a pubic water supply to all homes and other properties, and the White Loch scheme started in 1903. The man behind the project was Provost Robert Mackie, a man of vision who had propounded the idea for years.

In the distant past Stewartonians probably obtained their water from local river or burn and it is known that women at Townend used to carry their washing down the "wash-hoose road" to scrub their clothes on flat stones on the bed of the Annick - without the aid of Persil, Ariel or Daz.

Last century, water for drinking and washing was obtained from pump wells situated about the streets. The water supply came from a huge tank which had been built into the ground above the Corsehill bank near the old bridge.

The White Loch scheme including the water works at Williamshaw was opened in 1905 and provided local people with fresh, pure, running water straight into their homes for the first time.

Incidentally, the pump wells remained on site and some were still usable in the 19 30s. They stood at Lainshaw Street, The Cross, Dean Street, and as the name suggests, at Springwell Place, it was a wooden erection about five feet high with a "haunie" at the side for pumping up the water and a trough with a grille to hold the pails. Latterly, horses were allowed to drink from the trough.

Around this same period another Council project came into being. Due to the old church graveyard becoming somewhat overcrowded, a new cemetery was sought and a field up past Standalane was subsequently acquired. Stewarton Cemetery was opened in 1907 and the first headstone was erected to the left of the gates by Alexander Dunlop in memory of his sister. A footpath from Standalane to the cemetery was constructed the following year.

Back in 1895 "a first-rate medical authority" stated that Stewarton was a health resort. It was said then that chest diseases could be cured by just living in the town. This was proved when several unfortunate natives, resident elsewhere and sent home to die of consumption, were still living years later and doing a good day's work.

Stewarton had a cottage hospital in 1895 where all manner of diseases were treated, including scarlet fever and diphtheria. In 1912 there was an epidemic of measles which resulted in the public school being closed for three weeks in February and March of that year.

At every meeting of the Town Council the number of cases in the hospital was reported as well as the disease involved, and the hospital gate had to be securely locked when infectious cases were being treated with no admittance except by staff. Mrs Kirkland was the matron of the hospital for many years.

One of the most progressive efforts accomplished by Stewarton Town Council, which contributed tremendously to local hygiene and the general welfare

of the people, was also connected with water - the provision of sewage works near the Annick and Holm Street. Prior to this installation and the laying of pipes throughout the burgh, dry lavatories or "privies" were situated in every back yard. These consisted of a shack in which a plank of wood was erected over a pit in the ground.

Pails were placed in the pits and when full the excrement was thrown on to nearby middens. Later, the middens were cleared out and the excrement dumped on to the streets before being taken away to the pubic midden. It is said that farmers sometimes used it as fertiliser.

In the times before water closets and the sewage works, sanitation was primitive or non-existent. One case reported in 1893 concerned the Free Church manse where a horrible stench was creating a threat to health. Clerk of the Deacon's Court Robert Miller ordered an investigation when it was discovered that human excrement had been deposited under the floor boards. Workmen who were called upon to get rid of the offensive waste walked off the job and it is not known how the matter was resolved.

In 1913 the Town Council ordered all property owners to get rid of their dry lavatories and replace them with water closets within six months.

A hospital report in 1914 stated that there was a case of erysipelas being treated by the local G.P. Dr.Cunningham,who was also the hospital doctor; and that one patient died from pulmonary phthisis. The bed and bedding had been burned and all necessary precautions taken to prevent the disease spreading.

Stewarton's streets used to be lit by gaslight and a Council employee had to go around each night and morning lighting and extinguishing the street lamps. When one, Robert Middleton, resigned from the post in 1908 the Council advertised for a replacement "general jobber at Ł1.1s per week."

The most important council employee was the sanitary inspector and the first man to fill this situation, firstly in a part-time capacity, was James Barclay, a master plumber and gas fitter.

Later he was employed full-time as Sanitary Inspector, Burgh Surveyor and Fire Master. At one time when the Town Council meetings could no longer be held in the local Courthouse and the Town Chambers were not in existence, the meetings were held in James Barclay's back shop or office where Ms daughter, Peggy, took council minutes and wrote reports for her father.

The man who succeeded Mr Barclay was Colin McL. Bodie who is remembered by numerous people in the town. As Sanitary Inspector, one of Mr Bodie's duties was to fumigate the homes of scarlet fever eases and then escort them to the local hospital. The mode of transport, at one time, was a horse-drawn cab, and once in hospital the patient stayed in isolation with the other patients for seven weeks. I should know for I was one of those cases - and I was only four at the time

Mr Bodie's duties covered such a wide field that whenever any sort of calamity occurred in the burgh - fire, flood, pestilence, etc., - the cry was "Sen' for Bodie!"

All properties were lit by gas prior to the 1920s, and there were still some gas-lit houses as late as the Fifties, but in 1920 the Town Council gave consideration to the installation of electric liehtine. Yet when Mr A. Cunningham of Cragston informed the Council he was installing electric light in his home in 1926 and asked if the Council had considered making similar arrangements for other people, they (the members) were not interested.

It was in 1919 that the Council first discussed their biggest-ever project - the building of council houses. Subsequently, although a few years elapsed before any "concrete" action took place, small council schemes were completed at Vennel Street, High Street, Merrygreen Place and Dean Street, followed by The Crescent and Gilmour Street.

In the early Thirties the great "slum clearance" and relief of overcrowding took place - and I am quoting from the Council minutes of the time should anyone take offence - when a large housing scheme was built at Standalane (Park Terrace, Park Crescent, Macbeth Rd & Ravenscraig Rd). Simultaneously, the Italian invasion of Abyssinia was in the news so local wags, anticipating fighting among the tenants, named the district "Abyssinia." The new houses, which still stand today, were erected in blocks in the pre-war council architectural design. They were equipped with electric light, bathrooms and other modem conveniences, and the weekly rents were low.

Families from all over the town were allocated those houses and the expected "warfare" predicted by the cynics did not materialise,

Another scheme was built at Castlesalt in Lainshaw Street, which also assisted in the rehousing programme, and this was followed by the building of the red sandstone block of flats in Lainshaw Street. As this coincided with the launch of the "Queen Mary" in 1936, the block was for evermore known as the "Queen Mary building." Another small development took place in Avenue Street.

During the Twenties and early Thirties, an occasional visitor to Stewarton was Sir Jack Hobbs, the famous English cricketer, one of the greatest batsmen who ever played the game. He visited his close relation, Mrs Deans, who lived at Lainshaw Street near the Standalane comer.

The two most dramatic and awesome events to take place in the history of Stewarton as a burgh or before were the two world wars.

"The great war," or "the war to end wars," as it was erroneously named, against Germany lasted from 1914 to 1918 and during those four ghastly years, a large number of Stewarton men served in the forces. Many volunteered in the early years to the call: "Your country needs you!" Among the volunteers were young men, boys under 18, who lied about their age and joined the army. Some of those were subsequently released after being reported by their parents.

At home, Stewarton carried on working and all the factories were extremely busy with orders for the armed forces, making blankets and woollen clothing. There was no black-out and no rationing, and it was not until later in the war that shortages began to affect food, etc.

At first there was no conscription but this followed as the war took its toll and casualties mounted. Every week the Kilmarnock Standard reported men from the district, including Stewarton, who were killed, wounded or missing in action.

In 1904 the Volunteer Drill Hall had been built at Standalane by Mr J. W. H. Cuninghame of Lainshaw, and fitted and furnished by Mr Andrew Arthur, also of Lainshaw, to train the local Volunteer Company of reserve soldiers or Territorials. It continued to be used during the war to train the 1st Force Royal Scots Fusiliers.

Not all the men called up to serve in the army were as keen as the early volunteers. Some, in fact, hated it, especially when they heard about the carnage in France and the thousands being killed at the front almost daily. Desertion was not uncommon and more than one reluctant conscript from Stewarton were among those who went AWOL (absent without leave).

One local recruit once returned to his home where his mother hjd him away when the local police and the military police called. In a desperate bid to escape being caught the frantic private actually slept under gravestones in the parish churchyard. But he was eventually nabbed and sent back to his regiment,

A dozen young residents of "Daurlintoun," nicknamed "the hellish twelve" due to their mischievous antics as boys, all joined up at the same time and were posted to the Black Watch Regiment. Five of them never returned from the war.

When the armistice was signed in November 1918,77 men from Stewarton had been killed. Most of their names appear on the War Memorial at Standalane, a granite obelisk which was provided by public subscription in 1921 and originally stood in Avenue Square.

One amazing incident occurred in 1913. A group of Suffragettes were making their way through Stewarton when they came upon Robertland House. To draw attention to their cause of the vote for women, they set fire to the building, causing great damage.

Between the wars Stewarton suffered from a general depression and although most of the town's female population was able to find work in the hosieries, many local men were unemployed. In 1930 it was reported at a meeting of the Town Council that there were numerous cases of rates arrears.

General housing conditions were basic and crude by today's standards with a tow level of hygiene that was accepted, as there was no option, and people did not know any better.

Local houses varied from large mansions at Lainshaw, Robertland, Lochridge, Kennox, and Chapeltoun, to privately owned bungalows, villas and cottages; but the majority lived in rented tenement accommodation through a close. While some of those buildings were in excellent condition and many still exist today - albeit modernised - others were slums. Overcrowding was common and one toilet on "the stairheid" usually had to serve several families. Others had to use outside lavatories. In some homes the only "mod con" was a mouse-trap.

Diseases were rife, including rickets, tuberculosis, scarlet fever and diphtheria.

While Stewarton undoubtedly had its poor and what used to be known as working class, it also had its share of wealth. This is proven by the fact that three banks existed in the town from the 1860s - four at one stage - which is remarkable considering that it is only in recent times that "ordinary people" have had bank accounts. The existing banks are the Bank of Scotland, the Clydesdale, and the Royal.

Although the prosperous hosiery manufacturers and others were relatively affluent, the real wealth was to be found at the estates and mansions in the parish at Lainshaw, Kennox, Robertland, Lochridge, Wardhead, and Chapeltoun.

The man who had Chapeltoun mansion built in 1900 was one, Hugh Neilston, an ironmaster. When he died in 1944 he left Ł175,695 in his will, a huge fortune in those days.

High taxation, including death duties and escalating running costs, aided the demise of most of the large estates in private ownership.

Although the Cuninghame Institute, or Institute Hall, had been under the jurisdiction of the Council since 1877, it was not until 1928 that it was gifted to the Council by Mrs Helen McDouall or Cuninghame.

The whole Institute building of the main and lesser halls upstairs, one large and one small hall and a committee room on the ground floor. Tliere was a platform in the main hall at the Avenue Street end and the entrance was in the centre of the rear wall. There was also a passage through to the lesser hall. The larger hall on the ground floor was used in pre-war times as a billiard room in which carpet bowls and dominoes were also played, and it was known as "the Club." It was frequented only by men and older boys, and it was there that mis-spent youths were acquired.

In the early 1950s an extension to the building was erected by the Town Council. This included a proper stage with dressing rooms beneath, a new entrance at ground-floor level and a complete refurbishment. "The Club" was closed and a local library, under the control of Ayr County Council, was opened. The small hall of the rear was used as "the old men's cabin," where male pensioners played carpet bowls etc. In 1981, this part of the Institute was renovated to provide a much improved and larger library, and another extension was added to provide new premises for the Central Old Men's Club.

This work was carried out by Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council and the library, with around 2,000 transactions per week, is second only to the Dick Institute in Kilmarnock, as the busiest in the district.

Stewarton had two councils at one time - the Town Council and the Parish Council. The latter, which existed from the 18th century to the 1930s, consisted of a body of non-elected local men of some affluence and its object was the relief of the poor. Each month the members, eight from the town and five from the landward area, met in the Parish Council Office in Avenue Street to discuss the needs of local "paupers," whose names were listed. Clothing as well as money was distributed. Latterly the two local doctors, Dr. Cunningham and Dr. Watson were the medical officers, and the Council arranged burials for the deceased. The Council's office was open daily when the man with the title of "Inspector, Clerk, Collector, and Registrar" interviewed those seeking help.

The aforementioned Council house building programme helped tremendously in the relief of families living in poor housing and overcrowded conditions, and the 1930s schemes were only the start of something really big. Unfortunately the Second World War intervened and house building came to a halt for over a decade.

The war, when it came in September 1939, got off to a bad beginning in Stewarton. On Friday, September 1st, a large party of children and their mothers arrived from Glasgow as part of an evacuation scheme.

They were accommodated in private houses with families and in buildings at Lainshaw Estate but the Glaswegians hated the country and complained that "there's nothin' to dae here but stare at green fields."

Some returned to Glasgow after only a weekend and gradually over the next few weeks nearly all had made their departure. Thus Stewarton entered the war.

Conscription had already started prior to the outbreak and soon all men aged 18 and under 40 were either called up to the forces or were working in "reserved occupations" in work connected with the war effort. Young women too were eventually conscripted or placed in jobs formerly done by men.

Civilians joined the Voluntary services - the Home Guard, A.R.P., Fire Service, Red Cross, Women's Voluntary Service, and Special Police.

Early in the war Lainshaw Estate was commandeered by the army and soon soldiers were camping on the site, which was converted into a large army camp. Among the units which occupied Lainshaw were the Lothian & Border Horse, the Lancers, the Rifle Brigade, and the Royal Engineers. Crusader tanks began to be seen moving through the town and local families invited soldiers into their homes, providing hospitality and friendship.

A Church of Scotland canteen was established at the Laigh Kirk Hall and this proved to be a home-from-home for the troops. Regular dances were held in the Institute Hall and in the Drill Hall, which had become the H.Q. of Stewarton Home Guard.

One afternoon in May 1941, two young Stewarton men were walking along the road between the cemetery and High Cross Farm, when they saw an aeroplane flying very low and erratically just above them. They recognised the aircraft as a German Messerschmidt. Next day they read in the papers that Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, had crash-landed near Eaglesham.

Stewarton had a very distinguished visitor in 1942 when on Thursday, 15th October - a dull, drizzly day - King George VI came to town to inspect the troops prior to their embarkation to North Africa. The visit was kept extremely hush-husband although the schoolchildren were given a half-day holiday to welcome the V.I.P., nobody knew his identity.

It was only when the King stepped out of his car and began to walk along Brown Street that the secret was revealed.

After the war ended in 1945 demobilisation was set in motion and soon all the Jimmies-and the Jocks- began to trickle home to sleep in their own little rooms again, just as Vera Lynn had predicted in 'The White Cliffs of Dover." The Town Council set up a Welcome Home Fund and subsequently each man and woman who had served in the forces received the sum of twelve pounds, a fine gesture indeed. A total of Ł5,112 was distributed and the balance of Ł242 was held back for maintenance of the War Memorial.

Although Lainshaw was used as a transit camp for a spell, the Town Council secured a tenure of the area and ex-army huts were allocated to young couples and families as temporary accommodation until they could be re-housed at a later date.

It was five long years in most cases before this happened - when the wooden houses in Lothian Road were built by the Council. The remainder of Lainshaw Estate was subsequently built up over a period of years.

At the other end of the town, the Robertland Estate, which had been planned pre-war, when only "the hostel" had been built, was extended by the erection of the "pre-fabs" and Swedish wooden houses. But this was only the start of a massive house-building programme which was to last for twenty years. When the Town Council agreed to help in the Glasgow "overspill" project, and an agreement was signed with Glasgow Corporation, combined efforts between the Council and the Scottish Special Housing Association resulted in hundreds of new houses at Lainshaw, Rigghead, and Nether Robertland. Simultaneously the private sector housing was also taking off with a large development at Bowes Rigg, named Castlehill Estate, and this was followed by another estate at Merrygreen, across the way.

In the mid-sixties, Glasgow families began arriving to set up new homes in Stewarton, a wee country toun that most of them had never even heard of previously. However, they came, they saw, and they conquered their apprehension about such a drastic shift. Fortunately, the two factions - the country, parochial Stewartonians and the newcomers - ("thae interlowpers fae Glesca" as they were called) intermingled quite well from the outset. Gradually, as more arrived from Glasgow and elsewhere over a period of ten years or so, it began to dawn on the born-and-bred Stewartonians that their native place would never be the same again.

Much of the "immigration" in Stewarton would never have taken place, however, if it had not been for a very courageous decision by the Town Council in the early Seventies to build a new sewage installation. The existing plant at the Holm was obsolescent and could not cope with a major extension to the town. The Ł450,000 project went ahead at Lainshaw and was opened in October 1973 by Councillor WJ. (Jim) Ferguson. This led to further housing development, as the new works could cope with a population of up to 14,000.

In the medical field during the time of Stewarton the Burgh, new methods of diagnosing illnesses and diseases were discovered along with many new drugs.

Fifty years ago and before, bowel movement was given priority in curing many minor illnesses. Whenever a child complained about not feeling too well he or she was usually given two spoonfuls of syrup of figs or emulsion; or when a child was ill in bed, the cure was invariably "a guid dose o' castor ile," or cascara.

Other old-fashioned cures, usually prescribed by well-meaning grannies and aunties, included steeping the feet in hot water with mustard added; rubbing the chest with camphorated oil; inhaling balsam vapours under a towel; and mustard or bread poultices - and those remedies usually worked.

However, many of those cures are hardly ever heard of now since the introduction of antibiotics and steroids which have been a tremendous boon to mankind.

The new drugs, and the greater emphasis on hygiene, sanitation and better housing conditions, have resulted in the disappearance of many of the old diseases and have made others curable.

The big break-through for local people was the opening of the Stewarton Health Centre in 1978 and the new hospital at Crosshouse a few years later.

How they fought fires in previous centuries is not known and it was not until the early 1920s that Stewarton had its first Fire Brigade. The members were all volunteer, part-time firemen and the only means of conveying the ladder and the primitive equipment was on a large barrow. Later motorised transport was provided which was housed at one time in a local garage, and later in an ex army Nissen hut at Kilwinning Road.

In 1962 Provost Walter Sime opened the new fire station in Vennel Street. Today there are ten local firemen, all of whom have full-time jobs, including Sub-officer Fred Slaughter.

Stewarton had its own weekly newspaper back in 1939. It was called The Stewartun Post and this one-man business venture was run by Tom Kerr, a local poet. Unfortunately the war intervened and Tom, due for call-up to the forces, decided to call it a day after only eight weeks' publication.

In the early 1970s Stewarton Annick Community Association published a paper called the Annick Press. This depended entirely on voluntary labour and although it was relatively successful for a time, it eventually folded.

In recent years the monthly Stewarton News has been delivered free to every Stewarton household by the Joint Network Group.

Eating customs and habits have altered drastically over the years. In the old, grim days of last century, porridge was the basic diet of the poor or paupers. Later, a good dinner often consisted of soup made with boiling beef, followed by potatoes and the beef out of the soup. Tatties and mince was another relatively cheap family dinner, as it still is today.

In the days before so-called healthy eating had been heard of, children were encouraged to consume large quantities of fat. "Come oan son, eat up your fat or you'll never be a big boey," was the cry in the hungrier times when food was seldom wasted. And down at Lainshaw Big Hoose, when the Laird and his family had consumed their roast beef, pork or lamb. the dripping was sent downstairs to the servants' quarters to be distributed among the estate workers and their families who then had "bread and dripping for tea."

During the last two decades, food fads and fashions have changed. While traditional Scottish or British cooking is still enjoyed, foreign fare has been offered and accepted by a large proportion of the population in Stewarton and elsewhere, either when eating out or taking out, Chinese, Indian and Italian cuisine has become popular. Danish open sandwiches Italian pizzas, and American hamburgers are available everywhere.

Stewarton, like every town of any size in the U.K., has a Chinese restaurant, and a new Indian restaurant and bar opened recently.

Last century and until the 1950s there were several curiously nicknamed tenements in the town. At the far end of Dean Street - once Deans Street, or Darlington and before that Templehouse - one was called "the castle" for no apparent reason. In Vennel Street a tenement on the right hand side - the site of the fire station today - was known as "Hawriey's Lawn." But the strangest one of all was the building in Lainshaw Street that was nick-named "the Happy Land" and was also referred to as "Maggie Moargan's Ludgin' hoose." This was a local guest house and the lodgers were mainly Irishmen who came over to work on farms at the harvest time at a cost of tuppence (2d) a night.

'The Happy Land" was closed by the Town Council in 1910 after reports by the Sanitary Inspector about the "insanitary condition" of the property. Strangely, the name was then transferred to another tenement further along Lainshaw Street on the opposite side.

In another chapter I have dealt with Stewarton nicknames but there were a few "characters" who were regular visitors to the town and who became well-known. They were what used to be called "tramps" or people of no fixed abode who travelled around on foot from town all-the-while picking up anything they could in the way of food or cash. One such person was Orange Mary and there was also Pinty Nan, Maggie Sticks and Boabby Hunter. One visitor I remember was called "Auld Sarah the dishwife," who came from Glasgow trading dishes for woollen rags.

Local policemen were then stationed in the town and the Police Station was at Graham Terrace. Among those with nicknames was "Frankie P," "The Kaiser" and "Bobbinsticks." Sergeant Lawrie had no nickname but he was a much-feared man about Stewarton, especially by mischievous boys in the days when the "poalisman" was liable to give a boy a clout on the ear for playing fitba' in the street. They didn't take prisoners in those days.

The biggest and by far the most lavish spree ever held by the Town Council was the Centenary Dinner to mark the centenary of the Burgh of Stewarton in 1968. A week's programme was arranged and the opening event was the dinner, which was attended by the Town Council and specially-invited guests. Provost Alan MacDougall was Chairman and the sumptuous six-course meal plus coffee was accompanied by sherry, choice wines, liqueurs, and cognac or Drambuie. The main toast, "The Burgh of Stewarton," was proposed by the Rt. Hon. William Ross, M.BŁ.,.M.P., H.M. Secretary of State for Scotland.

Other events during the week included a fireworks display, an exhibition, and a concert.

Politically, Stewarton was once a Liberal stronghold. There was a Liberal Association and Club and several prominent local men, including provosts, were enthusiastic members. As far back as 1884 the Junior Literal Association sent a contingent, 400 strong, to take part in a demonstration in favour of the Franchise Bill, which the Liberal Government under Prime Minister William Gladstone had introduced. The Bill proposed to give every man the right to vote but it was opposed in the House of Lords by Lord Salisbury and the Tories. So strong were the feelings that another 600 followers from Stewarton also attended the rally as spectators, and when the crowd returned to the town that evening they were led by the Town Band and paraded in front of Provost Wylie's house before burning an effigy of the hated Salisbury.

In the Town Council for most of its existence, the candidates at elections usually stood as independents and it was not until the early 1950s that Walter Syme and A.M. Brown stood as official Labour candidates. From then on until the Council was disbanded, most candidates represented Labour, Conservative, Liberal or Scottish National parties although one or two continued to be "independent."

The local electorate often ignored the political affiliation of the candidates and miny voted for the man or woman, no matter which party they represented. It was quite common, for example, for a voting paper to show a vote for both a Labour and a Conservative candidate.

In April of 1975 Stewarton Town Council held its last meeting with Provost William Aitken in the chair. Local govern ment reorganisation meant that the days of the small town councils and the county councils were over, and were replaced by district and regional councils. Thereafter, Stewarton, instead of having nine local men or women and local officials administering over the town's affairs, would have only one representative on the new Kilmamock and Loudoun District Council. This has been the arrangement ever since, except that one other district councillor represents a part of Stewarton plus the landward area.

Stewarton is also represented on the Strathclyde Regional Council by one councillor who also represents several other towns and villages.

For most of the years as a burgh, Stewarton used the Cunninghame coat-ofarms with the 'Y' fork and the Over Fork Over motto. In 1955 the mrd Lyon King of Arms in Edinburgh ordered this to cease and a new coat-of-arms was designed by his office. The bonnets signify the main industry of past times. The ruby ring represents the house of Montgomery while the five-point star is the symbol of the house of Douglas. The black shake fork represents the Cunninghame family. The centre band panel is blue and silver on the left, and silver and red on the light. The silver and red represents Boyd, Earl of Arran; the silver and blue represents the Stewarts. "Knit-weel" became the new motto.

In 1957 the people of the Burgh subscribed to purchase a chain of office for the Provost of Stewarton to wear on all official occasions. In 1975 it was taken away to Kilmarnock by the District Council and although requests have been made to have it returned, the District Council has refused.

It is not possible to list all the achievements of the Town Council, nor is it possible to include the Mistakes made by the Council during its century-plus existence.

It has been suggested that Stewarton might have fared better under Ayr County Council with one local member on that body, as it was sometimes felt that smaller towns and villages within the county were provided with more amenities and were better off as far as housing and house repairs were concerned.

But this was only speculation and the mere fact that Stewarton councillors and burgh officials all lived locally and knew the town and its people was a tremendous advantage to being governed from afar.

One benefit of having a Town Council was the intimacy between the townspeople and their elected representatives. Countless stories could be told about the canvassing which used to take place whenever a new housing allocation was about to be made. In many instances it was a case of "promises, promises" and the rows which followed the announcements of house allocations are legendary.

The annual ratepayers' meetings ill the Institute Hall, when the councillors had to stand up and be counted as they endeavoured to placate the electorate, were often hilarious affairs. Barracking was not unusual and councillors had to listen to shouts of: "Whey did oor Wull no' get a hoose up the Rubertlan'?" or "When's ma ceilin' gonny be soartit?" At one of those meetings back in the late Thirties, Councillor David Aitchison, the Roads, Streets and Lighting Convener , stood up and, for a laugh, announced in a high-pitched voice: "I'm the man who gives you light!" Later, when another Convener was addressing the gathering, the lights in the hall failed and a local wag shouted - "Whaur's Dave-ock Atchison noo?"

The one hundred and odd years of Stewarton the Burgh were the most progressive and innovative in the town's history. More changes occurred in that period than all the previous centuries combined.

Its size increased dramatically and the population almost doubled. Housing conditions gradually improved out of all recognition and free education became available to all.

The discovery of electricity, and the subsequent inventions, were major factors in the betterment of living standards generally. It was also a period when working conditions improved and working hours decreased, and the pursuit of leisure and recreational activities and pastimes began to play a bigger part in ordinary people's lifestyles.

In May 1975 Stewarton ceased to be a burgh under local government reorganisation and Kilmarnock and Loudoun District Council was formed.