Читать книгу The Ayrshire and Arran Coastal Paths онлайн

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Largs, at the northern end of the Ayrshire coastline, played a momentous role in Scotland's development when the Battle of Largs was fought on the outskirts of the town on the 2nd of October 1263. The battle was crucial in bringing to an end the Scottish-Norwegian War and settling disputed lands along much of Scotland's western seaboard, which had been in Norwegian possession since the 12th century.

Ayrshire also lays claim to being the birthplace of both Robert the Bruce (in 1274 at Turnberry) and William Wallace (in around 1272 at Ellerslie), although both Dumfriesshire and Renfrewshire (the Bruce and Wallace respectively) have always contested this. What is definite is that much of the early lives of these two national icons were played out in Ayrshire. The Bruce held the first meeting of the Scottish Parliament at the Church of St John in Ayr, the year after his famous 1314 victory over Edward II's English army at Bannockburn. Wallace torched an English garrison at Ayr in 1297 in what has since become known as the ‘Burning of the Barns of Ayr’.