Wallacetown

   WALLACETOWN, lately a quoad sacra district, in the parish of St. Quivox, district of Kyle, county of Ayr; containing 4620 inhabitants. This is wholly a town district, and formed of the villages of Wallace and Content, which adjoin the burgh of Newton-upon-Ayr, on the east side, and are separated from Ayr by the Ayr river, over which is the handsome structure at this place, called the Bridge of Ayr. The villages are built on the lands of Sir Thomas Wallace, of Craigie, and have arisen since the year 1760, in consequence of the establishment of coal-works in the immediate neighbourhood, and of the increase of manufactures in this part of the country. They consist of indifferent houses, inhabited chiefly by persons engaged in the mines and in weaving, and by agricultural labourers, and artisans in various handicraft trades: the weavers work at their own houses for the manufacturers of Paisley and Glasgow. From the moderate rents, and consequent cheapness of lodgings, numerous of the labouring classes from Ireland have settled here permanently, and many more make it a place of temporary abode. Owing to this district of the parish being by far the most populous part of it, a chapel was erected by subscription in 1835, at a cost of £1550; in the following year it became an independent church, and Wallacetown was then constituted a parish in itself, so far as respected ecclesiastical affairs. It is in the presbytery of Ayr and synod of Glasgow and Ayr, and the patronage is vested in the male communicants: the stipend of the minister is £150, derived from seat-rents and collections, but there is neither manse nor glebe. The church is a neat and substantial edifice, adapted for a congregation of 865 persons, thirty seats being free. There are also places of worship for members of the United Secession, Antiburghers, Reformed Presbyterians, and a congregation of Independents; and a Roman Catholic chapel. In the united villages are likewise six schools.