URPoint Details
An interesting town with a couple of claims to fame, the first is the statue in the square of a ram, depicting the wool industry. If you look closely you will see that he is without his ears. Apparently the sculptor committed suicide due to the shame (so the story goes).
The other claim to fame is that is has the narrowest hotel in Scotland (The Star) and is recorded in the Guinness Book of Records.
Mineral springs were discovered here in 1633 and again during the 18th century.
John Loudon McAdam was born in Ayr in 1756. Around 1820 McAdam first put his ideas about road construction into major practice, the first 'macadamised' stretch of road being Marsh Road at Ashton Gate, Bristol.
The method simplified what had been considered state of the art at that point. Single-sized aggregate layers of small stones, with a coating of binder as a cementing agent, are mixed in an open-structured roadway. He died in 1836 and is buried in the churchyard.
- Type:
- Landmark