Muirkirk

This article is about the Scotland community. For the location in the eastern United States, see Muirkirk, Maryland. For other uses, see Muirkirk (disambiguation).
Muirkirk
Scottish Gaelic: Eaglais an t-Sléibh
Population 1,865 
LanguageEnglish
Scots
Council areaEast Ayrshire
Lieutenancy areaAyrshire and Arran
CountryScotland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post town CUMNOCK
Postcode district KA18 3xx
Dialling code 01290 66xxxx
Police Scottish
Fire Scottish
Ambulance Scottish
EU Parliament Scotland
UK ParliamentKilmarnock and Loudoun
Scottish ParliamentCarrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley
List of places
UK
Scotland

Muirkirk (Eaglais an t-Sléibh in Gaelic) is a small village in East Ayrshire, southwest Scotland. It is located on the north bank of the River Ayr, between Cumnock and Glenbuck on the A70. The Muirkirk & North Lowther Uplands Special Protection Area was set up to protect the populations of breeding hen harrier (Circus cyaneus), golden plover (Pluvialis apricaria), merlin (Falco columbarius), peregrine falcon (Falco peregrinus) and short-eared owl (Asio flammeus).

The 2001 census recorded a population of 1,865.

The village developed around its church, which was built in 1631, and was a fertile recruiting ground for the Covenanter movement. In recent times, the village has fallen into decline due to its geographic isolation and the collapse of its coal and iron industries, but attempts are being made at regeneration through the Muirkirk Enterprise Group which was set up in 1999.

Notable people

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Muirkirk.

Coordinates: 55°31′N 4°03′W / 55.517°N 4.050°W / 55.517; -4.050


This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/16/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.