The Old Roadways of Ayrshire

Dane Love

978 1 911043 28 7

£15.00

Paperback, 264 pages

In some of the more remote parts of the  county, one can find traces of old raodways that made their way across country, linking towns and villages. Some of these routes date from the turnpike era, when new roads
were being established with a view to improving trade and commerce, whereas some are older, perhaps even tracing their beginnings to the time of the Romans. In all cases, these roads are no longer open for motorised vehicles and can only be followed on foot or bicycle.
In this interesting account of Ayrshire’s old roads, the author describes many of the old ways through the county, as well as a few routes that were relocated to give the landed gentry more privacy around their policies, or else routes that were too difficult for cars and other vehicles to negotiate.
Along the way, we find out much about the old tolls, milestones, road-builders, and acts of parliament that were required to have the roadways created. We discover more about the old mapmakers in the county and the cartographic works that they produced. All of this in the land of the birthplace of the great roadmaker, John Loudon MacAdam.