Knockshiffnock, Ochiltree

Location

The History of Ochiltree Village & Parish - Dane Love

p308

Boghead

Between Crofthead and Knockshiffnock. Became part of Knockshiffnock.

1687                Ochiltree Estate - Bessie Strathearn

p162

"Bessie Strathearn lived at Boghead, which was a small farm which used to exist midway between Crofthead and Knockshiffnock farms. She, too, was brought before Captain Douglas in Ayr. The Privy Council records the facts:'Bessie Streahearn, about twentie or therabouts, duelling in Bogheade in Ochiltree parish, declairs that upon Sunday last she was at ane conventicle, and that [Patrick ] Harvie and [William] Murray carried her thither: declairs she knows not what number they were; declairs she knows neither the ministers name nor the place of the meeting.' No reference is made to Strathearn being sent on to Edinburgh, perhaps as she was a woman she was released at Ayr."

Knockshiffnock farm in the 1960s

Ayr Advertiser, or, West Country Journal - Thursday 11 April 1844

        

The History of Ochiltree Village & Parish - Dane Love

pp 323,324

Knockshiffnock

133 acres in 1871

1619                    Ochiltree Estate

        -1750           Ochiltree Estate - James White (     -1750)

1797-1809           Ochiltree Estate - Andrew Key (1743-1825)

1809-1825           Dumfries House Estate - Andrew Key (1743-1825)

1825-1836           Dumfries House Estate - John Kay (1781-1836)

1841-1861           Dumfries House Estate - William Guthrie (1811-1880)

1868-1875           Dumfries House Estate - Adam Colville & John Colville

1881                    Dumfries House Estate - John Colville (1840-     )

1891                    Dumfries House Estate - Samuel Murray

1899                    Dumfries House Estate - John Murray

1914-1919          Dumfries House Estate - Jacob Smith Murray 

1919-1927          Andrew Howat of Burnockston - Jacob Smith Murray

1930-1934          Andrew Howat & Alexander Howat (d1934)

1934-1940          Andrew Howat

2021-2014          Leslie Harvey

2014-         

Census

1841  William Guthrie 27 wife Jane (-Janet Morrison from Trabbochmains), infant, 2 female servants

1851 William Guthrie 38 Farmer Of 107 Acres Employing 2 Labourers, wife Jane 31  (McKerrow) children Robert 8, John 7, James 5, William 3, and Isabella 1, and 4 servants Jane Ferguson 30, Marion Clement 16, William Gemmell 27, and John Cowan 14.
1861 William 49 and Jane 42 with four more children, Janet M 9, George McKerrow 7, Elizabeth 3, and Mary Jane 1.  Servants are Agnes Kay 17, Mary Mitchell 16, and Mary Muir 13.

1871 Adam Colville 71 and wife Euphemia 67 are farming 133 acres arable and employing 1 labourer and 1 boy. Isabella 33, John 31, and servants Ann Thomson 20, Margaret Welsh 14, and Hugh Galloway 16.

The farm now increases in acreage.

1881 John Colville 41 and wife Jane 30 are farming 2633 acres of which 183 are arable employing 1 man and 3 women. They have one son John J A age 3, and a visitor Euphemia Gemmell 12. Servants are Eliza Beattie 25, Agnes Newlands 17, Margaret Newlands 13, and David Anderson 26.

After this date, the farm house of Knockshiffnock is residential for farm workers.

The 1891 census shows John Colville 51, wife Jane, and son John J A, in Barony, Kelvin.  He is manager of the City Cleansing Department.

1891 Samuel Murray 27, farm manager , with Elizabeth White 27, dairymaid, and Isabella White 19, general domestic.

1901 Mary Stevenson 25, dairymaid, Jane Crawford 27, and Hugh Rorieson 25.

In 1934, the death of Alexander Howat is recorded in the Kilmarnock Herald and North Ayrshire Gazette.   Aged 40, he left a widow, Isabella Gibson.

Valuation Rolls

1865 prop. Marquis of Bute.  

1885 tenant John Murray.  

1915 tenant Jacob Murray.  

1930 tenant Alexander Howat.  

1935 tenant Isabella Howat.