page_title: Barony and Castle of Giffen
section_title: Greenhills hamlet
hierarchical_section_title: Barony and Castle of Giffen / Greenhills hamlet
caption_attribution_description: English: Greenhills Hamlet, Barrmill, Beith, Ayrshire, Scotland
context_page_description: The Barony of Giffen and its associated 15th-century castle were in the parish of Beith in the former District of Cunninghame, now North Ayrshire. The site may be spelled Giffen or Giffin and lay within the Lordship of Giffin, which included the Baronies of Giffen, Trearne, Hessilhead, Broadstone, Roughwood and Ramshead; valued at £3788 9s 10d. The Barony of Giffen comprised a number of properties, including Greenhills, Thirdpart, Drumbuie, Nettlehirst and Balgray, covering about half of the parish of Beith. Giffen was a hundred merk land, separated from the Barony of Beith, a forty-pound land, by the Powgree Burn which rises on Cuff hill. The Lugton Water or the Bungle Burn running through Burnhouse may have been the Giffen barony boundary with that of the adjacent barony and lands of Aiket castle.
  Giffen has a recorded history that covers many of familiar aspects of a feudal barony, including the possession of a moot hill or justice hill, here represented by 'Greenhills', as well as a thirled mill and a 'gathering place' known as the 'Borestone'. Other features such as the old chapel and the holy well add to the expected features, most of which no longer survive.
context_section_description: This small settlement is shown on General Roy's survey of 1747 - 55, under the name of 'Greenhill' in the singular and has two buildings indicated where the old school was situated. The school opened in the 1890s at the time that Hessilhead school closed. Greenhills closed circa 1958 and was demolished in the mid-1980s; having been used for some years as a glue factory by Strathbond Ltd who still trade from the Willowyard Estate, Beith. Mr McGregor was the last headteacher and the sports field had been the field lying across the Barrmill to Burnhouse Road. A smithy stood at the crossroads on the Borestone farm side of the hamlet. This hamlet is named after the artificial mound, a Moot, Law or Justice hill that once stood here.
caption: Greenhills main street
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