page_title: Dalry, North Ayrshire
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dalry, North Ayrshire / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Flashwood Farm gate stile with slots, Dalry, North Ayrshire, Scotland
context_page_description: Dalry is a small town in the Garnock Valley in Ayrshire, Scotland. Drakemyre is a northern suburb.
context_section_description: Dalry (from Scottish Gaelic  Dail Ruighe, meaning 'the haugh at the slope') is a small settlement on the Rye Burn. Its history has signs of early inhabitants in the area; the remains of an ancient fort, made of three concentric round walls, can be found on the summit of Carwinning Hill to the North of Dalry, west of the B784 to Largs.
  In 1883 excavations by John Smith of caves in the Dalry Blair estate at Cleeves Cove found evidence of prehistoric man and otter bones.
   
  Aitnock Fort at the south-west angle of Hindog Glen, was excavated by John Smith in 1901-02, it showed a possible dun occupying the summit of a cliff which rises about 60 feet (18 m) perpendicularly from the Rye Water. He stated in his Excavations of the forts of Castlehill, Aitnock and Coalhill, Ayrshire, that it was defended on one side by the steep drop to the Rye and by a horseshoe shaped deep ditch and stone walls.
  The interior was about 30 feet (9.1 m) in diameter, the floor had been leveled, then covered with yellow clay over which a pavement of rough slabs and river pebbles had been laid. On the pavement was an accumulation of deposits, in some places 6 inches (150 mm) deep, in and on which the relics were found... coins, stone objects, a glass bead, 1st- or 2nd-century Samian bowl fragments, burnt bones and iron objects. A sandstone cauldron was found near the centre of the interior, close by was a fireplace of slabs set on edge; this, he states, was possibly used to heat the water in the cauldron. An irregular lump of sandstone was also found, bearing two chiseled cup marks one on each side, almost opposite each other. During his excavations he found four silver Roman coins, all denarii, two of Antoninus Pius and one each of Vespasian and Hadrian, all of which came from parts of an upper black layer of occupation. Smith's collection of this material was donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland in 1981.
  At Courthill excavations were undertaken by Cochrane–Patrick (1878) & Dobie (1876) in the 1870s. The remains of a timber hall similar to those in England dated to around the 8th century were found. These digs refer to a timber hall or court structure with a turf roof,  that was then replaced by a motte (a structure on a hill) similar to those used by the early Normans infiltrating the area then. Amongst the debris a flint arrow head from an even earlier period was found.
  At Auchinskich, meaning Cleeves Cove, there is a natural cave mentioned as the "Elf House" about 183 feet (56 m) in length near the middle it expands into a large chamber, 35 feet (11 m) long by 12 feet (3.7 m), and 12 feet (3.7 m) in height.
  In the reign of Charles II, it was said to be a refuge to the covenanters of this parish from the violence of their persecutors.
  When David I (1082–1153) was crowned King of Scots he brought in and created a high-ranking Norman aristocracy in his new kingdom. These Norman nobles were given lands creating in Scotland an influential Norman aristocracy.
  One of these "nobles or knights", Hugh de Morville, was made Lord High Constable of Scotland and given lands in Cunninghame. De Morville probably then gave some of these lands or baronies to a relative a Walter de Lynne, to William de Blair, to William Kerr and to the Boyles of Kelburne.
  The name Lynne then meaning "a waterfall," is first noted in the area of Dalry in the years 1200-1300 They were located here and had land and owned the Castle of Lin near the waterfall of the Calf.
  The name Blair at that time meant "a field clear of woods" and is recognised in the area in late 12th century when a Norman keep was within the barony of Blair. This was later replaced by the Blair castle.
  Dalry was mentioned in 1226 as a "chapel of Ardrossan". The parish of Dalry was probably formed in 1279 when a  "Henry, Rector of the Church of Dalry" appears in the Register of the Diocese of Glasgow. Two places of worship in the parish appear by the late 13th century. One on the east bank of the River Garnock at Kilcush, and the other on the west, located near the Old Glebe. This was the main paris
caption: A number of old originally 'hingleless' stile posts suggests the long history of farming in the area
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