KILMARNOCK, a town in Ayrshire, which is said to derive its name, from the circumstance of St Marnock having suffered martyrdom there, about 350 years after Christ. It is pleasantly situated upon an almost levei plain, surrounded by very beautiful scenery. Of its early history little is known, and neither in a warlike nor a monastic point of view is it at all conspicuous. Two centuries ago Kilmarnock was a mere hamlet, dependent upon the baronial castle in its neighbourhood; and, forty years ago, it consisted chiefly of a number of narrow passages and lanes. Since that period, however, it has been greatly enlarged and improved, elegant and even spacious streets having supplanted the more confined avenues. It is now well lighted with gas, possesses a somewhat modern appearance, and promises to become one of the first manufacturing towns in Scotland.

Kilmarnock received its first charter as a burgh of barony in 1591, a second in 1672; and in 1760 its magistrates purchased from its feudal lord the whole common good and customs of the burgh. For many years the town was distinguished for the manufacture of those broad, flat bonnets, which were so long the characteristic of the lowland peasantry of Scotland. In the year 1790, the produce of its whole manufacture amounted only to L.86,000. However, since the above date, it has made rapid advances in many branches of manufactures, and is now the principal town in Ayrshire for population, wealth, and appearance. There are about 1200 weavers, and 200 printers engaged in the printing of worsted shawls; and from 1st June lö30 to 1st June 1831 there were manufactured 1,128,000 of these shawls, the value of which is about L.200,000. At present there are 1000 persons engaged in the production of Scottish, Venetian, and Brussels carpets: the annual amount of this important branch may be about L.100,000. The annual value of the boots and shoes manufactured is L.42,000, of the bonnets L. 12,000. The number of sheep and lamb skins dressed annually exceeds 140,000. There are many other branches of manufactures carried on very extensively. It unites with Dumbarton, Rutherglen, Renfrew, and Port Glasgowin returning a member to parliament, Kilmarnock being the returning burgh. The town is distant from Edinburgh sixty-four miles, Glasgow twenty-one, Ayr twelve, and is connected with Troon Harbour by a railway, the distance being nine miles. It has a market every Tuesday and Friday, and these are busily attended. The various marketplaces are well arranged and commodious. The trade of the place is assisted by branches of the Commercial, Ayr, and Ayrshire banks. The town has several good libraries and reading-rooms, and publishes a newspaper weekly. There is also an academy, in which are taught most of the useful and elegant branches of education. This place has likewise the advantage of an excellent observatory, furnished with good telescopes. There is a philosophical institution, and many societies of a. benevolent and friendly nature. There are three established churches, six dissenters’ meetinghouses, and a body of about 600 Catholics who assemble in a large hall.

Almost the only antiquity here is a monument erected to the memory of Lord Soulis, commemorating the assassination of that nobleman by one of die Boyd family. It has been lately rebuilt, and bears the inscription, “To the memory of Lord Soulis, 1144. Rebuilt by subscription, 1825. The days of old to mind I call.” Within a roue north of the town stands the ruins of the Dean Castle, the habitation of the Earls of Kilmarnock, which was burned by accident in 1735. The population amounts to 18,000, having increased 10,000 during the last thirty years.