Airds Moss

Airds Moss lies between the towns of Cumnock and Muirkirk^[1] and situated between the rivers Ayr and Lugar.^[2] Aird Moss is twenty-five kilometres (16 miles) long and eight kilometres (5.0 miles) wide and it is the largest area of blanket bog in the southern part of the old Strathclyde Region which has not been subjected to afforestation.^[1]

Airds Moss is known in the history of Scotland as the site of the Battle of Airds Moss. This took place on the 22 July 1680 when a party of 112 government troops commanded by Andrew Bruce of Earlshall loyal to King Charles II came across a group of covenanters on the road between Cumnock and Muirkirk. The covenanters were the smaller company and their leader was Richard Cameron. A brief battle occurred in which 9 covenanters were killed, 5 were captured and the rest escaped. Cameron was one of those killed, as was his brother Michael. 28 of the government troops were killed. The prisoners were taken to Edinburgh where they were later hanged.^[3] The battle is commemorated by a memorial in the shape of a squat obelisk with an inscription which was erected by the Scottish Covenanters Memorial Association.^[4] The famous Scottish infantry regiment, The Cameronians, took their name in honour of Richard Cameron.^[3]

Airds Moss was the location of the Tarrioch Ironworks, the only 18th century charcoal-fired blast furnace in southern Scotland. The Tarrioch Ironworks were constructed in the early 1730s by the Earl of Cathcart to take advantage of locally available materials, wood from the river valleys was used to make charcoal, water was diverted from the river to power a waterwheel which powered the furnace bellows and the local quarries produced hematite iron ore. The ironworks were in operation for around 20 years.^[5]