AYR, NEWTON UPON. While the burgh of Ayr extends along the south side of the river Ayr, this small parish is situated on the north side of the same river. It is a burgh of considerable consequence, having a baronial jurisdiction, and governed by a magistracy elected by free-men, but without parliamentary representation. It is of very ancient erection, owing its privileges to Robert Bruce; who, upon being attacked by leprosy, came to reside in this place, and was induced to establish a lazarethouse, and to confer considerable favours on the town, and on the small village of Priestwick, about two or three miles distant. In Newton-upon-Ayr are a number of very good houses.
It has a tolerably good harbour, chiefly occupied with the coal trade. From its situation on the banks of the Ayr and the sea-coast, the soil is mostly flat and sandy. Its extent is about three miles in length and one and a half in breadth. In 1811 the population was 2809.
Ayr, a river in Ayrshire, which takes its rise in the high grounds dividing the shire on the east from Lanarkshire, and, pursuing a westerly course for 18 miles, falls into the sea at the town to which it gives name. The volume of its waters is not large, but it sometimes shifts its bed, and does considerable damage. It contains those whetstones called Water-of-Ayr stones, which are exported in considerable quantities.