a seaport town in Ayrshire, on the Frith of Clyde, thirty miles distant from Glasgow. At the end of the seventeenth century it consisted only of four houses; but it is now a place of considerable trade, and exports large quantities of coals, which are procured from the extensive coal-fields in the neighbourhood. There are some hundreds of looms in the town employed in weaving for the Glasgow and Paisley manufacturers; and ship-building has been carried on successfully for some years. In 1821 the population of the town and parish was 3413, and in 1831 it was 3544.