A location and site of an abandoned collier hamlet in North Ayrshire, Bartonholm lies between Longford Misk and Bogside, 1¼ miles (2 km) south of Kilwinning and a similar distance northwest of Irvine. The locality is divided by the Ayrshire Coast Railway Line; the farmstead of Bartonholm and the Bartonholm Plantation once lay to the east, while the miners' rows of the settlement lay to the east. Although coal had been worked here for centuries, the Bartonholm Colliery was established in the early 19th C. to exploit shallow coal seams that underlay the entire area. However, in 1833, water from the River Garnock flooded into a shaft emanating from a colliery at nearby Snodgrass. This was connected to Bartonholm, and all of the workings were lost. The Earl of Eglinton bought the land here from Colonel Fullarton of Fullarton in 1852 for £10,500 and set about draining the workings. He re-opened the colliery on a grander scale to supply his nearby Eglinton Iron Works. Five men were killed in an explosion in 1871, but the mine continued to operate until 1928.
The village, which at one stage had a population of 350, remained until 1937. In 1913 its houses were described as "damp ... dingy and depressing". The footballer Ronald Orr (1876 - 1924) and three amateur golf champions were born here; namely Hamilton 'Hammy' McInally represented Scotland in the 1930's and 1940's, Jimmy Walker who played in the 1950's and 1960's and Jack Cannon, who played for his country in 1969 and 1974, and went on to win the Scottish Seniors Championship in 1978, 1980 and 1982. The name Bartonholm is now applied to 15th Hole of Irvine Bogside Golf Course, which lies immediately to the south.
