Coilsfield, an estate, with a mansion, in Tarholton parish, Ayrshire. The mansion, standing on the right bank of the Water of Faile, 1¼ mile ESE of Tarbolton village, was the seat, from the middle of the 17th to the close of the 18th century, of the ancestors of the Earl of Eglinton, and is immortalised in Burns's lovely lyric-
'Ye banks. and braes. and streams around
The castle o' Montgomery.
Green be your woods, and fair your flowers,
Your waters never drumlie !
There Simmer first unfauld her robes,
And there the langest tarry;
For there I took the last fareweel
O' my sweet Highland Mary.'
She, Mary Campbell, was byres-woman at Coilsfield in 1786; and here, near the confluence of Faile and Ayr, is the scene of the sorrowful parting. Coilsfield has been considerably altered since Burns's day, being now a Classic-looking edifice, finely embosomed by trees; it has, moreover, taken a new name-Montgomerie. The owner, Wm. Paterson, Esq. (b. 1797), holds 2552 acres in the shire, valued at £3127 per annum. A circular mound, to the S of the mansion, is traditionally regarded as the tomb of Auld King Coil, that 'sceptred Pictish shade ' from whom Coilsfield, Coylton, and Kyle are said to have got their names. It was opened in May 1837, and found to contain several cinerary urns.
Note: This text has been made available using a process of scanning and
optical character recognition. Despite manual checking, some typographical
errors may remain. Please remember this description dates from
the 1880s; names may have changed, administrative divisions will certainly be
different and there are known to be occasional errors of fact in the original
text, which we have not corrected because we wish to maintain its integrity.
This information is provided subject to our standard disclaimer
