Ayrshire Archives

Ayrshire Archives Ayrshire Archives is the local authority archive service for South, East and North Ayrshire Councils.

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Report a problem https://www.south-ayrshire.gov.uk/report/ Ayrshire Archives is the local authority archive service for South Ayrshire Council, East Ayrshire Council and North Ayrshire Council. The Ayrshire Archives Service was established in 1996 by the three Ayrshire councils to preserve and make access

ible Ayrshire’s documentary heritage. The archive service looks after and provides access to records of historical importance belonging to the three local authorities and their predecessors, as well as private records that relate to the historical development of Ayrshire and Arran. Ayrshire Archives covers the whole of Ayrshire including the Cumbraes and Arran and our collections are located throughout the county. The oldest record we hold is the Burgh Charter for the Town of Ayr, dated 1205, and signed by William the Lion, King of Scotland.

Today the Scotland team play their first game in the World Cup 2026, the first time they have qualified for the tourname...
14/06/2026

Today the Scotland team play their first game in the World Cup 2026, the first time they have qualified for the tournament in 28 years.

We thought we would share some images of a local Ayrshire team in years gone past, thought to be one of the Scottish Premierships oldest clubs. Kilmarnock Football Club's origins are believed to go back as far as 1869. Reference accession 15/280

To celebrate International Archives Day we thought we’d share a piece of our history with you. Ayrshire Archives was fou...
09/06/2026

To celebrate International Archives Day we thought we’d share a piece of our history with you.

Ayrshire Archives was founded in 1996 by East, North and South Ayrshire Council. Our first building was located at Craigie Park and was opened on the 22nd of October 1996. We then moved to the Watson Peat building in the Auchincruive Estate and remained there for 12 years, before we ultimately moved to our final home (hopefully!) in South Harbour Street Ayr.

Throughout our long history we’ve also held records across various sites in North Ayrshire including the Heritage Centre in Saltcoats and the Irvine Townhouse. And in 2009 we celebrated the opening of the Burns Monument Centre in Kilmarnock which still currently holds some of our East Ayrshire collections.

The records within our collections not only tell the story of East, North and South Ayrshire Council and their predecessors, they also tell the stories of the local people.

Ayrshire Archives manages one of the largest local authority archive collections in Scotland.

Image 1: Official opening of Ayrshire Archives in 1996 (accession 16/106)
Image 2: The Townhouse, Irvine
Image 3: The Burns Monument Centre (Kilmarnock) under construction
Image 4: Ayrshire Archives Craigie Building floor plan (accession 16/106)
Image 5: Volumes on shelf in archive store
Image 6: Staff preparing the searchroom for opening to the public
Image 7: Staff reboxing a collection

To celebrate the beginning of the Ayrshire Golf Festival, we thought we’d share some images from our collections to show...
03/06/2026

To celebrate the beginning of the Ayrshire Golf Festival, we thought we’d share some images from our collections to showcase Ayrshire’s rich golfing history.

Our first image is from the Prestwick Official Guide (accession 24/010). This guide was compiled by the Town Council to advertise Prestwick and the local area as a golfing and summer resort.

The next image is from our Ayrshire Photographic collection and is a postcard showing the Old Troon Golf Club House (A-PH3/1/8/7).

Next we have a plan from our Irvine Burgh Collection (Gr1/38/8) which shows the Irvine Municipal Golf Course.

Lastly, we have the minute book of the Ardrossan and Saltcoats Golf Club (accession 1015). The first entry in the minute book is dated the 29th of December 1910 and discusses formation of the club.

in 1949, the town of Newmilns was gifted an American Flag by Dayle C McDonough, the US General Consul. A flag had prev...
28/05/2026

in 1949, the town of Newmilns was gifted an American Flag by Dayle C McDonough, the US General Consul.

A flag had previously been given following the Newmilns Anti-Slavery Society's support for Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War in the 1860s, which was later lost. The Civic Week Committee organised a special event to receive the new flag. The town council minutes in 1949 show that although Burgh Council officials appreciated the invitation, it had been noted that it was not extended to their wives. Reference BNG1/3/1/17.

Love Newmilns

Did you know that today is National Train Day?In honour of this day we thought that we would share some images from our ...
13/05/2026

Did you know that today is National Train Day?
In honour of this day we thought that we would share some images from our collections.
The first image AA/DC210/7 is an Aerial view of the Killoch colliery during its construction showing a view of the train tracks.
The second image E11/05 is showing a busy platform at the train station in Kilmarnock.

A big Thank You to Kilwinning Heritage who recently visited our Ayrshire Archives headquarters in Ayr. Our Archivists pr...
11/05/2026

A big Thank You to Kilwinning Heritage who recently visited our Ayrshire Archives headquarters in Ayr. Our Archivists provided the local history group with a behind the scenes tour of our facilities and also put on a small exhibition to show the different types of records we hold within our collections. Thanks for visiting Kilwinning Heritage, it was lovely having you for a visit.

We recently welcomed members of Cumnock History Group for a tour of our facility at South Harbour Street, Ayr. This invo...
05/05/2026

We recently welcomed members of Cumnock History Group for a tour of our facility at South Harbour Street, Ayr. This involved a guided tour of the searchroom, our specialist climate-controlled storage facility and exhibiting a range of our records. Thank you again to Cumnock History Group for visiting!

05/05/2026

Members of Kilwinning Heritage enjoyed a visit to Ayrshire Archives yesterday. What a fascinating tour. Many thanks to Claire and Katie for sharing some of their treasures with us.

On this day in 1977, Prestwick born company Scottish Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and th...
29/04/2026

On this day in 1977, Prestwick born company Scottish Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Aviation, Hawker Siddeley Dynamics and the British Aircraft Corporation combined to form British Aerospace.

Scottish Aviation was founded in 1935 by David McIntyre and Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, which started as a flying school operator. Following the merger, the companies continued to operate until 1978 under their original names.

Did you know that Ayrshire Archives holds records relating to Scottish Aviation Ltd and British Aerospace Prestwick? These include some great images and promotional material. Reference accession 22/026.

Today marks the 100th birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth II, ascending to the throne at the age of 25 after the death ...
21/04/2026

Today marks the 100th birthday of the late Queen Elizabeth II, ascending to the throne at the age of 25 after the death of her father King George VI in 1952, she reigned as Queen and head of the Commonwealth for the next 70 years until 2022 when she passed away at the age of 96.
Queen Elizabeth II was the longest reigning monarch in British history, surpassing her great-great grandmother Queen Victoria's 63-year reign on the 9 September 2015. During her reign, 15 Prime Ministers served under her, the first being Winston Churchill with Liz Truss being the last, being appointed just two days before the Queen's passing on the 8 September 2022 at Balmoral Castle, Aberdeenshire

Below is a picture of Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Phillip Duke of Edinburgh when they came for a royal visit to Irvine in 1956. Accession 814

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