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ARDROSSAN, town and parish on north side of Ayr Bay, Ayrshire. The town is a police burgh, a head port, and a watering-place ; stands on a branch of Glasgow and South-Western Railway, 31 miles south-west of Glasgow; includes a small low promontory, long the site of ancient hamlet, baronial castle, and parochial church; was itself founded in 1806, with design of being the chief out-port of Glasgow; suffered such defeat of that design as caused it to struggle slowly toward importance ; consists of spacious, well-built streets, a fine crescent, and numerous villas ; contains the Earl of Eglinton's seaside seat of the Pavilion ; commands delightful views across the waters of the Firth of Clyde ; is so near Saltcoats as to render that town almost conjoint with it; and has a head post office with aU departments, a railway station, 3 banking offices, 3 hotels, 5 Established churches, Free, United Presbyterian, Congregational, and Episcopalian churches, and 2 public schools. The harbour is artificial, was constructed at enormous cost, and affords facile steam-boat communication with Arran and Ireland. The arrivals at the port in 1879 were 3748 British vessels, of 396,905 tons, and 54 foreign vessels of 13,308 tons ; the departures, 3630 British vessels, of 389,872 tons, and 56 foreign vessels, of 14,515 tons. Pop. 3960. The parish includes also the larger part of Saltcoats, and measures about 6 miles by 3f . Acres, 6668. Real property in 1880-81, 39,905. Pop., quoad civilia, 7754 ; quoad sacra, 3656. Most of the land is low, with generally light, fertile soil, and that in the north-west is hilly, culminating at 706 feet above sea-level. There are 4 schools for 1245 scholars, and 2 of them, for 1000, are new.
