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Welcome to:
Last updated 1st March 2011
Welcome to the Website of the Cumnock Living Memory Group. To find out more about the Group please browse the relevant section on the left hand side.
We hope that you enjoy exploring this Website dedicated to the Ayrshire town of Cumnock (or Old Cumnock). We hope that, as you browse, you find something of interest or relevance. We realise that there is much to be added to the Website and we would welcome your comments, suggestions, and where applicable, your input. As we are getting lots of spam e-mails PLEASE DO NOT USE THE CONTACT BUTTON ABOVE - instead please e-mail anne.geddes(at)east-ayrshire.gov.uk changing (at) for @
Brief Introduction to Cumnock
Cumnock, with its population of approx. 9,500, sits on the crossroads where the A70 from Edinburgh to Ayr meets the A76 from Kilmarnock to Dumfries, though since 1992 the A76 has bypassed the town to the west.
The central focus in the Square is the beautiful yellow sandstone Parish Church. The Square is now also home to the Mercat Cross, dating back to 1703 (used as a symbol on this Website). The buildings around the Square are some of the town`s oldest buildings and they give the town centre a sense of antiquity. On the Ayr Road is Crichton Church, built in a red sandstone. This same stone crops up elsewhere in Cumnock, most notably in the Town Hall on Glaisnock Street.
Cumnock grew in importance during the 1800s when coal and ironstone were discovered locally. In c1866 an Ironworks was established a few miles to the east meaning that many local mines opened to “feed” the five blast furnaces. Cumnock was well served by rail links with two railway lines and stations so became the focal point of the area. However, today the only coal extraction is from open cast mines in the area and Cumnock no longer has a railway station.
Cumnock has seen a number of other industries. In the early 1800s the town became famous for Cumnock snuff boxes and up to 100 people worked on these small wooden boxes, complete with their decorative lids and concealed hinges.
In 1964 a shoe factory opened capable of making 1,000,000 pairs each year, and in the late 1970s Stonefield Trucks briefly set up an assembly plant.
James Keir HARDIE started his political career here as secretary of the Ayrshire Miners Association . He was also a journalist on the Cumnock News. In 1888 he founded the Scottish Labour Party and went on to become the first Labour MP (representing West Ham in London and later Merthyr Tydfil in Wales). He died in 1915.
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Congregational Church
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