AYR, royal, municipal and police burgh and seaport, and county town, Ayrshire, Scotland, at the mouth of the river Ayr, 412m. S.S.W. of Glasgow by the L.M.S. railway. Pop. (1931) 36,784. Ayr proper lies on the south bank of the river, which is crossed by three bridges, besides the railway viaduct—the Victoria Bridge (1898) and the famous "Twa Brigs" of Burns. The Auld Brig is said to date from the reign of Alexander III. (d. 1286). The new Brig was built in 1788. The prophecy of Burns came true in 1877, when the newer bridge yielded to floods and had to be rebuilt (1879) ; the older has been restored, and is closed to wheeled traffic. The town buildings, surmounted by a fine spire, contain assembly and reading rooms. Of the schools the most notable is the Academy, for which new buildings were completed in 1911. This in 1764 superseded the grammar school of the burgh, which existed in the 13th century. The Gothic Wallace tower in High street replaces an old building of the same name taken down in 1835, from which were transferred the clock and bells of the Dungeon steeple. A niche in front is filled by a statue of the Scottish hero by James Thom (1802-50), a self-taught sculptor. There are statues of the 13th earl of Eglinton, General Smith Neill and Sir James Ferguson in the fine Wellington square, one of Wallace in Newmarket street, and one of Burns outside the railway station. In the suburbs is a racecourse where the Western meeting is held in September of every year. Fisheries and ship building are carried on, and there are several foundries and en gineering establishments. There is a large export and import mineral traffic. The harbour, with wet and slip dock, occupies both sides of the river from the new bridge to the sea, and is protected on the south by a pier, and on the north by a breakwater with a dry dock. There are esplanades south and north of the harbour. The town is under a provost and council, and, with Irvine, Ardros san, Prestwick, Saltcoats and Troon returns one member to parlia ment.
In 1873 the municipal boundary was extended north to include Newton-upon-Ayr and Wallace town, formerly separate. Newton is a burgh of barony with charter said to have been granted by Robert Bruce in favour of 48 inhabitants who had distinguished themselves at Bannockburn. The suburb now manufactures chem icals, boots and shoes, carpets and lace and there are large brew eries. It has a harbour and dock. About 3m. north of Ayr, Prest wick, a popular watering-place is the headquarters of a flourishing golf club. The pleasant suburb of Alloway is 2 2m. to the south. The "auld clay biggin" in which Robert Burns was born on the 25th of January, 1759, has been repaired and is the property of the Burns's Monument trustees. In the kitchen is the box bed in which the poet was born, and many of the articles of furniture belonged to his family. Adjoining the cottage is a museum of Burnsiana. The "auld haunted kirk," though roofless, is otherwise in a fair state of preservation. In the churchyard is the grave of William Burness, the poet's father. Not far distant, on a conspic uous position close by the banks of the Doon, stands the Grecian monument to Burns, in the grounds of which is the grotto con taining Thom's figures of Tam o'Shanter and Souter Johnnie.
At the close of the i 2th century, Ayr was made a royal resi dence, and soon a royal burgh, by William the Lion. During the wars of Scottish independence the town was the scene of many of Wallace's exploits. In 1315 the Scottish parliament met in the church of St. John to confirm the succession of Edward Bruce to the throne. The liberality of William the Lion bestowed an exten sive grant of lands ; while in addition to the well-endowed church of St. John, it had two monasteries. When Scotland was overrun by Cromwell, Ayr was the site of one of the forts he built to command the country.