The most ancient families in this county are said to have been Auchinlecks, Blairs, Boyds, Boswells, • Campbells, Cathcarts, Cochranes, Craufurds, Crich tons, Cunningliams, Dalrymples, Dunlops, Fullar tons, Hamiltons, Kennedys, Lindsays, Montgomeries, Stuarts, Wallaces.
Few parts of the country have undergone greater vicissitudes than this. With regard to the aborigines, it can scarcely be doubted, that the Selgovx, No vantes, and Damnii, who, at the time of the Roman invasion, posscssed the peninsula between the Solway and the Clyde, were of British descent. These tribes formed part of the province of Valentia, which submitted to the yoke of the conquerors, while the Caledonians, to the north of Antoninus' wall, main tained their independence. The Damnii appear to have inhabited Ayrshire, or at least the northern part of it, although the whole tract of country, in cluding ancient Galloway, Carrick, Kyle, and Cun ningham, has sometimes been called the Chersonesus of the Novantes. After the abdication of the Ro man government, this territory is described as an in dependent principality, known by the name of the Cambrian, or Cumbrian kingdom, sometimes less correctly denominated the kingdom of Stathcluyd. During the Saxon heptarchy, Galloway, including the southern division of Ayrshire, was infested and over-run by the Northumbrians ; and to this period we may perhaps refer the origin of certain Saxon names and usages, as well as some superstitious no tions, which are scarcely yet eradicated, and which are evidently relics of the Anglo-Saxon mythology. Thus Kirkoswald, in Carrick, according to tradition, owes its name to Prince Oswald, to whom, also, Kirkoswald in Northumberland traces its foundation ; and at both places certain customs are still prevalent, which must be ascribed to one common sourer. The elfin race, who have so long haunted the banks of the Girvan and the Garpal, and who, to this hour, are said to be performing their capricious freaks in the precincts of Crossragucl's ruined abbey, are well known to be of Saxon pedigree. In the eighth cen tury, the Saxons extended their ravages to Kyle and Cunningham, and established a colony in that pro vince. These intruders, aided by the Picts, reduced the metropolitan city of Alcluyd, and enjoyed a short•lived tranquillity in their usurped possessions. The Scots of Ireland and Argyle did nut permit them long to rest. .Early in the ninth century, the sanguinary and rapacious Alpin sailed from Cautire, and made an unexpected descent on the coast of Kyle. His savage followers spread devastation eve ry where around ; but his progress was suddenly checked by some of the native warriors ; and the in vader fell, at a spot near the 'source of the Doon, af terwards distinguished by the name of Laicht-Alpin, where, as the etymology suggests, a flat and ponder ous stone was placed to mark his grave. Kenneth Mac-Alpin was more successful in his incursions on the western shores ; but though his forces effected settlements in these regions, and though emigrants from Ireland, at different periods, colonised spacious portions of the same territory, and gave the name of Galloway to the whole extent of country from the south of Annandale to the north of Ayrshire, it is not ascertained that the Saxons were either extermi nated or altogether dislodged : On the contrary, there can be little doubt, that many of the present inhabi tants of Ayrshire are of Saxon extraction, and that the numbers of that lineage were reinforced by the crowds of English refugees who fled from the sword of the Norman conqueror, during the reign of Mal colm Canmore. The promiscuous race of Britons,
Saxons, Scots, and Picts, who occupied this part of the country, were frequently infested by the Danes, or Norwegians ; and tradition still points out the traces of many hard fought battles, in which the in vaders were discomfited with immense slaughter. The last and fiercest of these encounters is said to have taken place at Largs, in 1263, when the hoit of Norway was routed by the Scots ; but the glo ries of that bloody day have been prodigiously ex aggerated by our national chroniclers. A more obstinate foe from the south afterwards made en croachments on this devoted province, which was kept in perpetual agitation and alarm, during the alternate successes and reverses of Wallace and Bruce. The English kept possession of the strong fortresses long after the whole of Ayrshire had been steadily devoted to the cause of Bruce, the earl of Carrick. After the fatal battle of Durham, (13160 the victorious troops of England again penetrated into the heart of this county, carrying devastation and. terror wherever they went. During the next 200 years, the hostile visits of our southern neigh bours seldom reached so far ; but this part of the land was sufficiently harassed with domestic turbo lence. While the feuds of rival chieftains were 1-,•-• ducing the population, superstition was erecting gloomy temples, and ecclesiastical authority was bold ly appropriating the inheritances of the destroyers and the destroyed. The improvement of the people was little consulted by the inmates of these consecra ted edifices, reared with the price of blood, and sup ported by the oblations of guilt ; and yet, it must be confessed, that the arts which the churchmen intro duced, and the •fforts which they made to embellish and fructify the country, had a tendency to open the minds, and polish the manners, not only of the great, but even of the middle and lower orders. At a later some of the chief families of Ayrshire acted a conspicuous part in forwarding the Reformation : an undertaking in which none engaged with greater keenness than those who had the best opportunities of witnessing the haughtiness and luxury of the Ca tholic clergy, and those who had the fairest prospect of succeeding to a share of the opulence which they had envied, and the power which they had feared. In Ayrshire, the revenues of some of the abbeys were prodigious ; and the dissolute manners of the eccle siastics kept pace with their enormous wealth and patronage. The antipathy to this spiritual despotism continued, during the succeeding age, to operate with unabated force, all over the west. The severe and impolitic measures which were taken, soon after the Reformation, with a view to extinguish the presby terian spirit, were such as could not fail to impress the non-conformists with a rooted abhorrence to the principles of their persecutors, and to alienate them for ever from the house of Stuart. While the to leration which they had experienced from the usurp er Cromwell, whose victorious armies had quietly occupied their coasts, was still fresh in their recol lection, an armed banditti from the Highlands were let loose, by the unenlightened agents of the monar chy, to suppress conventicler, and enforce uniformity of religion. This barbarous militia, regardless equal ly of the dictates of humanity and piety, committed unheard of atrocities ; and the less sustained in this county from their depredations, amounted, in the year 1678, to 137,500 Scots. Since the Revolu tion in 1688, the inhabitants have been tranquil and loyal in the most turbulent time's.