Whitletts Ayr

[trixie9]

I am trying to trace the history of a house in Whitletts, Ayr. The house was called Padan Aram, and was in the Main Road. When I was a child, the land next to the house was an overgrown orchard where we used to play. In the 1960's this land was cleared to build shops and a headstone was found whichmentioned the house by name. It was dated 1765. I have traced ownership to 1850's through valuation records, but do not know how to get further back. The archives only hold valuations from 1830's. Can anyone suggest anything.

[Quilter45]

Hello Trixie9,   I Googled 'Whitletts history' this evening and saw your question re Padan Aram.   I can't help you with the history aspect but can tell you I lived with my family in that cottage for a short time in the early 1950's.   We had only a cold water supply, oil lamps (no electricity), and outside toilet.   As a child of 7 or 8 years at the time none of this bothered me and the garden was full of fruit trees - cherry, apple, pear and plum trees.   The wider orchard was a place where all the local children played and was a shortcut used by people going between the Main Road and Glenmuir Place and probably through to James Brown Avenue.   I think my parents rented the property from a Mr Whitton who owned a butcher's shop in George Street, Ayr.

[trixie9]

Hi I used to play in the orchard.  Iwas born in the house in 1951, so we may have met as children. The cottage and the house were both owned by the same person, and it was the Whittons in the 1950's  According to the records I have found your father would have been A. Mckay

[still_looking]

You could try the register of sasines (land tranactions).  They might mention the house. Also if you can identify who lived there then you might be able to look at wills (and similarly look up the person in the sasine records).

Paddan Aram is a biblical reference and also a placename in Angus.

S_L

n.b. this assumes that sasine records exist for Ayrshire.

[trixie9]

Thanks I am going to contact the national archives in Edinburgh as local records only go back to 1850's. The name on the headstone that was found dating 1765, is the same as the family who owned the house until the 1950's. Thehouse its self is marked by name on local maps from 1850,so I assume it was part of a known estate or something of note at that time

[Quilter45]

Hello Trixie9,
Yes, my father was A. McKay.  We lived in the cottage when my brother was born in 1952 (Thorneyflat maternity home).  My mother can't remember when we left the cottage but she is sure that we were the last residents.   My grandfather also lived in Whitletts - across the road in Glenmuir Place.   

[flownthenest]

Hi Trixie,
The Welsh family lived at 21 Main Road before coming to Australia in the late twenties. I don't know if the street has been renumbered since then. Is this address near the cottage you mention? flownthenest