AN INITIATIVE to launch history trails from Crossraguel Abbey to Ballantrae Castle has been launched.

James Brown proposes to create trails after previously designing a hotel to draw tourists into the area. This was discussed at a recent Girvan Town Team Meeting. 

Cllr Peter Henderson, explained: “An old water mill has been found which is why Mr Brown wants to create the trail. He originally wanted to build a hotel but now he wants historic trails in South Carrick.”

Duncan of Carrick, who later became Earl of Carrick, founded the abbey in the early 1200s. Paisley and Crossraguel were Scotland’s only Cluniac monasteries. The monks who served there for more than four centuries were of the Cluniac order, named after the French abbey of Cluny. 

Glenapp House, listed category B, was built in 1870 to the design of David Bryce; it has been much enlarged and has lost its original clarity of design. 

Glenapp Castle, formerly the family seat of the Earl of Inchcape, is now a luxury hotel and restaurant located about 1.5 miles south east of Ballantrae, The castle was built for the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of the County, James Hunter. 

Designed by the famous Scottish architect David Bryce the Deputy Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire at the time, the Castle was finished in 1870.

Turnberry, Girvan Jail and Stumpy Tower could also be included in the trail while visitors and locals make their way from Crossraguel to Ballantrae Castle.