on it; pigeon droppings from the nearby dovecot seem to have been used, at least in part, judging from its name. Finally, the field on the other side of the hedge, running towards the Carmel is called 'Girnal', meaning a granary in Scots, suggesting that such a building once stood hereabouts. These fields seem to have formed the glebe of the kirk. Kilmaurs Council House had the top twelve feet of the steeple thrown down by a lightning strike in 1874. The front steps were smashed, but no one came to harm. The "juggs", which dangle from an iron chain, were last used officially in 1812 to hold a young woman who had been found guilty of theft. She was later drummed out of the parish by a mob. The Stewarton cricket ground was located between Wardhead House and Lochridge House. A golf course also existed here for a few years after WW2. The Royal Mail re-organised its postal districts in the 1930s and at that point many hamlets and localities ceased to exist officially, such as Templehouse, Darlington, Goosehill and other areas in Stewarton. Kilmaurs was famous for producing cutlery and swords, the local expression "As gleg as a Kilmaurs whittle", with the addition that "it cuts an inch before the tip"; meaning "the sharpest of the sharpest". A restaurant by the name of the Gleg Whittle existed here until 2006. The parish council chambers in Kilmaurs, the 'juggs' or 'jougs', has a fine example of a stepped Mercat Cross in an enclosure behind it, the cross is surmounted by a large sandstone ball and dated 1830. Views in Kilmaurs See also Chapeltoun Cunninghamhead Corsehill William de Lamberton Dean Castle A Researcher's Guide to Local History terminology Lady's Well Cunninghamhead, Perceton and Annick Lodge Thorntoun Estate Lambroughton Loch References Sources Cunningham, Ian C. (2006). The Nation Surveyed. Timothy Pont's Maps of Scotland. Edinburgh : John Donald. . Salter, Mike (2006). The Castles of South-West Scotland. Malvern : Folly. . Service, John (1890). Thir Notandums, being the literary recreations of the Laird Canticarl of Mongrynen. Edinburgh : Y. J. Pentland. Urquhart, Robert H. et al. (1998). The Hearth Tax for Ayrshire 1691. Ayrshire Records Series V.1. Ayr : Ayr Fed Hist Soc . Bibliography Bayne, John F. (1935). Dunlop Parish - A History of Church, Parish, and Nobility. Pub. T.& A. Constable, pp. 10–16. Davis, Michael C. (1991). The Castles