Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers. As archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a significant neolithic settlement provisionally dated to around 3500 BC, as well as medieval structures, scholars have suggested that Dreghorn could be Britain's oldest continuously inhabited village. Both Irvine and Dreghorn have grown in size and they are now separated by the Annick Valley Park, which incorporates a footpath and National Cycle Route 73 on the route of the disused Irvine to Busby railway line. It had an estimated population of in . The Church of Scotland Dreghorn and Springside Parish Church, at the centre of the village, dates from 1780. Its octagonal plan, which is unusual in Scotland, was produced by the church's principal benefactor, Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton. The village's most famous inhabitant, John Boyd Dunlop, was born at a Dreghorn farm in 1840. When practicing as a veterinary surgeon in Belfast, in 1887 he invented pneumatic tyres for bicycles. Location Dreghorn lies on a ridge between Annick Water, to its immediate north, and the River Irvine further south. The old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock (now the B7081) formed the original village street along the ridge. As Townfoot, it rises to the high point of the ridge at the Parish Church in the centre of the village, then continues as Main Street east along the ridge, down to the nearby village of Springside which is also in Dreghorn Parish. The Annick Water runs close to the north of the village, along the edge of the Annick Valley Park. Woodland and open green spaces, including playing fields, separate Dreghorn from Irvine New Town, with the district of Broomlands adjoining the park. The disused Irvine to Busby railway line, which runs along this park, has been converted to a footpath, and forms National Cycle Route 73 as part of the Irvine New Town Trail. At a crossroads immediately to the east of the church, Station Brae runs north down the hill to the former Dreghorn railway station, and the B730 runs south towards Drybridge, crossing the River Irvine at Holmsford Bridge. Here it crosses under the A71 road, which runs as a modern bypass along the Irvine Valley to the south of the village. A link