A day trip to Irvine.

[Penny Tray]

George/Meg,

The thought obviously crossed my mind and maybe I've got my rose tinted specs on again but I don't recall seaweed coming ashore at this location? I'll bow to George's greater knowledge however.

[georgersweir]

George/Meg,

The thought obviously crossed my mind and maybe I've got my rose tinted specs on again but I don't recall seaweed coming ashore at this location? I'll bow to George's greater knowledge however.

I can't claim great knowledge of seaweed at Irvine shore in the 1920s, but there are some references to gathering seaweed in Ayrshire, e.g.:

"In the farms of the central belt and those in Ayrshire in particular, seaweed was in great demand in the 18th and early 19th Centuries. Servants of estates were often put to work on the gruelling task of collecting the seaweed. However, the increased availability of chemical fertilisers and objections from the collectors led to a decline in use over the next hundred years. The last significant harvests of raw seaweed for laying on the land were in Ayrshire and around North Berwick, in the 1960s."

[Penny Tray]

George,

The farmers along the North Shore in Ardrossan reguarly gathered it for spreading on their fields, particularly, it seems to me, their tattie fields. I also remember the Welsh boys from Dalry Road gathering red sea-weed, as I understood it for their mum to 'bath' in. Apparently it eased the pain of her arthritis?

[Penny Tray]

George,

For a brief moment there I thought I was talking guff - but apparently not:

http://www.soakseaweedbaths.co.uk/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[georgersweir]

For the benefit of occasional visitors to Irvine, here are photo postcards showing familiar scenes. The first shows the (unusually quiet) High Street, looking North, from the Cross. The second shows Trinity Church from the Fullarton side of the river (the old bridge is just out of shot on the left). My guess is that these cards date from ~1930.

[Penny Tray]

George,

Can you remember the name of the Gent's Outfitters on the right hand side of the High Street just about the location that is shown on your first postcard. The father ran the business with two sons. I think they also had a shop in the Bridgegate?

[John Donnelly]

I remember my mother talking about collecting seaweed to use as fertiliser in the garden. She also told us about eating seaweed as a vegetable when she was a child; +/- 1910-15.

JD

[morag]

I remember visiting my Father's sister in Lincolnshire in the '60's and seaweed was eaten as a vegetable. Now with the popularity of Sushi it's 'in' again.


i think Church close was mentioned earlier, was that the 'short cut' to the harbour from High St?

[little plum]

George, the building on the Stevenston side of the harbour ( postcard) , I think could very well be the burning station.
re gathering kelp. It was an annual event for me over a number of years. When the first storms of winter arrived I would go with my dad to the shore to gather , what dad called wreck (sp) , for the vegetable plot.

[Bob Bryden]

My first memory (well maybe that's not quite the right word as I actually do not remember it) occurred at 9.55am on 19th. January 1951 at Ayrshire Central Hospital, Irvine - namely my birth. Home was always Ardrossan until moving to N.Z. in 1963. By the way, Irvine was also where my paternal great grandfather was born ( about a hundred years before me ) in 1851. I've got some relatively recent photos of Ayrshire Central via the internet but I don't know which building I was born in - I would like to though. Since I was born by caeserian (spelling?) I may not have been bon in the usual delivery room. Perhaps my birthplace has been demolished by now?

I do have some memories of Irvine from my one & only trip back to the land of my birth in 1974. I visited Irvine for the Marymass celebrations I think that was what they were called. I watched the parade & entertainment in the main street provided by a group of dancers from Sri Lanka who were in Scotland for the Edinburgh Military Tattoo that year. I took some good 35mm slides & Super-8 movies of that plus later out at the racecourse racing (!) & various other competitions. I'll try a find them & scan them into my computer for posting to Threetowners - the slides that is.

Bob

[georgersweir]

George,

Can you remember the name of the Gent's Outfitters on the right hand side of the High Street just about the location that is shown on your first postcard. The father ran the business with two sons. I think they also had a shop in the Bridgegate?

PT, the only gent's clothing shop I recall at that location was Claude Alexander - which is where I was taken by my mother (circa 1969) to get my first made-to-measure suit.

[georgersweir]

...I do have some memories of Irvine from my one & only trip back to the land of my birth in 1974. I visited Irvine for the Marymass celebrations I think that was what they were called.... I took some good 35mm slides & Super-8 movies of that plus later out at the racecourse racing (!) & various other competitions. I'll try a find them & scan them into my computer for posting to Threetowners - the slides that is.
Bob

Bob, I look forward to seeing your photos from Marymass, 1974. In case you missed it, there was an earlier post with pictures from some of this year's Marymass events. You can find it HERE.