Lost Ayrshire - Dane Love

Over the centuries countless buildings have been erected and demolished, and this informative and beautifully illustrated book looks at a wide selection of these, from castles that have been destroyed or replaced by modern mansions to country houses that have succumbed due to dry rot or lack of funds for their upkeep. He also visits at various townscapes, including the lost everyday architecture of the burghs and villages, including churches, banks, tollbooths, public halls, schools, shops and houses. Ayrshire was rich in mining and other industries that have now gone, but this book contains illustrations of the county's lost coalmines and the associated miners' rows, as well as former cotton mills, power stations, shipyards, factories and other places of work. As well as lost buildings from the distant past, Dane Love includes some more recent examples of what has been lost. In some cases these losses are welcome, but in many regrettable - such buildings should have been preserved and found new uses. It is only by looking at this book that the reader will discover just how much of Ayrshire's heritage has been lost over the years.

Dane Love was born in Cumnock, Ayrshire and trained to be a teacher at Jordanhill College of Education in Glasgow. He currently teaches at Irvine Royal Academy. He is Honorary Secretary of the Scottish Covenanater Memorials Association and a committee member of Ayrshire Archaeological and Natural History Society. He has written a number of books, including Scottish Kirkyards, Scottish Ghosts, Ayrshire: Discovering a County and Ayr Past and Present.