Troon, S Ayrshire - Sunk Gardens, Esplanade - postcard 1968

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  The Sunk Gardens, Esplanade, Troon, South Ayrshire
• Publisher:  A. D. Henderson, Maybole
• Postally used:  yes
• Stamp:  Scottosh regional 3d purple
• Postmark(s):  Troon 3 Aug 1968 wavy line
• Sent to:  Netherton Farm, Cummock.
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Troon is a town in South Ayrshire. It is situated on the west coast of Scotland, about eight miles north of Ayr and three miles northwest of Glasgow Prestwick International Airport. Lying across the Firth of Clyde, the Isle of Arran can be seen. Troon is also a port with freight and ferry services — the P&O Express to Larne and a yacht marina. In May 2006, a ferry service to Campbeltown was added, although this was withdrawn the following year.

In the 2001 census the population of Troon, not including the nearby village of Loans but including the Barassie area, was estimated at 14,766 — a 4.77% increase on the 1991 estimate of 14,094.^[3]

The name Troon is likely from a Brythonic or Pictish name cognate with Welsh trwyn (""nose, cape""). When Scottish Gaelic became the main language, it is possible that the Gaelic form An t-Sròn (""the nose"") pronounced [?n?? t?????n] was used for the name Troon. Since the words sròn and trwyn are cognate, it could have been easily adapted from one language to the other.^[1] This is similar to the Gaelic name of Stranraer (An t-Sròn Reamhar, the fat nose), which lies further south on the coast.^[4] However, it is not certain if An t-Sròn was the Gaelic name, as its usage cannot be traced back any further than Johnston’s Place-names of Scotland (1932). It is more likely that a gaelicized respelling, such as An Trùn, was used.^[1]

The name An Truthail was used by Gaelic speakers on nearby Arran Island up until the 20th century.^[1]

Troon is famous for its Royal Troon golf course, one of the hosts to the Open Golf Championship. The course is chosen to host this annual event roughly every seven years.

The Duke of Portland took the existing natural harbour on the north side of the headland and added docks. Later improvements included increasing the protection afforded by the headland with an artificial ""ballast bank"" made from the dumped ballast of incoming merchant ships. And from 1812 Troon was the terminus of a horse-drawn railway connecting it to the Duke's coal mines around Kilmarnock. This was not licensed for passengers, a minor technicality evaded by weighing those wishing to travel and charging them freight rates.

Troon Harbour played a notable part in the development of the town for many years. It was home to the Ailsa Shipbuilding Company, which constructed many vessels for worldwide customers but mainly small passenger and various merchant vessels. The fishing fleet from Ayr moved to Troon Harbour and a revitalisation of the abandoned section of the harbour started. An approach road was constructed to connect to a P&O terminal which operates a service to Ireland. The Seacat high speed ferry service briefly operated from Troon Harbour but has now ended.

Troon Harbour is now a fishing port, yachting marina, seasonal passenger ferry port and Ro-Ro ferry terminal for timber and containers. The shipbuilding industry at Troon Harbour ended in 2000.^[5]

The town is served by Troon railway station. Troon (old) railway station was one of the first passenger stations in Scotland as part of the Kilmarnock and Troon Railway. A line had been there previously used by the Duke of Portland for the transport of coal from the collieries in East Ayrshire but was upgraded to run Steam locomotives. Troon has its own secondary school, Marr College.

Troon is also the birthplace of C.K. Marr, who left a considerable fortune upon death to the people of Troon which was used to construct the towns only secondary school Marr College.^[6]

Troon has over the past few years become a popular place for Kitesurfing. The strong winds coming from the Atlantic and from the north down the Firth of Clyde make it an ideal spot.

Troon also hosts an annual music Festival held in the autumn known as Live@Troon. Details of what's on and when can be found at www.liveattroon.com. The event is run by a charitable trust for the promotion of the town and local musical talent.

The artist's impression and the theoretical master plan for Troon that the Duke of Portland had drawn up was almost on as grand a scale, relative to its size, as that of Edinburgh's New Town. Certainly, the broad streets with a grid network and ample space for civic amenities created for a thriving community built around the industry of the harbour. Troon's prosperity allowed this confident plan to be proposed. The drawing shows two spires, the taller spire was of that proposed by Troon Parish Church. Although the new building was erected in 1895 the spire was never completed. To the right a smaller spire indicates Portland Street United Free Church, which sat behind where WH Smith is today. The first railway in Scotland (Troon to Kilmarnock 1811) is clearly showing in the background. It was the Glasgow and South Western Railway in 1892 who altered this plan by building a loop to bring passengers closer to the beach and town. The park sadly never came to pass but public spaces on the promenade, (where the bandstand was built), The Ballast Bank and Fullarton ground allow residents and visitors much scope for leisure. The industrial units to the right of the harbour line towards Barassie were the Gas Works and Slaughter House.

type=printed postcards

theme=topographical: british

sub-theme=scotland

county/ country=ayrshire

number of items=single

period=1945 - present

postage condition=posted