Administrative Boundary of East Ayrshire

About East Ayrshire

East Ayrshire is a council area in southwest Scotland. Covering approximately 1,262 square kilometres of upland moors, river valleys, and market towns in Ayrshire, East Ayrshire had a population of approximately 122,000 at the 2022 Census. The council area — created in 1996 from the district of Kilmarnock and Loudoun and most of Cumnock and Doon Valley — contains Kilmarnock, where the first edition of Robert Burns's poetry was printed in 1786, and Dumfries House, one of the most outstanding 18th-century country houses in Scotland. Kilmarnock and the Burns Connection Kilmarnock — the principal town and administrative centre of East Ayrshire, on the River Irvine — is historically significant as the site where Robert Burns's Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect was first published on 31 July 1786 by printer John Wilson at his shop in the Star Inn Close. The "Kilmarnock Edition" of Burns — a collection of 612 copies sold at 3 shillings each — was one of the most important literary publishing events in Scottish history, launching Burns's fame across Scotland and beyond. The Dick Institute Museum and Art Gallery in Kilmarnock holds important collections relating to Burns and the local history of Ayrshire. Kilmarnock Football Club — founded 1869, one of the oldest professional football clubs in the world — plays at Rugby Park, one of the oldest continuously-used football grounds in Scotland. Dumfries House Dumfries House — a Palladian mansion near Cumnock in the Lugar valley, designed by John and Robert Adam and completed 1759 for the 4th Earl of Dumfries — is one of the most important 18th-century country houses in Scotland and contains the most significant collection of Thomas Chippendale furniture ever commissioned for a single house. In 2007, the house and its contents (including irreplaceable Chippendale and Boulle furniture) were threatened with dispersal at auction; a consortium led by the then-Prince of Wales (now King Charles III), including Historic Scotland and the National Art Collections Fund, raised £45 million to purchase the house and ensure its preservation; it is now open to visitors. Dean Castle and Heritage Dean Castle — a well-preserved 14th-century keep and 15th-century palace above the gorge of the Craufurdland Water in Kilmarnock — houses important collections of European armour, musical instruments, and Burns memorabilia. The ruins of Loudoun Castle — a largely 18th-century Gothic Revival house (burned 1941) set in a country park — provide a dramatic landscaped ruin. The area around Mauchline has strong Robert Burns connections: the churchyard where several of Burns's children are buried, the room above Gavin Hamilton's house where Burns's Kilmarnock Edition was prepared. GIS and Boundary Data The administrative boundary of East Ayrshire Council is available for free download in GeoJSON and KML formats, sourced from the OS Open Geography portal (Crown copyright 2024). Compatible with QGIS, ArcGIS, Mapbox, and Google Earth, the dataset supports literary heritage mapping, country house conservation, castle archaeology, upland ecology, and demographic analysis across the East Ayrshire council area.

📍 Administrative boundary of East Ayrshire county