Gateside, North Ayrshire

Gateside is a small village in North Ayrshire, Scotland about half a mile east of Beith.

Gateside Primary School was opened in 1903, and nowadays it has 74 pupils. The school has an extension built in 1998 which provided indoor toilets and a school hall, which is used by the nursery, PE classes and for school dinners and for assemblies.

Gateside Primary School LEA: North Ayrshire Telephone Number: 01505 502776 Fax Number: 01505 502776 Address: Main Road Gateside

Ayrshire Post Code: KA15 2LF

Speir's school stood nearby and the grounds are now a public park used by the Gateside and Beith communities.

The Isobel Patrick Memorial Hall is a very fine building in the Gothic style. Trearne House stood near Gateside, but it was demolished and the site is now a large worked out limestone quarry.

Gateside gallery

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  The village of Gateside lies nearby on the road to Lugton.
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  Gateside Memorial Hall.
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  Memorial to Isobel Patrick who died aged 21 years.
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  A highly carved mantelpiece in Gateside Memorial Hall.
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  Gateside Primary school.
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  The old driveway that led to Trearne House.
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  Trearne Quarry looking north.
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  Trearne Quarry looking south.

Geilsland House and School gallery

Geilsland school, run by the Church of Scotland, is located nearby.

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  Geilsland Lodge and main entrance.
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  The side of the house which faces Geilsland Road and Speir's school grounds.
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  The front of Geilsland House showing later alterations.
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  The chapel at Geilsland.

The Court Hill

The Court Hill of the Abbot of Kilwinning near Gateside village.

A Moot hill or Court Hill survives near Gateside at Bog hall in the old Barony of Beith. Dobie states that the Abbot of Kilwinning used it to administered justice to his vassals & tenants. It is a sub-oval, flat-topped mound, situated at the foot of a small valley. A number of large stones are visible in the sides of the mound. It is turf-covered, situated on a low outcrop, and is mostly an artificial work. It pre-dates the channelling of the burn which detours around it, the mound was probably isolated in this once marshy outflow of the former Boghall Loch (see NS35SE 14). It does not seem to lie in the area identified by Smith, the author of Prehistoric Man in Ayrshire and the excavator of Cleeves Cove cave..

Limestone and marble

Image:Broadstone lime kiln.JPG|

Two very large limekilns near Broadstone Hall. Image:Broadstone lime kiln wall.JPG|The limekiln wall with Hart's-tongue ferns. Image:Broadstone limekiln stonework detail.JPG|Detail of the limekiln stonework & 'exit'. Image:Broadstone Limekiln outward view.JPG|Looking out from one of the limekiln's two lower chambers. Image:Broadstone kiln sided on.JPG|A view of the side wall.

Because of the underlying geology of this aprt of Ayrshire the presence of limestone quarries is to be expected and lime kilns were a common feature before the process became fully industrialised. Nettlehirst near Barrmill was one of the last large traditionally operated lime kilns to operate, surviving until the 1970s, however Broadstone has the substantial remains of one of the largest of the stone built kilns. This must have created considerable pollution in the area, offset only by the employment it created. It sits right next to the limestone quarry which supplied it.

The Ordnance survey maps show that a marble quarry was located nearby.

References

See also

• Hessilhead
• Barony and Castle of Giffen