Hurlford

Hurlford is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It has a population of 5,000 (including Crookedholm). The village contains several distinct districts - Hurlford North, The Cross, Crookedholm, Blair and Drumleyhill.

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Hurlford village sign.

Hurlford's former names include The Toll, Whirlford and Hurdleford. It is the administrative centre of the Irvine Valley area of East Ayrshire Council and the village's Blair Park is home to Hurlford United F.C..

Administration

The village is split using a North-South divide for council wards. The northern part of the village (including Crookedholm) is joined with Moscow and part of Galston as Ward 12 - "Crookedholm, Moscow, Galston West and Hurlford North"; while the southern part and surrounding hamlets form Ward 19 - "Hurlford".

Religion

Traditionally part of Riccarton parish, the village is now a quoad sacra parish in its own right and is home to 4 church buildings, although only 2 of these are in use - Hurlford Reid Memorial Church of Scotland and St. Paul's Roman Catholic Church, with a third congregation, Hurlford and Crookedholm Community Church meeting in the village community centre. One of the other 2 churches have been converted to housing while the remaining chuch, owned by East Ayrshire Council, lies unoccupied.

Hurlford Primary School

Hurlford Primary School, formerly Hurlford Grammar and Secondary School is the non-denominational primary school for the area. It has a school roll of around 300 and also houses Hurlford Nursery School with the building dating back to 1905

His Royal Highness Prince Charles Duke of Rothsey and Her Royal Highness Camilla Dutchess of Rothsey visited and congratulted the staff and children on 21 June 2005 on their achievements transforming school meals which was followed by the school winning the Soil Association's School Food Award at the BBC's Good Food Show, presented by Jamie Oliver.

Famous Persons

The village is often referred to as a "football nursery" due to its high output of footballers.

• Sandy Turnbull - Manchester City and Manchester United footballer
• Jack Picken - Bolton Wanderers and Plymouth Argyle footballer
• Ian Bryson - Sheffield United F.C., Barnsley F.C., Preston North End F.C, and Rochdale A.F.C. footballer
• William Goldie - Leicester City footballer
• David Calderhead - Queen of the South and Notts County footballer and Chelsea F.C. manager

• Sir Robert Dunsmuir - industrialist, politician and developer of coal mines on Vancouver Island
• Jimmy Knapp - General secretary of the RMT transport union
• George Wylie - awarded the George Cross in honour of his heroic attempts to defuse a Nazi bomb which had landed in St Paul's Cathedral in London

Industry

Iron founding and the production of ironworks, coal mining, fireclay, sanitaryware, and knitwear were the principal industries, now mainly whisky distilling, electronics, car parts manufacturing and garden furniture manufacturing although the history of ironworks can still be seen throughout the country with drain covers carrying the branding "R. Simpson, Hurlford" and a poignant reminder of the heyday of the iron and steel industry of Hurlford is the ship’s propeller erected at the Cross.

Transport

Both of the town's rail stations - Hurlford and Hurlford (Barleith) are now used for freight trains only however East Ayrshire Council have recently entered negotiaitions with First ScotRail and Strathclyde Passenger Transport to re-introduce passenger rail halts.

Hurlford also used to boast its own tramway system which connected it to Kilmarnock. Nowadays, the main public transport links are provided by several Stagecoach Western bus services, including services to the City of Glasgow.