Mauchline lies in the foothills of the western slopes of the Southern
Uplands, 16km east of Ayr and 13km south of Kilmarnock. Mauchline was
the administrative centre of the regality of Kylesmuir, granted in the
twelfth century to Melrose Abbey. It was erected as a burgh of barony in
1510 and a burgh of regality in 1707. The town was noted for its trade
in livestock and, in the nineteenth century, for textile manufacture,
the leather industry, and the manufacture of wooden snuff and souvenir
boxes. The close association of Mauchline and the poet Robert Burns
generated a tourist industry, helped after 1850 with the arrival of rail
transport. This book is part of the Scottish Burgh Survey - a series
designed to identify the archaeological potential of Scotland's historic
towns.