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Description

This was the principal of the Ayrshire Hill Villages. This was due to its being located in the centre of the mineral railway system which served ironstone and coal mines on the plateau above the Dalmellington Iron Works and being at Drumgrange Incline Head [2nd] (the top end of the incline which connected the plateau lines to the iron works lines below).

It was roughly triangular in shape. There were more rows of cottages here than the other villages. The three Laich rows were to the south by the railway alignment running east to Benquhat. To their north were the Step, Whaup, Diamond and Old School rows. In the north were the Store, Stone, White Brick and Briggate rows.

The company store (supplied from the store at Waterside) was served by rail - the filled wagons coming up the incline. There were also schools, a smiddy, kirk, mission hall and, by the store, a telephone box. By the incline head was a football field and to the north a quoiting green. The war memorial, which remains, was in the north west just south of the New School.

The nearby ironstone mines closed in 1921 with the closure of the Dalmellington Iron Works. Coal continued from the Craigmark Hill and Chalmerston Hill area until a new narrow gauge line was built. The incline closed around 1937.

The village was replaced by new housing at Patna in the 1950s and although the villagers had been resettled for several years the displaced children were taken by bus up - less than ideal in winter - to the New School until it had been replaced.

Today the war memorial remains and parts of the rows can be found in forestry which occupies most of the site. There is a touching memorial to the village too - 'Long Live the Hill'.

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