Harbour Arts Centre

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   

   

 

 

 

Researched and compiled by Ian J Dickson, Chairman, Harbour Arts Centre, 1983-1985 & 1997-2003

 

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Footnotes:

[1] Patrick Boyle Mure McCreadie (1800-68), local JP and landed proprietor, of Perceton, developed the Perceton coal pits in the 1850s, even laying a tramway to Townhead (Strawhorn, ‘History of Irvine’, p.141). A son of Thomas Mure of Warriston, and of Helen Boyle of Penpont, Dumfriesshire (though we see no connection between her father Patrick Boyle and the Hon. Patrick Boyle of Shewalton), this Edinburgh advocate married Rachel Ann Macredie of Perceton in 1835, taking on her surname, as the Macredie family had bought Perceton from the Barclays in 1720, and his bride's father John was deceased. After his death, his family dropped the Macredie surname, and used their father's. In 1888, Mrs Rachel Anne Mure McCreadie, his widow, and her daughters the Misses Mure (Mary Rachel & Helen Jane) established the Mure Mission Hall. When Mrs McCreadie died in 1892, her third share passed to her daughters - they also supported both Fullarton and Irvine Free Churches (the latter renamed the Mure United Free Church in 1900). On the death of her sister Mary, aged 76, in 1912, Miss Helen J Mure became sole owner, and in 1914 ownership of the Shore Mission Hall passed to the Perceton Mission Trust (with Miss Mure becoming a Trustee).

[2] Reporting a social gathering at the Mure Mission Hall, the ‘Irvine Herald’ of January 1891 recorded: “Duncan, the laborious missionary, must have been greatly pleased to see so full an attendance from the surrounding district.”

[3] The ownership information is from the title deeds. In 1846, the land passed into the hands of the Hon. David Boyle of Shewalton, Lord Justice General of Scotland, who owned land to the south. The 1888 purchase by the Mures was from Captain D Boyle, of the Pavillion [sic], Ardrossan, grandson of the Hon. D. B..