Gaelic and Outlander Day, Dean Castle, Kilmarnock, 6 June 2026

A wee something I have been working on since the start of this year, having come up with the idea last year whilst on the committee of the East Ayrshire Gaelic Forum (https://eastayrshiregaelicforum.blogspot.com). Outlander has now finished its broadcast run, with the last episode shown on Friday, and here in Ayrshire we have a local connection to the series, with Dean Castle in Kilmarnock having appeared in the show ten years ago. As such, East Ayrshire has been working with Ayrshire360 on commemorating the event, and as such, I am delighted to announce the following, which I hope you might be willing to come along to!

Gaelic and Outlander Day, Dean Park, Kilmarnock 

On June 6, East Ayrshire Gaelic Forum and Ayrshire360 are hosting a Gaelic and Outlander Day at Dean Castle, Kilmarnock (which featured in the series 10 years ago). On the day we will have Gillebride MacMillan, singer, academic, and Scottish Gaelic language adviser to the series (and its sequel Blood of my Blood) giving three sessions to introduce Gaelic, discuss his work on the series, and sing songs connected to the Forty-Five Jacobite campaign that ended at Culloden in 1746 (the subject of the series).  

We also have Francesca Cozzari, embroiderer on many of the series' most iconic costumes, discussing her work, and we also have performances from Inverclyde Waulking Group, Largs Gaelic Choir, and the Fitzpatrick School of Highland Dance. In addition to this will be a session for the kids with the Ghillie Dhu Crew bringing Scottish folklore to life through storytelling and song, and many stalls connected to the Gaelic world, as well as other activities!

A full day's ticket (10am-5pm) is £10, or a half-day ticket for either the first or second half is £6 (please note there is a £2 online booking fee on top of this). Kids under 12 go free.

For the full day, book tickets via https://ayrshire360.com/events/gaelic-and-outlander-daylive-at-dean-castle/ - for half day tickets, please visit https://ayrshire360.com/events/gaelic-and-outlander-half-daylive-at-dean-castle/.

Looking forward to seeing you there! 

Comment: I'll obviously be there with the East Ayrshire Gaelic Forum and I'd be only too happy to talk about anything to you, from Scottish Gaelic and Outlander to genealogy and the weather! 

Chris 

Order Researching Ancestral Crisis in Ireland in the UK at https://bit.ly/4jJWSEh. Also available -Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors, Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. To purchase in the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page.

Newmilns Heritage App

The recently launched Newmilns Heritage App has been commissioned by the Newmilns Heritage Association. Developed by the Newmilns Heritage Group, it has been funded from the Heritage Lottery Fund. The app was launched on Saturday, 10th May 2025, at a Heritage event in Newmilns Church Hall.

The impressive app includes a self-guided one-hour walking tour around the East Ayrshire town, a treasure hunt at Loudon Parish Church graveyard, eye spy challenges around the town, audio and video media content, maps, and more. 

The app is free to access via Google Play Store or Apple's App Store. For further details visit https://www.lovenewmilns.org/newmilns-heritage-app.

Chris   

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Thanks to the three Ayrshire family history societies!

I had the pleasure of speaking at the joint meeting of the Ayrshire family history societies last Thursday in Troon, at Portland Church hall, in what I believe was the first such joint meeting since the pandemic. I was actually told that my recent blog post at the end of last year on whether Scotland's family history community was beginning to suffer from 'Long Zoom' was a factor in it being established (see http://scottishgenes.blogspot.com/2023/11/is-scotlands-family-history-community.html), so glad to have helped if that was true! It was a packed hall, with folk having travelled from Largs, Kilmarnock, Troon, and throughout the county and beyond.

Ayrshire today is split into three administrative council areas, North, East and South, and the three Ayrshire societies are located in each, being Troon @ Ayrshire FHS (https://www.troonayrshirefhs.org.uk), East Ayrshire FHS (https://eastayrshirefhs.co.uk), and North Ayrshire FHS (http://www.northayrshirefhs.org.uk), which used to be the Largs and North Ayrshire FHS. All can help with research in their specific parts of the county, and alongside the resources that casn be found from Ayrshire's joint archive service at https://www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk.

The talk that I gave was a deliberately simplified introduction to how DNA can be useful in helping out with family history research. There was a simple introduction to what DNA is, and the sorts of tests available, with the majority of the talk highlighting three examples from my own family tree in Scotland and Ireland of just how DNA matches can help to unblock brick walls in research. The purpose was to simply show that DNA can be an important thing to test, and that it is best to do so sooner than later, particularly with elderly relatives, even if you don't quite know how to understand all the technical gubbins behind it at first - that will come, in time!

A huge thanks to all who came along, and to the societies for organising it, I hope it is the first of many more annual events to come! This year I have been able to give a few in-person talks, after several years of online pergatory, and whilst Zoom can be convenient, and reach members beyond Scotland and Ireland, it simply cannot replicate the sense of community that in-person events can help to foster on societies' own doorsteps. 

And I sincerely hope whoever laid out the food spread after the sesion will seriously consider catering for weddings and other events - it was magnificent, I'm not sure I've ever seen such an amazing feast at a society event!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For purchase in tthe USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, on Threads at @scottishgenesblog and via Mastodon at https://mastodon.scot/@ScottishGENES.

Show and tell mining history event in Cumnock

From East Ayrshire Council:

Show and Tell your mining history at our Cumnock event

Do you have mining memorabilia, lots of stories or an interest in local mining history?  Come along to this exciting Show and Tell!

As part of  a photography and oral history project "Mineworkings", by artist Nicky Bird, National Galleries of Scotland is hosting a Show and Tell exhibition at Barrhill Community Learning Centre, celebrating East Ayrshire's mining heritage.

Share your knowledge

If you've got memorabilia, whether it's photographs, mementos or objects, or you're just interested in finding out more, please come along and share your artefacts, questions and stories to help keep the memories alive.  

Community Portraits

Transport yourself to the past by adding your own portrait to our unique collection of photos from mining communities from the 1980s.

Event details
Wednesday 26 July, 11.00am - 3.00pm
Barrhill Community Learning Centre, Bank Avenue, Cumnock KA18 1PQ

Visit our Coal Communities Landscape Partnership website at https://coalfieldcommunities.co.uk

(With thanks to East Ayrshire Council)

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Kyle Combination poorhouse renovations in Ayr

On Monday I travelled down to nearby Ayr on behalf of a client to look at a gravestone. Whilst there, I took the opportunity to take some photos of the old Kyle Combination Poorhouse, located on Holmston Road. I spoke with the foreman of the renovations work there who advised me that the old poorhouse is being converted into accommodation, and that much of the interior had been destroyed by long term squatters. many of the outbuildings have already been fixed up, the main building is currently being worked on (there is more on the renovation work at https://www.ayradvertiser.com/news/18091888.hope-brand-new-homes-historic-holmston-house-ayr/). 

Some images of the old poorhouse, which was built between 1857-1860:

For more on the poorhouse, visit Peter Higginbotham's website at https://www.workhouses.org.uk/Kyle/. 

The poorhouse's surviving records are held at the new Ayrshire Archives (www.ayrshirearchives.org.uk) facility in Ayr, which I also visited and photographed:

 

Remember, if you need any look-ups, I am based just up the road in Ayrshire - details of my service are available at www.scotlandsgreateststory.co.uk!

Chris

Order Tracing Your Belfast Ancestors in the UK at https://bit.ly/BelfastAncestors. Also available - Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records, Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. For the USA visit https://www.penandswordbooks.com. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.

Moving home

Having spent 20 years in North Ayrshire, I am moving house on Thursday to Stewarton, after three years here in Irvine; the missives were concluded today. I've loved every minute of my time in Irvine, it's a great wee town with a lot of heart, and some wonderful people. Stewarton is in East Ayrshire, so we'll still be in the same county, albeit under a different local authority - but we will miss Balcony Farm...!

 

I'm looking forward to getting to know the east of the county better - but Irvine is only ten minutes down the road, so we'll be back often!

* I wasn't sure whether to laugh or cry earlier. I popped into the library in Irvine and noted that they have a 'Travel, Genealogy and Egypt' section - which holds no genealogy books. I offered to donate some, but was told they do not accept donations any more, following the recent closure of other libraries in the area (they are absorbing their stock). 

I have suggested that in the meantime they perhaps rename it the 'Travel and Egypt section'...!

Chris

My new book Tracing Your Irish Ancestors Through Land Records is now available to buy at https://bit.ly/IrishLandRecords. Also available - Sharing Your Family History Online, Tracing Your Scottish Family History on the Internet, Tracing Your Irish Family History on the Internet (2nd ed), and Tracing Your Scottish Ancestry Through Church and State Records - to purchase, please visit https://bit.ly/ChrisPatonPSbooks. Further news published daily on The Scottish GENES Facebook page, and on Twitter @genesblog.