Minishant is a village bordering the A77 in the old county of Carrick, South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located in Maybole Parish, from Maybole and standing close to the River Doon. The village was originally named Culroy after the Culroy Burn that runs through it.
History
Near Grange House is the hamlet of Culroy which was often called Culroy Bridge or Culroy Smithy until Minishant permanently adopted its 'new' name. Culroy was once the name for all the land between the Brown Carric and the River Doon.
Minishant stands on the old Portpatrick to Ayr road, later a toll road with toll house at Carcluie and Hogg's Corner, but the village is not shown on maps until after 1828 although Colroy (sic) is marked in 1775. In 1832 Culroy Bridge is recorded and Culroy has only a single building on the eastern side of the road indicated. Minyshant (sic) appears on the OS map surveyed between 1849 and 1857 with a long row of housing and a building in the location of the mill standing next to the Culroy Burn and a building opposite. Hoggs Cottage stood at the road junction running down to Cassillis railway station.
Various council houses and a primary school were built in the 1990s and since then a small housing estate has been built off Main Street next to the Culroy Burn, partly on the site of previous houses. The village is notable for the attractive wooden fronted housing on Main Street.
The meaning of the place-name
The etymology of the name 'Minishant' can be traced back to the Scots Gaelic 'Muine Seant' or the 'Sacred thicket' equivalent to 'Holy Wood'. Monkswood is still a current placename.
Culroy
The old established settlement once known as Culroy Bridge or Smithy is a hamlet on the Culroy or Plonatibber Burn that once had a smithy and an inn with Grange House nearby. It is recorded as Colroy in 1775.
Facilities
Minishant today (datum 2019) has a primary school, church, a restaurant, War Memorial, and a post office and general store. The parish comprises a mainly farming community. In the late 19th century it had a school, post office, smithy, joiner's shop, woollen factory and was served by Cassillis railway station. The old school stood about away from the village so as to make it closer to the farms whose children also attended it, a common practice. In 1872 a new school and teacher's house was built in the village, now demolished.
Buildings and structures
The Lady Coats Memorial Church
The old church, known as the Lady Coats Memorial Church closed in the mid-1980s. It was built in 1878 to commemorate Lady Gloranna Coats nee McKenzie, wife of Sir Peter Coats, the laird of Auchendrane. Sir Peter was a Baptist and most of the villages were Presbyterians so the church was designated non-denominational or non-sectarian and open to appropriate visiting ministers. An exact copy of the church was built by Sir Peter Coats in Algiers where he moved to improve his health. Behind the church was a reading room and library, open to all in the district.
Minishant War Memorial
The war memorial Celtic cross was dedicated in 1920 and was unveiled by the factor of the nearby Monkwood Estate, Major James Murdoch. It was originally located in the forecourt of the Lady Coats Memorial Church but it was moved to Main Street in 1987 when the church closed and public access was restricted.
The Waulk Mill
Standing next to the Minishant Bridge over the Culroy or Polnatibber Burn the waulk or wauk's waterwheel was powered via a mill weir, lade and sluice arrangement. Andrew and James Limond at the mill advertised that they manufactured blankets, tweeds, plaidings, flannels, etc. It is shown on the OS map as being disused by 1894. The mill building survives, having become the village hall and later a private dwelling.
In 1894 a second steam-powered woollen mill, also owned by the Limond brothers, stood behind the row of cottages near the waulk mill sluice. A short tramway incline with a waggon on a rope, known as the Bogey Line, transported coal up to the mill. The Bogey End on the Mains Street was where the coal was loaded into the waggon. The mill closed in 1950.
The Minishant Inn
An old inn that is now in use as a restaurant.