Stevenston, United Kingdom

The regeneration of Irvine Bay includes the development of Stevenston Business Centre on the site of the former Grange Bingo Hall.

Deucathall or Dovecothall was the previous mansion house at this site, standing in the Hillcrest Drive area, but now totally demolished. It was the residence of George Campbell, a relation of the Loudoun branch of that clan. The new Georgian-style mansion, Ardeer House was located near to the Ardeer

Bowling Club and after being sold to Nobels' in 1929 it was used as the Nobel Recreation Centre for some years, but was sadly demolished in 1968. One of the most distinguished owners in the later 17th century was the covenanter Patrick Warner, a minister who was forced to escape to Holland after the Battle of Bothwell Bridge. These houses once stood on the sea coast and the site is said to have been a favourite anchorage ground, fragments of boats and anchors having been found at various points here and further inland. A sea-washed cave is located a little behind the house. The field behind the mansion house was once called the Temple Field. A miniature rifle range was once located in the old walled gardens.

The Revd. Patrick Warner had picked up skills in land reclamation during his exile in Holland and his first act was to drain the bogs by cutting the Master Gott, linking several small lochans or dubbs, and it was this drain that was later partly incorporated into the Stevenston Canal.

A cave exists at the site of the old mansion, and remains of a dressed stone frame for an iron grille over a hole in the cave roof suggested its use as a grotto in the 19th century. The visible remains suggested a souterrain, but the absence of records of these in south-west Scotland make this unlikely. The passage is lined with corbelled drystone walling, roofed with capstones, and leads into the natural cave section which may have been formed by wave action as it shows a water-scoure created by wave action. Some areas of undisturbed stratified deposits have been found, together with evidence of occupation, such as a hearth, bones, and a fragment of glass.