Ayr

Ayr stands at the mouth of the River Ayr on the Firth of Clyde. Made a royal burgh in the early thirteenth century, it became a port and market for the surrounding country. In 1315 Robert Bruce held an assembly here to settle the succession to the Scottish throne. More than three centuries later Cromwell's occupying army built a large citadel at Ayr, using the port as a base for its control of western Scotland.