Dreghorn

Dreghorn is a village in North Ayrshire, Scotland, 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) to the east of Irvine town centre, on the old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock. It is sited on a ridge between two rivers, and archaeological excavations near the village centre have found a significant neolithic settlement provisionally dated to around 3500BC, as well as medieval structures, raising the suggestion that Dreghorn could be Britain's oldest continuously inhabited village. Both Irvine and Dreghorn have grown in size and they are now separated by the Annick Valley Park, which incorporates a footpath and National Cycle Route 73 on the route of the disused Irvine to Busby railway line.

The Church of Scotland Dreghorn and Springside Parish Church at the centre of the village dates from 1780. Its octagonal plan which is unusual in Scotland was produced by the church's principal benefactor, Archibald Montgomerie, 11th Earl of Eglinton. The village's most famous inhabitant, John Boyd Dunlop, was born at a Dreghorn farm in 1840, and in 1887 when practicing as a veterinary surgeon in Belfast he invented pneumatic tyres for bicycles.

The village of Dreghorn lies 3.5 kilometres (2.2 mi) east of the centre of Irvine, North Ayrshire, on a ridge between Annick Water to its immediate north, and the River Irvine further to the south. The old main road from Irvine to Kilmarnock (now the B7081) formed the original village street along the ridge. As Townfoot, it rises to the high point of the ridge at the Parish Church in the centre of the village, then continues as Main Street east along the ridge, down to the nearby village of Springside which is also in Dreghorn Parish.

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