River Irvine

Irvine
River
The Irvine near Drybridge
Country	Scotland
Source
- location	near Loudoun Hill, Drumclog, Lanarkshire, Scotland
- elevation	810 ft (247 m)
Mouth
- location	Firth of Clyde
Length	42 km (26 mi)
Basin	380 km2 (147 sq mi)

The River Irvine (Scottish Gaelic: Irbhinn) is a river that flows through southwest Scotland. Its watershed is on the Lanarkshire border of Ayrshire at an altitude of 810 feet (250 m) above sea-level, near Loudoun Hill, Drumclog, and 7 miles (11 km) SW by W of Strathaven. It flows 29½ miles westward, dividing the old district of Cunninghame from that of Kyle, until it reaches the sea via Irvine Harbour in the form of the Firth of Clyde, and flows into Irvine Bay by the town of Irvine. It has many tributaries, some of which form parish, district and other boundaries.

The River Irvine rises in two head-waters, the one in a moss at Meadow-head, on the eastern boundary of the parish of Loudoun or of Ayrshire, and the other a mile eastward in the parish of Avondale in Lanarkshire, near the battle-field of Drumclog.

About 2¾ miles from the point of its entering Ayrshire, it is joined from the north by Glen water, which strictly speaking is the parent stream, on account of its length and the volume of water it carries; for the Glen Water rises at Crosshill in Renfrewshire, a mile north of the East Ayrshire boundary, and runs 6 miles (9.7 km) southward, joined by five rills (small streams) in its progress, to the point of confluence with the Irvine. Swollen by this substantial tributary, the Irvine immediately passes the town of Darvel on the right — 1¾ mile onward, the town of Newmilns — at 2¼ miles farther on, the town of Galston, on the left. The Hagg burn joins before the town, having run past the old ruined castle of Arclowden: Old Loudoun Castle or "The Old Place", near the present Loudoun castle. The Burnanne joins at Galston.