WILLOCKSTON BARRACKS

During his career in the army, Colonel William Fullarton served in France, India and South Africa. He led an expedition to Mexico against the Spaniards and when Britain was threatened he raised locally the 23rd Light Dragoons. Known as the Fullarton Light Horse and 102 Regiment of Foot, they were barracked in Troon at the top of Willockston Road. The officers' Polo ground to the rear of the barracks is now the Fullarton golf course. Soldiers had their own polo ground in what is now the Municipal golf course. Colonel William Fullarton twice represented Ayrshire in Parliament and in 1801 was appointed Governor of Trinidad.

SMUGGLERS PATH

Smuggling in Troon was big business, foreign goods like rum, tea, lace, silk as well as everyday items such as salt had a heavy duty on them. To avoid the payment of this duty, ships used tax free havens like the Isle of man and Ireland as huge store houses for the contraband coming from the continent.

Small bays on the Ayrshire coast made it an ideal landing spot. Records go back to 1857 when the path from Willockston Road across the golf course was used by the smugglers. They came from Troon shore up to the woods en route to Loans and Dundonald in a bid to keep out of the way of the redcoats. In Ayrshire the smuggling era excise laws were regarded as unjust and tyrannical. Many thought it was their duty to evade them by using illegal methods, cunning and brute force, but many would not have survived without the income this trade generated.

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