KILMARNOCK  , a municipal and

police burgh of Ayrshire, Scotland, on Kilmarnock Water, a tributary of the Irvine, 24 M . S.W. of Glasgow by the Glasgow & South-Western railway . Pop . (1901), 35,091 . Among the chief buildings are the town hall, court-house, corn-exchange (with the Albert Tower, 110 ft. high), observatory, academy, corporation art gallery, institute (containing a free library and a museum), Kay schools, School of Science and Art, Athenaeum, theatre, infirmary, Agricultural Hall, and Philosophical Institution . The grounds of Kilmarnock House, presented to the town in 1893, were laid out as a public park . In Kay Park (484 acres), purchased from the duke of Portland for £9000, stands the Burns Memorial, consisting of two storeys and a tower, and containing a museum in which have been placed many important MSS. of the poet and the McKie library of Burns's books . The marble statue of the poet, by W . G . Stevenson, stands on a terrace on the southern face . A Reformers' monument was unveiled in Kay Park in 1885 . Kilmarnock rose into importance in the 17th century by its production of striped woollen " Kilmarnock cowls " and broad blue bonnets, and afterwards acquired a great name for its Brussels, Turkey and Scottish carpets .

Tweeds, blankets, shawls, tartans,

lace curtains, cottons and winceys are also produced . The boot and shoe trade is prosperous, and there are extensive engineering and hydraulic machinery works . But the iron industry is prominent, the town being situated in the midst of a rich mineral region . Here, too, are the workshops of the Glasgow & South-Western railway company . Kilmarnock is famous for its dairy produce, and every October holds the largest cheese-show in Scotland . The neighbourhood abounds in freestone and coal . The burgh, which is governed by a provost and council, unites with Dumbarton, Port Glasgow, Renfrew and Rutherglen in returning one member to parliament . Alexander Smith, the poet (183o-1867), whose father was a lace-pattern designer, and Sir James Shaw (1764-1843), lord mayor of London in 18o6, to whom a statue was erected in the town in 1848, were natives of Kilmarnock . It dates from the 15th century, and in 1591 was made a burgh of barony under the Boyds, the ruling house of the district . The last Boyd who bore the title of Lord Kilmarnock was beheaded on Tower Hill, London, in 1746, for his share in the Jacobite rising . The first edition of Robert Burns's poems was published here in 1786 .