MAYBOLE, a burgh of barony and market-town of Scotland, in the county of Ayr, 9 miles south of Ayr on the railway to Stranraer, is built on the face of a hill gently sloping to the south. The characteristic features of the place are the old family mansions in the main street, the castle of the earls of Cassilis, and the old church ruins with the Cassilis burial-place. It has recently increased considerably in size, and it is now busy with various manufacturing industries in addition to its staple trade of shoemaking. The population was 3797 in 1871 and 4474 in 1881. New waterworks to supply 60,000 gallons daily were commenced in 1882; the site of the reservoir, about 3 miles south-east of the town, is almost that of the remarkable Lochspouts crannog (see Ayr and Wigton Arch, and Hist. Collections, vol. iii.; and Munro, Ancient Scottish Lake Dwellings, 1882).

A charter was granted to the town by Duncan in 1193; and the church was bestowed in 1213 on the Cistercian nunnery at North Berwick. In 1516 Maybole became a burgh of regality, and in 1639 the seat of the head courts of Carrick; but the independence of its local government was long contested by the superiors, the earls of Cassilis. Cotton weaving was introduced in the 18th century.

See J. Paterson, History of Ayr and JΓigton, vol. ii., 1864.