Irvine Co-operatives
The River Garnock meets the River Irvine just before it flows into the Firth of Clyde. This resulted in the River Irvine being a naturally deep river that, being not very wide, was a good location for a harbour when ships were relatively small. The result was that Irvine Harbour became one of the most important shipping ports in Scotland. A railway station was opened in 1839.
Irvine had local collieries and was also port for the shipping of coal mined further inland to Ireland. The increased size of ships and dredging of the Clyde led to Irvine declining as a shipping port in the 19th century that continued into the 20th century. The Ayrshire Dockyard Company, a shipyard on the River Irvine, ceased building ships in the 1920s.
Nobel acquired 40 hectares of land on the Ardeer peninsula close to Irvine and opened the British Dynamite Factory in 1871. This, at one time, was described as the largest explosives factory in the world. It had its own jetty in Irvine Harbour and its own railway station. Until about 1965 two trains per day transport workers to the site. ICI took over the plant in 1926 and it was closed in the 1990s.
The harbour is close to the mouth of the river, with Irvine on the east side further inland. Fullarton developed as a seperate village on the west side of the River Irvine, the side the main quay is on. The Irvine Burgh Act 1881 incorporated Fullarton into Irvine.
Irvine was officially designated a new town in 1966, the last new town in Scotland with the Irvine Development Corporation was set up to develope the town. The new town designation and Irvine Development Corporation ended in 1996.
IRVINE AND FULLARTON CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETY 1873-1971
In 1861 A co-operative society was reported in Irvine with 87 members, shares 5/- each. THis appears to have failed. In March 1873 the Scottish Co-operative Iron Company organised a meeting in Irvine to promote co-operation and to announce that it was taking over the town's shipbuilding yard. The co-operative society was started in 1873. The society joined with Kilbirnie in 1974 to form North Ayrshire. This became part of the CWS in 1984
| FULLARTON & IRVINE CO-OPE SOCIETY | ||
|---|---|---|
| File:F&ICoop.H.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.H | |
| Value | ½d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 22 | |
| Manufacture | Plated Iron Bracteate | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.3.jpg | ||
| Source | (ebay no. 295961293067) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.3 | |
| Value | 3d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 22 | |
| Manufacture | Plated Iron Bracteate | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.5S.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.5S | |
| Value | 5/- | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 22 | |
| Manufacture | Plated Iron Bracteate | |
| Notes | ||
| FULLARTON & IRVINE & FULLARTON CO-OPERATIVE SOCY LD | ||
|---|---|---|
| File:F&ICoop.Fa.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.Fa | |
| Value | ¼d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Red Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.Fb | |
| Value | ¼d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Dark Brown Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.Fc.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.Fc | |
| Value | ¼d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Dark Purple Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.Ha.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.Ha | |
| Value | ½d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Turquoise Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.1a.jpg | ||
| Source | (TCS 11) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.1a | |
| Value | 1d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 24 | |
| Manufacture | Red Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.3a | |
| Value | 3d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Dark Blue Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
| File:F&ICoop.6a.jpg | ||
| Source | (DRR) | |
| Filename | F&ICoop.6a | |
| Value | 6d | |
| Add Desc. | ||
| Size (mm) | 25 | |
| Manufacture | Red Plastic | |
| Notes | ||
