Some of the locations where William Howat and his family lived are shown on this map of the time. Having been married in Muirkirk, William and Jean had their first child Janet in St Quivox. Euphemia was born in Old Monkland which is off the map to the north and the children Helen, William and John were born back in Muirkirk. Newton upon Ayr (green circle) was originally a burgh in its own right on the north side of the River Ayr. In 1873, the Burgh and the Royal Burgh of Ayr merged. The main feature of the old burgh is the Georgian Steeple which stands as a traffic island at King Street. The Bruce family line is descended through William and Jean’s son William Howat (1811-1878) who worked as a coalminer all his life. The records show he spent most of his life living in Riccarton and Galston.
At the beginning of the 19th century Galston’s character and appearance began to change from a textile and agricultural centre to a major coal mining area. The arrival of the railway from Kilmarnock in 1848 allowed new coal seams to open up. Towards the end of the 19th century Galston had fifteen pits around the town employing around one thousand miners. (a warren of disused mines lies far below the streets). This brought wealth to the town allowing significant expansion and bound generations of the town’s people together. The 20th Century saw the decline of mining locally and the last pit (Maxwood Pit) closed in 1933.