Cumnock

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For the small town of the same name in New South Wales, Australia, see Cumnock, New South Wales.

Cumnock is a burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland. An industrial town with a population of around 10,000, it was once a centre for coal mining and textiles - however hardly any industry remains. Unemployment is high and the towns postcode (KA18) was announced as the poorest Postal Code in Britain in 2001. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the River Lugar. There are two neighbouring housing projects which lie just outside the town boundaries, Netherthird and Logan, with the former ironworks settlement of Lugar also just outside the town.

In the present day, Cumnock is a town associated with drug abuse. With one of the highest rates of drug users in Scotland, heroin and crack cocaine being the biggest problem.^{[citation needed]}

Though it housed many miners, Cumnock was not just a mining town - it served as the market town for the other, smaller towns in the district, like Auchinleck, Ochiltree, Lugar, Muirkirk and New Cumnock (parts of which, incidentally, are said to be older than Cumnock)

The town has a strong socialist heritage due to its role as a mining centre. The father of the Labour Party, James Keir Hardie, resided in the town for a large part of his life, and though he never actually represented it as an elected figure, a statue to him sits outside the town hall, and a small housing scheme in the town (Keir Hardie Hill) is named after him. The popular left-wing politician Emrys Hughes was local MP for a time in the mid-20th century, and also lived in the town.

William Wallace allegedly lived in Cumnock for a short time, according to the book, The Wallace, by Blind Harry. Cumnock is also in the heart of Robert Burns country and the poet is said to have spent time there.

As it lost its railway station and local industries declined in the later 20th century, Cumnock's economy suffered badly, and for a time it seemed to be destined to become a ghost town. In more recent years however things have looked brighter. With a new road development providing a faster link to Kilmarnock and Glasgow, it seems to be becoming something of a commuter town, with new modern housing developments appearing in the suburbs.

Cumnock also plays host to one of Scotland's biggest Junior football teams, Cumnock Juniors. Though attracting big attendances and spending large sums of money in pursuit of success, they have been overshadowed by the achievements of local rivals Auchinleck Talbot, who hail from the adjacent town and local derby matches between the two put the likes of the Old Firm, Milan and clasico derbies in the shade.

Like many towns in the area, Cumnock is divided on religious grounds, with strong Catholic and Protestant communities. For many years there were two secondary schools, Cumnock Academy and Saint Conval's High School - which was later annexed with St Joseph's Academy in Kilmarnock and became known as St Joseph's Cumnock Campus. In 2004 however St Joseph's Cumnock Campus was shut down due to falling attendance figures, and the town's Catholic children now attend the original St Joseph's Academy in nearby Kilmarnock.