Home Report Catrine

Catrine, in the council area of East Ayrshire, is a village of roughly 2230 residents that lies on the River Ayr. It is a picturesque village in amongst the southern lowlands of Scotland just a couple of miles southeast of Mauchline and about 12 miles southeast of Kilmarnock.

Catrine was established in the late 18th century when a cotton mill was established. With the nearby River Ayr providing abundant waterpower the mill was expanded and became increasingly mechanised until a new mill was built in the mid-20th century. The mill ran all the way through into the 20-century until its closed in the 1970s. Today Glen Catrine Bond have a whisky and vodka bottling plant in the town.

Today Catrine is more of a sleepy byway for residents working in the village and in larger settlements nearby such as Ayr, Kilmarnock, Cumnock, Auchinleck, and Mauchline. Residents rely on public transport by bus or car on the A76 road to the southwest of the village. The town has no railway line of its own at present, the nearest of which is in Auchinleck.

In terms of local amenities, the village has the usual array of shops. For a much wider and more diverse choice of amenities and attractions, residents must go to the likes of Kilmarnock and Ayr.

As for local schooling then, Catrine Primary is the only primary school in the village. St. Patrick’s Primary is the closest catholic school in nearby Auchinleck. Children of secondary school age attend The Robert Burns Academy in Cumnock.