Postscript

Back (Strathclyde Regional Council to the Present Day)

For those readers interested in studying Ayrshire roads further, it will seen from this study how many unresolved problems there are. Some relating to the prehistoric period and the Dark Ages will probably have to wait for detailed archaeological and historical research before they can be resolved. Others like the post-mediaeval period may not be resolvable although one suspects careful analysis of existing information could yield good results. Other problems, touched on in the introduction, although difficult are interesting in their own right and likely to repay close study.

In more recent times, the problems are caused not by there being too little information but by there being too much. Thomson's map of 1828 for example shows thousands of miles of roads and tracks and the official records, especially if you include those held by the local authorities, are extremely detailed. One way round this is to be selective as has been done here; another is to deal with a manageable amount of information by dealing with, say, the roads of a parish.

Whatever the case, studying roads can be recommended as an enjoyable pursuit whether it's tramping through the hills or sitting in a library on a rainy day. One might not discover a Roman road but there is always the chance….

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