Seamill
Encyclopedia
Village
A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet with the population ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand , Though often located in rural areas, the term urban village is also applied to certain urban neighbourhoods, such as the West Village in Manhattan, New...
in North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire
North Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas in Scotland with a population of roughly 136,000 people. It is located in the south-west region of Scotland, and borders the areas of Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire to the north-east and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the East and South...
on the west coast of Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, about 5 miles north of Ardrossan
Ardrossan
Ardrossan is a town on the North Ayrshire coast in south-western Scotland. The name "Ardrossan" describes its physical position — 'ard' from the Gaelic àird meaning headland, 'ros' a promontory and the diminutive suffix '-an' - headland of the little promontory...
and 8 miles south of Largs
Largs
Largs is a town on the Firth of Clyde in North Ayrshire, Scotland, about from Glasgow. The original name means "the slopes" in Scottish Gaelic....
.
It is sometimes considered part of West Kilbride
West Kilbride
West Kilbride is a village in North Ayrshire, on the west coast of Scotland by the Firth of Clyde, looking across the water to Goat Fell and the Isle of Arran...
, and sometimes considered as a village in its own right. The local authority has sought to consolidate it with West Kilbride by signposting it as "West Kilbride incorporating Seamill", however its location on the major A78 trunk road
A78 road
The A78 is an A road in Scotland. It connects Greenock and Prestwick on a route which follows the northern section of the Ayrshire coast.-Route:...
(West Kilbride proper is bypassed) means that it is still locally identified as an entity in its own right.
It is named after one of its oldest buildings, the Sea Mill, a grain watermill that appears in Johannes Blaeu's Atlas of Scotland published in Amsterdam in 1654. Seamill village has a golf club
Country club
A country club is a private club, often with a closed membership, that typically offers a variety of recreational sports facilities and is located in city outskirts or rural areas. Activities may include, for example, any of golf, tennis, swimming or polo...
known as West Kilbride Golf Club, with a putting practice green and a course with eighteen holes.
It also has a hotel
Hotel
A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...
called the Seamill Hydro which has a swimming pool
Swimming pool
A swimming pool, swimming bath, wading pool, or simply a pool, is a container filled with water intended for swimming or water-based recreation. There are many standard sizes; the largest is the Olympic-size swimming pool...
, tennis court
Tennis court
A tennis court is where the game of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the center. The same surface can be used to play both doubles and singles.-Dimensions:...
and a football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
pitch. The Seamill Hydro first opened in 1880, during the boom period of hydropathic establishments. These commenced as mostly as therapeutic establishments, but over time morphed into hotel format, with Seamill Hydro being one of the few such surviving facilities from that era.