Three hundred yards beyond the entrance to the Airport, a new roundabout offers an exit (left) to the Airport Driving Range. If golf is not your pastime, you will probably take the right exit to the town centre, passing Monkton North Parish Church on the left.

At the north end of the town stands a building with a gothic spire and inset clock. Originally built in 1844 as a meeting place for the Freemen of the Burgh, it also served at one time as a school and later became the town jail. Look for evidence of narrow windows once giving light to the cells! It then became the Town Chambers but nowadays it is the Registrar's Office. Wedding banns are displayed by the door for all to see and it is the venue for local Civil weddings.

The space in front of this building was the original site of the Mercat Cross. This was the trading centre of the old town. In 1777 a stone cross was built to replace earlier wooden crosses and it survives to this day. In more recent years it served as a seat for the weary waiting at the nearby bus stop. In the 1960's it was moved to its present site in front of the Post Office but its base is still a convenient seat, one of a number in the immediate area. Co-incidentally, it marks the site of the former underground Gents' Convenience ! Above, the Mercat Cross circa 1905.

Turning at the Registrars' Office into Kirk Street, a short walk will take you to the interesting ruin and graveyard of the Church of St. Nicholas. The site is thought to date back to the 12th century. The history of this ancient church has been chronicled over the years by local writers.

At Prestwick' Cross the turning to the west is Station Road which, not surprisingly, leads to the Railway Station. Beyond the station, it is renamed as Links Road, dominated on the right by Prestwick Golf Club. At the roadside a Cairn, unveiled in 1977 by Henry Cotton, marks the site of the first Open Championship. On the other side of the road are a number of hotels, many deriving their names from proximity to the famous old course. Turning left shortly before the end of Links Road, we are in Ardayre Road. Fifty metres along is the car park and rear entrance of the Parkstone Hotel. To the front, the Parkstone looks out directly onto the esplanade, the beach, the Firth of Clyde and Arran beyond. At the end of Links Road on our right is Malcolm Sargent House.
Back at the Cross you will find Vanity Fair a beauty salon with a range of treatments to restore weary golf addicts of both sexes !

Keeping to the Main Street, the beautifully kept Boydfield Gardens are to the right, offering a seat and a good viewpoint . Opposite, look for the entrance to what was, until fairly recently the Town Hall, a grand upper Hall, venue of many fine concerts, dances, garden shows and the like. Now the building has been converted into private homes.

A little further on the right, in these days, stood Galbraiths, a baker and tearoom famed for cream cakes.

For some readers, this view might bring to mind the aroma of freshly ground coffee from Coopers (long gone), and a little further on the smell of floor polish from Thom's Laundry Shop (quite different from the aroma of boiling linen wafting from the laundry itself), and the surely unforgettable Saturday morning disinfectant from the Broadway Cinema, where many local youngsters enjoyed the matinee programmes ! In earlier years the legendary Harry Lauder performed on its stage, no doubt with walking stick.

At the south end of the town, behind the Episcopalian Church of St Ninian is Bruce's Well. Legend has it that Robert Bruce drank water from here and was cured of leprosy. There are several versions of this legend but they seem to agree that Bruce visited the site and had some involvement in the founding or supporting of a leper hospital and chapel. The ruins of this strongly built St Ninian's Chapel are still to be seen.

Travelling south towards Ayr, at Prestwick Toll we now find the Centrum Ice Rink. This area used to be open ground, normally laid out as a soccer pitch, which many will remember as the venue for a travelling circus which arrived each year parading through the town. There were also "shows" (travelling fairground attractions), and charity fetes.
From here it is only a few yards to the boundary with the town of Ayr.

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