Good dark image which would look great framed. This print is in good condition and is on a sheet 10.25 x 7.25 inches (26 x 18.5 cm) with a blank back. This print was published in an 1797 edition of "The Antiquities of Scotland by Francis Grose". Francis Grose (1731–1791) was an antiquary and lexicographer, of Swiss extraction. He published Antiquities of England and Wales (1773–87), which was well received, and thereafter, in 1789, set out on an antiquarian tour through Scotland, the fruit of which was Antiquity of Scotland (1789–91). He afterwards undertook a similar expedition to Ireland, but died suddenly at Dublin.

Ayr (Scottish Gaelic, Inbhir Àir) in the south-west of Scotland is a town and port situated on the Firth of Clyde. It was a royal burgh from 1205 until 1975 and the county town of the former county of Ayrshire.

St John's Tower is a remarkable feature in Ayr. The tower was one of the later additions to the original kirk of Ayr, first established around 1300. It was in this old kirk (although new then of course) that the nobility and Parliament of Scotland officially passed the crown to Robert The Bruce at a specially convened meeting. From here Cromwell established himself and commanded most of Scotland, building for his troops a garrison, much of the walls of which remain extant.

In 1652 Oliver Cromwell's men built a fort in Ayr, which incorporated the Church of St John, the Baptist. In 1654 Cromwell gave money to build another Kirk, the Auld Kirk, to replace it. In the Early years of the burgh, Ayr's parish church was at the centre of Ayr, St John the Baptist Church. It was responsible for the Education and Social welfare of Ayr.

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