The History of the Ryburns   -:  STEPPING STONES TO THE PAST  :-

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The name RYBURN originated in Scotland in medieval times, when my ancestors acquired land formerly owned by the Knights Templar, in an area just north of Dunlop Village in Ayrshire.  The property was known as 'Temple Ryburn'.  The earliest Ryburn I have found, though, was a 'William de Ryeburne', who in 1251 was fined by the Abbot of Byland apropos an alder wood at Scackleton, North Yorkshire.  He probably came from the Ryburn Valley in West Yorkshire.  So far, the earliest reference to an Ayrshire Ryburn was in 1496, when a Robert Ryburn witnessed an 'Instrument of Sasine given by a noble knight, Sir Adam Mure, of Caldwell'.  Did you know that a John Ryburn, 1530, is in 'Foxe's Book of Martyrs', or that two other John Ryburns 'of that ilk' were involve in two separate feuding murders in Ayrshire in the late 1500s.  The second victim was the Earl of Eglinton!  John the elder was himself murdered in 1571.  In 1603 a 'Johne Ryburne' was outlawed on what looks like a trumped-up charge of adultery and child murder.  He fled to Ireland.  The old Ryburn Manor and lands near Dunlop were sold by Neil Ryburn in 1638, and in the 1650s another John Ryburn, probably Neil's son, moved  to the Kintyre Peninsula, near Campbeltown, to join the First Marquis of Argyll's 'Plantation' Scheme. There followed many generations of Kintyre Ryburns. Since those times, the Ryburns have spread far, first to other parts of Scotland, England and Ireland, to North America and the Caribbean, to New Zealand, the abode of my immediate forbears, and Australia, where I and most of my family now live.  Only a few Ryburns remain in the British Isles.  The majority are in the USA. My favorite explanation of the name Ryburn, told to me as a boy, is that a 'rye' was a river crossing made from stepping stones.  In Robbie Burns' song, "Comin Thro' the Rye" a girl meets a boy crossing a rye - not a field of grain.  She cannot avoid being kissed without getting her petticoats wet.  Of course, a 'burn' is a stream.  There is a 'Rye Water', or 'Ryeburn', at Dalry, not far from Dunlop. The name Ryburn has endured many spelling variations, but I have discovered that the name 'Raeburn' seems to have a separate origin from near Gretna Green.  The ancestors of Sir Henry Raeburn, the famous Scottish portrait painter, came from there.  A pity about that! My main contributions to this Web site are two articles as PDF files, Stewart & Donald Ryburn's list of Campbel- town births, and Kintyre trees as a PDF file and zipped GEDCOM file that can be imported into most family tree programs (e.g. Personal Ancestral File - it's free) Early Ayrshire Ryburns  PDF  - 539  Kbyte    8 Apr  2009 Kintyre Ryburns           PDF  - 1.16 Mbyte   19 Jan 2010 Kintyre Births              PDF  - 2.5   Mbyte   ~1973 Mathew Ryburn's Tree  PDF  - 17    Kbyte   7 Apr  2009 Kintyre Ryburn Tree     ZIP   - 50    Kbyte  10 Aug 2008 These files are works in progress and will be updated as new information comes to light.  The Kintyre tree is hypothetical in parts, but is extensively annotated. This Web site is dedicated to furthering knowledge about the origins and history of the Ryburns.  Like the Ryburns, this site has humble beginnings, but it should expand and improve over time. You can email me at  rryburn@netspeed.com.au I will try to include all relevant information you care to send me, and I would love to hear the sagas of North American Ryburns.  Plenty of room for more PDF files! Roderick James Ryburn, Canberra, Australia, 29/06/2008 PS:  The 1886 photo in the heading (click photo to enlarge) is the family of my great grandfather, Robert McNair Ryburn, who migrated to New Zealand from Cambeltown, Scotland, in 1859.  Last updated 19 January, 2010

The location of Dunlop & Campbeltown. . Hapland Farmhouse, near Dunlop, Ayrshire, 2007. Called 'Ryeburn' on 1856 Ordindance Survey. Traces of the old 'Ryburn Manor', Dunlop, Ayrshire. Image courtesy Google Earth, 2007.  Click to enlarge. Ford across the Rye Water, or 'Rye Burn', near Dalry, Ayrshire.  Photo by Roger Griffith, 2008. Drumlemble Village, on the 'Laggan' plain, Kintyre. Several generations of Ryburns lived near there.