Jacks Road

To understand the naming of Jacks Road in Saltcoats, we need to travel back over 200 years. Centuries ago, much of the land behind Saltcoats was known as the Land of Dykes. There was also adjoining land with names that are still used in Saltcoats today, including Dykes Mains, Laigh Dykes, and Mid Dykes. In the late 18th century, several acres of Dykes, including a house and farm, were sold to a man named John Jack.

John Jack was born on 24 April 1742, son of William Jack and Jean Kerr. He married Margaret Auld on 5 July 1779. When he bought the land, John renovated the house and named it Springvale. The land included fields both above and below the High Road.

The house and farm stood for over a century, initially being passed to John’s granddaughter when he died on 24 January 1822, before being sold to the Earl of Eglinton (who owned virtually all the surrounding land) in the 1850s. Springvale burned down in 1897, and a few years later it became the site of the Ardrossan & Saltcoats Joint Hospital. The hospital became a nursery around the 1940s, and Springvale Early Years Centre still occupies the site today. Other than the name Springvale, nothing remains of the original farm today.

In the early days of the farm the only way to travel by road between Springvale and Saltcoats town was via what’s now Sorbie Road in Ardrossan to the west, or the Old Raise Road to the east. At some point around the turn of the 19th century, a slightly more direct road to the town was constructed across Springvale (though it may also have been to access various fields on the property), leading from the High Road near the farmhouse and joining up with what is now Caledonia Road.

As this road was on John Jack’s property, and led to his home at Springvale House, it was known as Jack’s Road. The houses on the east side of the street were built around the 1920s or so. The park to the west is often known locally as “Jack’s Park”.