Qualla: Stevenston https://qualla.com/stevenston en-us © 2026 Bendyline Wed, 08 Jul 2026 02:40:16 GMT Qualla serial false Qualla support@bendyline.com yes https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/hero-small.webp Qualla: Stevenston https://qualla.com/stevenston Stevenston: Introduction https://qualla.com/stevenston/ Photo credit Mwhite148, Public domain. On 8 September 2007, somewhere between 1,500 and 1,700 tons of nitrocellulose, stored in an open area at the Nobel site at Ardeer, caught fire. There was little property damage. No serious injuries. The town that lives next door to one of the largest explosives works in British history had grown used to that kind of news. Stevenston, the eastern third of Ayrshire's Three Towns, sits where dune sand meets industrial chemistry, where the Firth of Clyde meets the leftover infrastructure of two centuries of dangerous work. A pleasant beach. A nature reserve. A factory making nitrocellulose. The combinations are oddly characteristic.

Read more: Stevenston on Qualla

Image: Mwhite148 | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/gcus-stevenston-intro.mp3 0:06 1 full Stevenston: Bonnie Lesley and the Bonds of the Past https://qualla.com/stevenston/ Photo credit Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 3.0. The town takes its name from Stephan Loccard, a twelfth-century landholder whose father had received a grant from Richard de Morville, Lord of Cunninghame and Constable of Scotland, around 1170. Stevenston first appears in a charter around 1240. Castle Hill at Hullerhirst may onc...

Read more: Stevenston on Qualla

Image: Rosser1954 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/gcus-stevenston-bonnie-lesley-and-the-bonds-of-the-past.mp3 0:06 2 full Stevenston: The First Commercial Canal in Scotland https://qualla.com/stevenston/ Photo credit Rosser1954 at English Wikipedia, Public domain. The Stevenston Canal, cut in 1772, was the first commercial canal Scotland ever built. It was two miles long, twelve feet wide, four feet deep, lockless, and followed the line of an old sea channel from when Ardeer was an island. Branches reached out to the coalpits, and barges c...

Read more: Stevenston on Qualla

Image: Rosser1954 at English Wikipedia | Public domain

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/gcus-stevenston-the-first-commercial-canal-in-scotland.mp3 0:06 3 full Stevenston: Nobel, ICI, and the Long Shadow of Explosives https://qualla.com/stevenston/ Photo credit SGM, CC BY-SA 2.0. In the twentieth century, Stevenston became one of Britain's principal explosives towns. Nobel Industries, later absorbed into ICI, employed thousands at Ardeer making chemicals and high explosives. A nylon plant arrived in the 1960s; a nitric acid plant followed. The closure of ...

Read more: Stevenston on Qualla

Image: SGM | CC BY-SA 2.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/gcus-stevenston-nobel-ici-and-the-long-shadow-of-explosives.mp3 0:06 4 full Stevenston: Sand, Beach, and the People Who Stayed https://qualla.com/stevenston/ Photo credit Rosser1954, CC BY-SA 3.0. Stevenston has its consolations. Stevenston Beach Local Nature Reserve and the Ardeer Quarry parklands are open to walkers and bird-watchers at all hours, patrolled by the North Ayrshire Council Ranger Service. The dunes are some of the finest on the Firth of Clyde coast. The foo...

Read more: Stevenston on Qualla

Image: Rosser1954 | CC BY-SA 3.0

]]> Thu, 28 May 2026 00:00:00 GMT https://qualla.com/_m/g/c/u/s/stevenston-wp/gcus-stevenston-sand-beach-and-the-people-who-stayed.mp3 0:06 5 full