page_title: Symington, South Ayrshire
section_title: The Slough of Despond
hierarchical_section_title: Symington, South Ayrshire / The Slough of Despond
caption_attribution_description: English: At the Slough of Despond, Slough Burn, South Ayrshire, Scotland. Looking north.
context_page_description: Symington is a conservation village in South Ayrshire, Scotland. It is located in Symington Parish, covering 0.41 square kilometres, and lies close to the A77 road from Ayr to Glasgow. Its church, built in 1160, remains one of the finest examples of a Norman church in Scotland.
context_section_description: On the boundary of Dundonald and Symington parishes lies an area known as the 'Slough of Despond'. The original Slough of Despond is a  deep bog in John Bunyan's  allegory The Pilgrim's Progress into which the character Christian sinks under the weight of his sins and his sense of guilt for them.
  The burn in this area, rising near the old Broadhirst Farm, has long been known as the Slough, the Scots equivalent spelling is Sleugh, meaning a marsh or quagmire. It is not known how the name 'Slough of  Despond' was added to the area, however it is recorded since the mid 19th century and may be linked to the nearby limekilns that were generally notorious for the acrid 'hell-like' smoke that issued from them.
  The Slough Burn still rises from the marshy area below the Broadhirst Woods, however the limestone quarry that served the limekilns is now abandoned, surviving as an area rich in wildlife, containing old woodland indicator plants such as Wood Anemone (Anemone nemorosa), Bluebell (Hyacinthoides non-scripta), Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), Dog's Mercury (Mercurialis perennis), Herb Robert (Geranium robertianum) and other species. The Slough Burn runs down past Dankeith House, Templeton and Fortacres, Todrigs and Caprington, to join the River Irvine near Gatehead.
caption: The Slough Burn in the Slough of Despond.
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