This temple had eight pillars arranged around it and was built by Colonel William Fullarton on the isthmus at Troon. It had an inscription on it: Baccho laetitiae datori, amacis et otio sacrum, which translates as Erected to Bacchus, the giver of happiness, for friends and for leisure. It was demolished to allow for the construction of a new harbour road.
This area of the Ayrshire coast was particularly noted for smuggling activity in the eighteenth century and a story is told of a time in April 1767 when customs officials tried to obtain the use of the Temple, however Mrs Fullarton was away and the servants were ‘unable or unwilling’ to hand over the keys:
The Temple having been removed remained a cherished memory of many:
The following poem seems not to have had any light of day since it was written more than 250 years ago. I came across it in the Scots Magazine of 1765. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful if this Temple had survived:
