Irvine could soon celebrate its association with a top horror writer after a request was made to name streets to commemorate his work.

Streets in Irvine could soon pay tribute to Edgar Allan Poe, writer of The Raven, Masque of the Red Death and Murders in the Rue Morgue, after street names were put forward for a development in Annick.

This is after North Ayrshire’s various Locality Partnerships had recently been asked to engage with the community to consider new street names to create a bank for future use.

A community councillor, who put forward two Poe-themed names, said Irvine should make more of it’s association with the top horror writer, suggesting this could drive more goths to the town similar to Whitby in England – which makes much of its association with Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

At the May meeting of Irvine Community Council, Jackie Frew said: “I have proposed Edgar Allan Way or Pendulum Way.

“Edgar Allan Poe lived in Irvine longer than Robert Burns, who is our national bard, and there is actually a town in England, Whitby that gets a massive influx every year because of this gothic heritage some young people are into.”

Names have been put forward to the Locality Partnership, which NAC had been using to build up a bank of street names for use in future developments.

Edgar Allan Poe was born Edgar Poe in Boston, Massachusetts in 1809 before his father abandoned the family and then died in 1810. His mother died the following year and Poe was subsequently taken into the home of John Allan, a successful Scottish merchant and, although never formally adopted, was given the name Edgar Allan Poe. In 1815, the family sailed to Britain and stayed at the home of John Allan’s sister Mary at Bridgegate House, Irvine a two-storey tenement.

The former Irvine resident was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story genre, came to be considered the inventor of the detective fiction genre, and is further credited with contributing to the emerging genre of science fiction. 

He has also been described as one to the first authors to have made, or attempted to make, his living solely from writing. Among his works are The Raven and The Pit and the Pendulum.