Back Street, Kilmarnock Various locations feature significantly in the Bruce family history. One of the earliest was Back Street, Kilmarnock, which no longer exists but which is marked on the 1831 map of Kilmarnock below and has quite a lot of history, a miscellany of which follows. Back Street was originally Smiddie Raw, or Smiddieraw, and as such it was one of the very early streets of the town, probably dating from around the 17th century. As the earlier name implies this lane had several blacksmiths. It marked the north west edge of town and it contained Sandy Patrick’s pub, which was frequented by Robert Burns. This area was redeveloped early in the 19th century to make way for Portland Street, but part of Back Street was retained well into the 20th century when it was renamed Church Street.