Belston Loch also recorded as Dromsmodda Loch is a small freshwater loch in the East Ayrshire

East Ayrshire

East Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland. It borders on to North Ayrshire, East Renfrewshire, South Lanarkshire, South Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway...

 Council Area, near Sinclairston, 2 miles south-east of Drongan

Drongan

Drongan, a former mining village, is situated on the western edge of Ayrshire, some 8 miles from Ayr and 8 miles from Cumnock and has a population of 3168....

, lying in a glacial Kettle Hole. Parish of Ochiltree

Ochiltree

Ochiltree, spelt Uchletree in the Middle Ages, is a village in East Ayrshire, Scotland near Auchinleck and Cumnock. It is one of the oldest villages in East Ayrshire with archaeological remains indicating Stone Age and Bronze Age settlers....

, Scotland

Scotland

Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...

.

The loch

Belston Loch in the 1880 is recorded as being 400m x 300m, the largest of four small lochs, two of them artificial, within the Parish of Ochiltree. Otherwise surrounded by farmland, the south-west area has a few hectares of woodland adjoining the lochshore.

Etymology

Recorded as Drumsmodda Loch in circa 1654, a Drumsmodden Farm is still extant. The Celtic name may survive in the name Polquhairn or Quhairn Pool.

Cartographic evidence

Robert Gordon's map of circa 1636-52 marks the loch and Auchencloigh Castle nearby., located on the Taiglum Burn. Blaeu map of circa 1654 taken from Timothy Pont

Timothy Pont

Timothy Pont was a Scottish topographer, the first to produce a detailed map of Scotland. Pont's maps are among the earliest surviving to show a European country in minute detail, from an actual survey.-Life:...

's map of circa 1600 shows a Drumsmodda Loch (sic) and nearby Auchencloigh Castle (sic) with sigificant grounds and woodland. A location recorded as Belstain is nearby. Molls map of 1745 shows a single loch that may be Belston. Roy's map of 1747 records the loch position. Armstrong's map of 1775 shows a substantial loch with a Belstoun and a Drumsmiden nearby. In 1821 the loch is clearly shown. In 1832 Thomson's map shows 'Belton Loch' with an inflow burn from Polquhairn.

Uses

The loch is part of Mauchline & Ballochmyle Angling Club; it holds some large rainbow, brown trout, and has some pike.

Curling matches are recorded as having taken place at the loch and a Belston Curling Club existed in the early 20th century. Wattie Young of Polquhairn held the clubs minutes book.

Auchencloigh Castle

Auchencloigh Castle

Auchencloigh Castle

Auchencloigh Castle or Auchincloigh Castle is a ruined fortification near the Burnton Burn, lying within the feudal lands of the Craufurd Clan, situated in the Parish of Ochiltree, East Ayrshire, Scotland.-Auchencloigh Castle:...

 or Auchincloigh Castle (NGR NS 4945 1666) is a ruined fortification in the vicinity of Belston Loch near the Burnton Burn, lying within the feudal lands of the Craufurd Clan, situated in the Parish of Ochiltree, East Ayrshire, Scotland.

Micro-history

The area has seen extensive coal mining activity with an open cast mine and collieries at Drumsmodden, Polquhairn, Old Polquhairn, Auchlin, etc.

George Douglas Brown

George Douglas Brown

George Douglas Brown was a Scottish novelist, best known for his highly influential realist novel The House with the Green Shutters , which was published the year before his death at the age of 33.-Life and work:...

's father lived at Drumsmodden Farm. George was the author of The House with the Green Shutters

The House with the Green Shutters

The House with the Green Shutters is a novel by the Scottish writer George Douglas Brown, first published in 1901 by John MacQueen. Set in mid-19th century Ayrshire, in the fictitious town of Barbie which is based on his native Ochiltree, it consciously violates the conventions of the sentimental...

'.

Early highways ran close to the loch, as indicated by names such as Glenconner, conaire being a Gaelic word for "path", and there is a farm called Rottenrow near to Glenconner, possibly derived from 'Route de Roi', or King's Highway.