Lindston Loch was a small freshwater loch situated within a glacial 'kettle hole.' The loch lies in the South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire

South Ayrshire is one of 32 council areas of Scotland, covering the southern part of Ayrshire. It borders onto East Ayrshire, North Ayrshire and Dumfries and Galloway....

 Council Area, Parish of Dalrymple

Dalrymple

Dalrymple may refer to:* HMS Dalrymple , frigate of the British Royal Navy* Dalrymple's sign, a medical condition of the eyes associated with goitre-Places:* Dalrymple, Queensland, the first inland town in northern Australia...

, 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...

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The loch

In the 1870s the OS map shows that the loch was circa 200 yards (180 metres) long by 100 yards (90 metres) wide, roughly oval in shape, and of an extent of 1.125ha or 2.78 acres however a section to the south-west had been infilled, possibly with quarrying waste from the nearby abandoned quarries. The loch was fed by burns running down from near Boghall and Balsarroch.

Drainage

The loch's drainage may have begun in the 18th century when Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton

Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton

Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton , was a Scottish peer.Eglinton was the son of the 9th Earl of Eglinton. His mother and third wife of the 9th Earl was Susanna Montgomery, Countess of Eglinton the renowned society beauty...

, was pursuing a number of agricultural improvements on his extensive estates and other landowners followed his example. Some drainage work may have taken place in the 1740s because of the improvements undertaken to provide employment for Irish estate workers during the Irish potato famines of the 1740's and the mid 19th centuries. Many drainage schemes also date to the end of WWI when many soldiers returned en masse to civilian life.

Uses

An outflow once ran down towards Dustyhall and joined the Purclewan Burn that powered the mill at Burnton. It is recorded that drainage works were carried out in 1790.

Curling matches are recorded at the loch on 15 January 1850 and on 19 December 1844. A curling pond was still recorded in the late 1890s.

Archaeology

In 1790 Smith records that a bronze tripod ewer was found in Lindston Loch, measuring 95/8 inches high, by 3¼ inches across the mouth, spreading out to 41/8 inches. It has a spout and handle and is regarded being of late medieval origin; for many years it was kept at the Dalrymple Manse. A bronze tripod ewer, with spout and handle, almost identical to the Lindston Loch specimen, was found at nearby Skeldon.

Lindston Camp sat above the loch, on the nearly level summit of a broad ridge 400 feet above the sea. A circular wet ditch, 2l feet wide and 2 or 3 deep to the surface of the weedy water, encloses a space 130 feet in diameter, scarcely rising above the surface of the surrounding field, and has no trace of a rampart. The earthwork remains may possibly been a henge

Henge

There are three related types of Neolithic earthwork which are all sometimes loosely called henges. The essential characteristic of all three types is that they feature a ring bank and ditch but with the ditch inside the bank rather than outside...

commanding magnificent views in all directions. The entrance has been in the E where a causeway (7m broad) crosses the ditch.

Etymology

The meaning of Lindston may derive from Lind, the Scots for a Lime (Tilia sps) or Linden tree. It was also used in the general sense of woodland. The overall sense being that of a 'rocky outcrop within woodland'.

Natural history

The loch in 1846 was well stocked with pike, perch, and eels, and was frequented by wild-duck, teal, widgeon, and other aquatic fowl. An extensive woodland extends towards Lindston Farm and large areas of reeds (Phragmites sps) are present. The loch site recorded as a wildlife site within South Ayrshire. The OS maps of the 1870s show a plantation beneath Lindston Farm and extensive areas of willow scrub have developed.