Hessilhead Loch or Hazelhead LochKilmarnock Standard was situated in a low-lying area near the old Castle of

Hessilhead Hessilhead is in Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland. Hessilhead used to be called Hazlehead or Hasslehead. The lands were part of the Lordship of Giffen, and the Barony of Hessilhead, within the Baillerie of Cunninghame and the Parish of Beith. T ...

in the Parish of

Beith Beith is a small town in the Garnock Valley, North Ayrshire, Scotland approximately south-west of Glasgow. The town is situated on the crest of a hill and was known originally as the "''Hill o' Beith''" (hill of the birches) after its ''Court ...

North Ayrshire North Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Àir a Tuath, ) is one of 32 council areas in Scotland. The council area borders Inverclyde to the north, Renfrewshire and East Renfrewshire to the northeast, and East Ayrshire and South Ayrshire to the east and so ...

, Scotland. The old loch, used in the defence of the castle, was probably infilled when the castle ruins were landscaped in the 19th century.

History

Defensive use

In 1956 the Royal Commission recorded that ''Hessilhead Castle has been demolished. Extensive quarrying around the site has removed any possible traces of a moat. No building vestiges remain.'' The drainage from the quarry does use what was once a moatThe RCAHMS Canmoresite.
Retrieved : 2011-02-17

Timothy Pont Rev Timothy Pont (c. 1560–c.1627) was a Scottish minister, cartographer and topographer. He was 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 a ...

in around 1604 records that the castle was protected by substantial ditches and stood on a loch. This loch has long since been drained and the ditches filled in. Dobie sees the loch and ditches as the only defensive features of the site.Dobie, Page 194. The

Kilmarnock Standard The ''Kilmarnock Standard'' is a Scottish weekly newspaper published every Wednesday in the town of Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and fo ...

in 1949 wrote an article ''Ancient Ayrshire Castles'' in which it was stated that the castle stood in the middle of a loch ''with ditches'', presumably meaning a

moat A moat is a deep, broad ditch, either dry or filled with water, that is dug and surrounds a castle, fortification, building or town, historically to provide it with a preliminary line of defence. In some places moats evolved into more extensive ...

Drainage

The loch's drainage may have begun in the early 18th century when

Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton (10 February 172325 October 1769), was a Scottish peer. Eglinton was the son of The 9th Earl of Eglinton. His mother, who was the third wife of the 9th Earl, was Susanna, Countess of Eglinton, the ...

, was pursuing a number of agricultural improvements on his extensive estates and other landowners followed his example. Further drainage work may have taken place in the 1740s as part of the improvements undertaken to provide employment for Montgomerie Irish estate workers during the Irish potato famines of the 1740s and the mid 19th centuries.

Curling Pond

The OS map of 1911-12 shows that a curling pond was excavated on part of the old loch site. This pond was abandoned by 1958 as it is no longer shown.

Cartographic evidence

Blaeu's map of 1654, dating from

's survey of circa 1604, clearly shows the loch and indicates that it and the outflow nearly surrounded the castle site. Roy's map of 1747 shows the loch present, situated on the edge of an inflow burn. Armstrong's map of 1775 and Thomson's map of 1832 do not record a loch. The 19th century

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maps show the site as an area free of trees and later (1911–12) as the site of a curling pond. In 2011 the drainage here remains inadequate and the area is dominated by marsh plants.Google Maps
Retrieved : 2011-02-17

References

;Notes ;Sources # Dobie, James D. (ed Dobie, J.S.) (1876). ''Cunninghame, Topographized by Timothy Pont 1604–1608, with continuations and illustrative notices''. Glasgow : John Tweed. # Kilmarnock Standard, August 13, 1949. # Love, Dane (2003). ''Ayrshire : Discovering a County''. Ayr : Fort Publishing. . # Love, Dane (2005). Lost Ayrshire : Ayrshire's Lost Architectural Heritage. Edinburgh : Birlinn Ltd. . # MacGibbon and Ross, D and T (1887–92). ''The Castellated and Domestic Architecture of Scotland from the Twelfth to the Eighteenth Centuries'', 5 V, Edinburgh, Vol. III. # MacIntosh, Donald (2006). ''Travels in Galloway''. Glasgow : Neil Wilson. .

External links

YouTube Commentary and video

Commentary and video on Hessilhead Castle and loch. {{Commons category, Hessilhead Castle Former lochs Lochs of North Ayrshire Freshwater lochs of Scotland Lakes of North Ayrshire