Lochspouts

This roughly oval-shaped loch was about 3 mi southwest of Maybole. The natural trap dike dam that held back its waters was the only possible outflow, and several crevices in this barrier allowed excess water to escape so that during times of heavy rainfall several of these "spouts" carried water at the same time, hence "Lochspouts". The main exit was deepened to provide a water supply for a waulkmill, and this significantly lowered the level of the water, exposing the remnants of a crannog.

As stated, sometime prior to 1879 the water level was lowered and a crannog was exposed within the loch that was now reduced to around 2 acre only. Dr R. Munro partly excavated the site in 1880 and it was shown to be of wood, around 95 ft in internal diameter, with a raised walkway running to the shore. Mainly Roman-Iron Age date finds were discovered, along with some Medieval pottery and other artifacts. All the items found were donated to the National Museum of Antiquities of Scotland (Acc Nos: HW 1-41), including Roman finds such as a melon bead, fragments of second-century Samian pottery, Romano-Celtic bronze dress-fasteners and possibly iron; other artifacts were made of stone, bone,…