Loch Gate (NS 62389 37170), previously known as Loch Gait, was a freshwater loch, partly in the

East Ayrshire East Ayrshire ( sco, Aest Ayrshire; gd, Siorrachd Àir an Ear) is one of thirty-two council areas of Scotland. It shares borders with Dumfries and Galloway, East Renfrewshire, North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire and South Lanarkshire. The headquart ...

Council Area and partly in

South Lanarkshire gd, Siorrachd Lannraig a Deas , image_skyline = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms_slanarkshire.jpg , image_blank_emblem = Slanarks.jpg , blank_emblem_type = Council logo , image_map ...

, now mainly drained, near

Darvel Darvel ( sco, Dairvel, gd, Darbhail) is a small town in East Ayrshire, Scotland. It is at the eastern end of the Loudoun, Irvine Valley and is sometimes referred to as "The Lang Toon" ( en, the Long Town). The town's Latin motto, , means "No ...

, lying in a glacial

kettle hole A kettle (also known as a kettle lake, kettle hole, or pothole) is a depression/hole in an outwash plain formed by retreating glaciers or draining floodwaters. The kettles are formed as a result of blocks of dead ice left behind by retreating gla ...

, Parish of Galston,

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

The loch

Loch Gate, at the eastern extremity of Galston Pavi’s, was once a sheet of deep water, but now is a small area of open water in a marsh. By 1846 the loch is recorded as being little more than an area of marshy ground.

Cartographic evidence

Armstrong's map of 1775 clearly shows the loch close to the Strathaven to Galston toll road. Ainslie's Map of 1823 shows the loch with a Lochside dwelling nearby, with a single inflow. Thomson's map of 1832 shows a Lochside and an East Lochgate with the outflow running into the Avon water. Loch Gate is recorded on the 1897 OS maps as a remnant, close to Lochgate Farm with only a small area (0.290 Acre) of open water In the late 1880s it is recorded that the deep waters of Gate Loch (sic) had been drained.

Uses

The Battle of Loudoun Hill

The

Battle of Loudoun Hill The Battle of Loudoun Hill was fought on 10 May 1307, between a Scots force led by King Robert the Bruce and the English commanded by Aymer de Valence, Earl of Pembroke. It took place beneath Loudoun Hill, in Ayrshire, and ended in a victo ...

took place in 1307. Robert the Bruce encounter English forces, under

Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke Aymer de Valence, 2nd Earl of Pembroke (c. 127523 June 1324) was an Anglo-French nobleman. Though primarily active in England, he also had strong connections with the French royal house. One of the wealthiest and most powerful men of his age, ...

. On 10 May, Bruce's men dug a series of trenches, forcing the English towards boggy ground around Loch Gait, allowing the 500–600 Scots to repulse an army of 3000. The first attack broke, and the English fled the field. Following the battle, Bruce left his brother

Edward Bruce Edward Bruce, Earl of Carrick ( Norman French: ; mga, Edubard a Briuis; Modern Scottish Gaelic: gd, Eideard or ; – 14 October 1318), was a younger brother of Robert the Bruce, King of Scots. He supported his brother in the 1306–1314 st ...

in command of the area, and headed north to continue his guerilla campaign in

Buchan Buchan is an area of north-east Scotland, historically one of the original provinces of the Kingdom of Alba. It is now one of the six committee areas and administrative areas of Aberdeenshire Council, Scotland. These areas were created by th ...

Archaeology

A turf banked circular enclosure is situated on a small promontory on the south side of the old loch, around 9m in diameter, it has a turf bank, but no clear entrance, however the enclosure has been damaged by forestry drainage works.Loch Gate
Retrieved : 2011-12-12

References