Robert Gordon's (1580-1661) map shows the loch and two inflows and Jan Jansen's 1659 map shows the loch clearly. Roy's map of 1747-55 clearly marks the loch and the nearby mill, the Garroch Burn running into the Cessnock Water close to Carnell Castle. Loch Brown was referred to in the first statistical account (1791 - 1799) of Mauchline Parish by Rev Auld (Burns' Daddy Auld) as follows:
"The only loch in the parish, called Loch Brown is about three miles North West from Mauchline. Wild ducks, geese. and sometimes swans resort to it. It covers about 60 acres of ground and would have been drained many years ago, had it not been for the sake of two corn mills which it supplies with water" In 1845 the Rev Tod refers to the loch as being of 60 acres and only surviving as a source of water for two corn mills. The loch lay seven miles from Kilmarnock in a basin lying north of
Mossgiel Farm. The neighbouring proprietors at the time were the Duchess of Portland, Mr Claud Alexander of Ballochmyle, and Mr George Douglas. The first train which passed over the drained loch was in 1848, and the schoolmaster at Crosshands took his pupils down to Laidside to see it pass. The loch was some roughly circular, 50-60 acres in extent, but swampy land stretched right up the valley into the farm of Skeoch, and into the lands of Mossgiel. The burns which meandered through this bog land came directly from Mossgiel and Skeoch. This marshy land was dominated by reeds, rushes, willows and alder scrub; it was home to water fowl, frequented by poachers, and guarded by estate game keepers. The loch and its swamp was a favourite spot for Kilmarnock sportsmen, and it used to be local tradition that Tam Samson, a friend of Robert Burns, made it a rendezvous. The land in the 1930s were still formed of a black, loamy nature. The shores of the loch are still indicated when the ground is ploughed by the presence of sand on one side and gravely stones on the other. If a deep hole is dug, the ground is found to be dark humus to a great depth. Nuts, leaves, twigs, and the like were still turned up in the 1930s as they were 100 or 200 years ago, but exposure made them rot quickly into black mould. The marsh and its reeds and wildfowl inevitably disappeared, and rich meadow land took the place of the once extensive wetlands.
Ladeside This hamlet stood close to Dalsangan Mill and practically vanished because the railway was built through its centre and several dwellings were demolished. The mill was worked by Hugh Morton in 1841 and was out of use by 1860, prompted by the Garroch Burn never having much of a head of water or force of flow. An old name for Ladeside was Machine Cross. This name may be derived from the presence of a smithy that once existed here and the various 'machines' which were associated with this, however a corruption of 'Mauchline' is more likely. The hamlet was home to around a dozen families, including the Lambies, Stirlings, Kennedys, Wallaces, Robbs, Manns, and Smiths A
flax mill was also present here at one time. The smithy was moved to Crosshands and the building still survives. A school existed at Crosshands. (previously Cairnhill), circled round and through Ladeside clachan, and then proceeded directly to the main road from Kilmarnock to Mauchline; the A76 Carlisle Road. The road now passes by the present Laidside, a
smallholding and the only house left of the old hamlet, alongside the cutting in which the burn now runs, to join the Galston Road that passes through Crosshands. Before the war, a large plantation of tall trees hid Crosshands from view; this has now been largely felled. ==See also==