as: consisting of about 175 English acres of arable land, well enclosed and subdivided into fifteen fields, and let by one lease to three substantial tenants for 19 years at £130 per annum. Upon this property there is a good house, and garden stocked with fruit trees, a malt mill and an elegant court of offices newly erected. A valuable flag and stone quarry has been opened in the ground and it is believed there are both coal and limestone in it. There are about ten acres of wood and a good deal of timber on this farm; and thriving belts of planting surround the greatest part of it. In 1820 Willowyard is recorded as being an estate of 120 acres, well planted up by the owner with belts of plantings and the fine house situated in full view of the loch. The estate sits on whinstone and a small quarry nearby became an ornamental lake. In 1820 John Neil Esq of Edinburgh was the owner, however by 1822 the owner of Willowyard is recorded as being Robert Steele, a Port Glasgow ironmaster and the lands were assessed as the 14th most valuable in the parish at £114 per year valued rent. The 1827 map by Aitken marks the estate as being the property of Robert Steel Esq. In the New Statistical Account, William Wilson, a maternal descendant of previous owners purchased the estate in 1832 and in 1839 Alexander Shedden is noted as the owner. The Willowyard Industrial Estate is situated between Kilbirnie loch and the town of Beith. A large whisky bond is located in the area with a number of large storage buildings and Willowyard House still stands, converted into offices serving a chemicals company. The rubble walls of the building were harled and the window and angle margins left as exposed dressed stone; the roof was thatched originally. The main railway line from Ayr to Glasgow runs below the industrial estate and forms the eastern margin of the loch in places. Mains The properties named 'Mains' became divided up into 'Mains-Neil', 'Mains-Houston', and 'Mains-Marshal'. Robertson records that Mains-Hamilton was recently (1820) converted into a good looking house by Mr. Dun, however it passed to a Mr. Houston. A farmhouse is shown marked as Mains Hamilton on the OS map of 1856 together with an L-plan outbuilding, which may now form part of the former coachhouse at