second outflow from the loch would carry the trout into Creoch Loch, then into the Loch o' th' Lowes, the River Nith and finally into the Solway Firth after a journey of around seventy miles. Lairds Around the year 1400 a cadet branch of the Hamilton family came into possession of the lands of Borland. In 1551 George Hamilton and his son John were granted a 'Deed of Remission' by the Privy Council for "..syding with the Earl of Lennox." at the Battle of the Butts that had been fought in 1543 at the Gallowmuir close to Glasgow. This amounted to a pardon for fighting on the side of Mathew Stewart, 4th Earl of Lennox, actually a traditional enemy of the Hamiltons, against James Hamilton, 2nd Earl of Arran and Duke of Chatelherault, Regent of Scotland, a Catholic and anti-reformer. A George Hamilton of Borland, married to Janet, daughter of Keith of Galston, was the second son of Sir David Hamilton of Cadzow. The family held the lands until in 1669 Hugh Hamilton of Borland left the lands to his grand-daughter Margaret, the heiress of this cadet branch of the family. Hugh Montgomerie of Prestwickshaws, a descendant of the Eglinton Montgomeries, married Margaret and sold his lands of Prestwickshaws to one Robert Wallace. In 1577 a John Hamilton was murdered by John Turnbull of Kelsis. In 1611 William Hamilton inherited Borland from his father Patrick and in 1616 a Hugh Hamilton, with in 1650 a John Hamilton of Borland also recorded. The Montgomeries of Borland held these lands until 1751 when the property passed to the Montgomeries of Coilsfield who together with McAdam of Waterhead were trustees and sold the lands to various parties. In 1790 the lands were purchased by the Earl of Dumfries, however by the 1860s the lands were owned by the Marquis of Bute. William Montgomerie succeeded his father Hugh and married Anne Hamilton of Letham and in 1711 was a Commissioner of Supply for Ayrshire. John was the son of this William and became a collector of taxes did not live at Borland due to the sale of the lands by his father. Cartographic evidence The Blaeu's 1654 map only indicates an important site named 'Boirland'. Moll's map appears to show Borland close to the river without naming it. Roy's military survey of 1747 only shows a 'Borland' site with a group of buildings within