who is mentioned in the Ragman's Roll of 1296. A Johne of Montgomery of Thornetoun is mentioned in a legal document of 1482. By the beginning of the 17th century Thorntoun had passed into the ownership of another ancient and renowned Ayrshire family, the Mures, a branch of the Mures of Rowallan Castle near Kilmaurs. Some confusion exists in the surviving records, for either an Archibald or a James Mure, Burgess of Glasgow, married Margaret, daughter of Robert Ross of Thorntoun on 27 June 1607. Nothing is known of how and when this Ross family came to possess Thorntoun. A Hew Muir was one of their sons, and another, James Muir of Thorntoun, married a Janet Naper, who died in 1626. Robert Muir, son of James & Janet, is mentioned in a document of 1634. An Archibald Muir of Thorntoun was knighted by William III in 1699 and his daughter, Margaret, married John Cuninghame of Caddel, in Ardrossan. Their son, Lieut-Col. John Cuninghame of Caddel & Thorntoun was born in 1756 and died in 1836. John's spouse was Sarah Peebles, who was born in 1783 and died in 1854. They had six children, Andrew, Anna, Archibald, Christiana, Margaret and Sarah. They all died relatively young, except for Sarah who survived to inherit Thorntoun. Her spouse was George Bourchier Wrey. They had a son, George Edward Bourchier Wrey who had succeeded to the property by 1912. The Lieut-Col and his family are buried or commemorated at the family burial plot in the cemetery of Kilmaurs-Glencairn kirk. Other items of interest in the locality The Law Mount or Moot Hill The Law Mount (OS maps), Castleton Law mount, Moat Hill or Moot Hill overlooking Lainshaw House and above Castleton (previously Over or High Castleton) is an artificial mound which was thought to have a bailey and therefore be a castle motte, hence the name of the farms. Linge is of the opinion that the supposed bailey, clearly visible from the road under the appropriate light conditions, is a natural geographic feature. The mound is 19 m in diameter and 3.5 m in height. At the top its diameter is 12 m and seen by satellite imagery it is clearly too small to have been a motte, however it may originally have only been an observation post. It is locally known as 'Pinkie Hill' or the 'Jerry's helmet'. Carmel Bank House was formerly