made provision for a degree of compensation to be paid to the Darien subscribers. In Cunninghame some examples of losses are Frances Montgomerie of Giffin (£1000), Major James Cunninghame of Aiket (£200), Sir William Cunninghame of Cunninghamhead (£1000), and James Thomson of Hill in Kilmaurs (£100). In modern terms a thousand pounds loss in the 17th century must have been a devastating blow to the family finances. Giffen Mill The old feudal or barony mill, also known as Barmill, Barrmill or Baroil is at Map reference: NS 3699 5133. The remains visible today are early 19th-century, probably rebuilt on an old site, when grain prices were driven up by the Napoleonic Wars. The external stair led to the kiln for drying the corn before it was ground. It was a three-storey, four-bay rubble building on a rectangular plan, now gutted and the upper part used as a store until recently. A small dovecot was in the upper angle of the gable end above the miller's house yard. The mid-18th century substantial miller's house is still occupied and is in good condition. On General Roy's survey of 1747 - 55 Giffin Mill is present with a cluster of buildings nearby. The mill pond and lade are clearly marked on the 1858 OS map and a sand pit is marked nearby. The 1923 - 4 the OS map no longer marks the mill or its lade and mill pond. The machinery was adapted to drive a saw mill before final closure. Giffen would have been the thirled mill of the barony, thirlage being the feudal law by which the laird (lord) of Giffen could force all those vassals or suckeners living on his lands to bring their grain to his mill to be ground. Additionally the suckeners had to carry out repairs on the mill, maintain the lade and weir as well as conveying new millstones to the site. Under thirlage the suckeners had to convey new millstones to their thirled mill, sometimes over significant distances, in this case they probably came from West Kilbride. The width of some of the first roads was determined by the requirement to have at least two people on either side of a new grindstone being transported, with a wooden axle called a 'mill-wand' passed through the hole in the centre. As has already been mentioned, the miller's house had two carved stones from Giffen Castle