Dalrympleston Loch
17 April
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The old loch site and the drainage ditch
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Dalrympleston Farm from the loch site
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The Loudonston Farm side of the old loch
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The Dalrympleston Burn
First recorded in 1604 as the Loch of Trabboch it had become known as the Dalrympleston Loch by the 1860s, fed by the Dalrympleston Burn that flowed through to join the Water of Coyle at Gatefoot.
Early ordnance survey maps show a 'comma' shaped island of 0.1 acres which locals recall was a nesting site for swans and other waterfowl indicating that the loch was once maintained by the laird of the Barony of Trabboch for hunting birds and for fishing.
The mine workings at Trabboch Village had flooded by 1905 and this became known as Trabboch Loch, meantime the loch below Dalrympleston had taken on a new use as a curling pond, recorded matches between clubs such as Tarbolton and Ochiltree dating from as early as 1853. The road has long restricted the spread of the loch towards the Creochhill side.
By 1948 Dalrympleston Loch was being drained by a deep ditch dug right through it and the island is no longer marked. By the 1980s it was little more than a wetland with areas of flooding in the winter. Further deepening of the ditch means that this ancient loch will, like Dalrympleston Farm itself, soon be little more than just a 'memory' on an old map.
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