Blae Loch, Beith

Blae Loch
Blae Loch, East bank looking South
Blae Loch Location of Blae Loch, North Ayrshire
Location	Blaelochhead and Lochend, North Ayrshire, Scotland
Coordinates	Coordinates: 55°44′47.5″N 4°33′21.1″W / 55.746528°N 4.555861°W / 55.746528; -4.555861
Type	Freshwater loch
Primary inflows	Highgate Burn, an un-named burn, rainfall and runoff
Primary outflows	Bungle Burn
Basin countries	Scotland
Max. length	c. 600 ft (180 m)
Max. width	c. 200 ft (61 m)
Average depth	Shallow
Islands	None
Settlements	Beith

The Blae Loch is a small freshwater loch situated in a hollow in a low-lying area beneath Blaelochhead Hill in the Parish of Beith, North Ayrshire, Scotland.

The loch is a natural feature, a post-glacial 'Kettle Hole' once of a greater extent, fed mainly by local springs, the Highgate Burn which itself arises as a spring near Little Highgate and field drainage. The loch is recorded in the placenames of Blaelochhead, Lochend, and Blaelochside.

The name 'Blae' is Scots for 'dark, livid, or black'. The first known description in circa 1604 gives the name as 'Blaa-loche' and states that quhen the firmament is moft ferene and cleir then its is palide and dead coloured contrair to all wther vn-corrupt and fueit vatters. A 'Bungle' in Scots is a “Big clod of earth turned up in harrowing.

The New Statistical Account of 1845 refers to it as having been partially drained.

In 1874 it was part of the estate of Hessilhead, owned by William Ralston-Patrick of Trearne. In 2011 the loch ownership was owned shared between the owners of Blaelochhead Farm and Lochend House.

The Bungle Burn outflow runs on down country, past the old mill site, Mossend and Tandlehill Farms, before making a confluence with the Lugton Water near the Bungleburn Bridge outside Burnhouse.

Ordnance Survey maps of the mid 19th century show that a substantial water mill with a square garden area once existed near Wester Highgate; it had a large mill pond associated with it, fed by the Bungle Burn running from the Blae Loch. The name is also recorded in the former limestone 'Old Mill Quarry'. Roy's map of 1747 shows the mill and even then marks it as an 'old' mill, suggesting that it was out of use at this time. An old lane ran up to the old mill site from the hamlet of Hessilhead.

The loch is recorded in 1604-1608 as being well known to many weavers in the neighbourhood due to the abundance of reeds that grew there and the fact that they were used for making pirns. In 1874 it is recorded that the loch margin had an edging of water-lilies (Nymphaea species). A pirn was a weaver’s spool for holding his weft yarn in the shuttle, originally made from a quill or hollow reed, in later times they were made from wood.

A Blae Loch Curling Club existed in the 19th century as recorded by the Royal Caledonian Curling Club. A club medal is still in existence.