[7] Writing in 1926 William Walls refers to the Annual Agricultural Show that was the social event of the year, a major spectacle being the famous Clydesdales bred by James Kilpatrick of Craigie Mains.

The story that the name Barnweil derives from an occasion when Wallace, standing on this elevated site, remarked that the Barns of Ayr (containing English soldiers) `burn weil' is an invention, the reason for the name being that it is situated close to the remains of the medieval parish church of Barnweil, a parish that suppressed in the 17th century.

It lies about 170m North North-East of Kirkhill Farm and was central to the Protestant Reformation in Ayrshire through its association with John Knox.

In 1857, after the death of his father at Lucknow, Captain William James Smith-Neill of Barnweil, Swinridgemuir, and Kersland R.A. inherited the estates amounting to around 1,275 acres (516 hectares).

[14] Carnell was held by the Wallaces, followed by the Cathcarts, then by the Hamiltons who built the present day Jacobean house and today (2018) by the Findlay family.

Near Meadowhead Farm is the location of Camp Castle, a probable Iron Age broch, roughly circular, sitting on a rocky knoll with a nearly five-metre (16 ft) thickness excavated in the early 1960s.

Craigie Fort (NS428325) or oppidium had an entrance to the south and formed a large enclosure around the summit of the hill to the north of the village.

[17] A crannog was discovered, mostly formed from stones, in a boggy depression, once a lochan, to the south-west' of Craigie Castle in the 19th century together with a wooden oar.

[18] A Roman fort stood in a prominent location on the slopes of Barnweil Hill and near by a Norman motte has left a rectangular ditch with an earth mound facing to the west.

[22] Peden preached at many outdoor conventicles and is said to have used a number of other caves as places of concealment during his years on the run from the King's troops,[23] including Barskimming, one at Auchenbay near Ochiltree, another at the Nick of the Balloch, a further example near the Water of Girvan and [24] his final cave hiding place may have been the Cleuch Glen in Sorn Parish which he reportedly asked to be made when he sensed that his illness was terminal, supposedly hiding beneath some straw when it was searched by soldiers.

[28] Writing in 1926 a local recalled that when ice formed on the lochan the farmers, minister, teacher and neighbours all came to curl and the day's labour was forgotten.

[8] The Eglinton Hunt came to Craigie Hill, Cover, Knowes and Glens with all the hunters dressed in red and the brush of the fox if caught was given to the first lady whilst the hounds devoured the corpse.

[30] The names Laigh, West and High Borland on old maps[2] could refer to the presence of wild boar,[31] however a 'Boor' also meant a serf and Norman lords often apportioned lands near their castles for their servants.

[32] The Borland or Bordland also meant the land that was granted to the feudal superior specifically to be used to furnish food for his castle or dwelling.

[33][34] A knoll on Craigie Hill is recorded as the Witch Knowe, a name that occurs throughout Ayrshire, without any local legend attached to it.