The site of the estate is clearly identifiable through the presence beside the Bow Burn of substantial dykes and ditches, possible building platforms, apple trees, non-native planned policy plantings such as beech and horse-chestnut, nettles marking refuse dumps, evidence from old maps, march dykes, place names evidence (Kerse Bridge & cottage), etc.

[11] Edward Henry John Craufurd (9 December 1816 – 29 August 1881) was a Scottish Radical politician, eldest son of John Craufurd of Auchenames and Kerse in the counties of Renfrewshire and Ayr, Treasurer General of the Ionian Islands, and Sophia Marianne Churchill, daughter of Major General Churchill and great-granddaughter of Sir Robert Walpole.

[14] In a "charge aganis Personis vnder Deidlie Feid" dated 1595, Robert, Master of Eglinton and Patrick Houston of that Ilk were required to appear personally before the King and council at Holyrood House.

David Craufurd had only to send out his messengers, and replies came in, in the guise of horsemen and of footmen, from a range of country stretching from the upper waters of the Irvine to the mid-waters, of the Ayr, and reaching from these to where the Doon washed the domains of the Kennedys.

But they were feudal, and the Kerse of the early days of the sixteenth century, the chieftain of the house of Craufurd and the acknowledged leader of the men of Kyle when their interests were threatened, was never more at home than when, in the saddle, he raided the lands of Carrick, or turned his arms against the Montgomeries of Eglinton.

He is waiting in court to stand trial, but ere he is called to appear at the bar, one of his followers, John Shaw, is examined on two separate indictments.

Duncan Fergusson, the young laird of Kilkerran, bad been residing at Burnfoot, and thither Shaw had gone at the head of a party of the retainers of Kerse.

They had broken down the walls of the dwelling and wasted it, and for the space of a year they had made periodical incursions on the lands of Burnfoot, and destroyed every attempt to cultivate them ; and to fill the cup of their vengeance, they had set upon one of the servants of the laird of Kilkerran with their swords, and had cruelly done him to death.

But it was all in pursuance of hereditary struggle, and in conformity with the unwritten, yet fully recognized, laws of the blood feud; and therefore, when Craufurd offers again to become surety, Lord Gray interposes no objection, and Shaw rejoins his friends.

And so it had come about that, while the Earl held court, the Craufurds, present in force, had so conducted themselves that the magistrate had not dared to adjudicate upon the affairs of Kilhenzie.

Well, it may have been, but if a judgment on the regard in which the misdemeanour was held may be gauged by the sentence, it can hardly be that Lord Gray was inclined to see in it anything worse than an ordinary feudal offending.

"[17] "The night was still serene, and sound traveled far; and from the direction in which the Castle of Kerse stood there fell on their ears an indistinct, undefined noise.

The horsemen spread themselves out fan-like in rear of the booty, whips were applied to the hanks of the steers, the frightened sheep were driven at a run, and the captive horses required no urging on to hurry from the tumult which rose behind.

About a dozen yeomen were accordingly instructed to drive the, flocks on towards the Doon, and to make the passage with all available speed; the remainder took up their position on the path as it ran through between two belts of trees, and there awaited the inevitable conflict.

There was nothing to delay or to stay their progress save the living barrier of Kennedys under the peaceful shadow of the woodland, and this barrier they must force at all hazards, unless they were to return to Kerse to tell the grey-haired chief whom they had left behind them that they had failed in their object, As the Kennedys saw them enter between the stretching plantations, they raised a shout of defiance.

All down the path resounded the echoes of the fray, until the clashing of the armour and the cries of the struggling horsemen awoke, the sleepers in Dalrymple hamlet, and bade them wonder and cower because of the strange, wild medley of the sounds.

Yonder, not two-hundred yards ahead, were the advance guard of the Kennedys, driving on with whip and yell the affrighted flocks.

Craufurds and Kennedys were mingled in struggling confusion, fighting on the haughs by the stream, and in the river's bed the oxen, bewildered, terrified, ran hither and thither in their fright, plunging into the cooling waters, or scattering in all directions across the country.

When the dead had been interred and the wounded healed, Kerse lodged information with the criminal authorities against those concerned in the raid of Barbieston.

They were sent from the Court of Justiciary in Edinburgh for trial to Ayr, where the leaders became surety for one another, and bound themselves to settle all lawful claims made by the Craufurds for the loss of the cattle lifted.

As for the men slain, these were not scheduled in the indictment; and as for the, wounds inflicted, these were a necessity of the situation, a natural outcome of the struggle which went on between the lords of Kyle and of Carrick.

[19] A legend linked to the castle and loch is that of 'The flitting of the Sow' which relates to the ongoing feuds between the Kennedys of Carrick and the Craufurds of Kyle.

[20] In the ensuing fighting, John the lairds other son, was killed however the Craufurds eventually drove the Kennedys back into Carrick, a number drowning in the River Doon as they tried to escape.

[20] The old laird was an octogenarian and too infirm to take part and had remained impatiently on the castle tower looking out over the Kerse Loch for any sign of a messenger from his son Elspin.

At last a rider, said to have been named 'Will o' Ashyntree'[20] came into sight and the breathless report was that his son John had been killed, however the Craufurds were triumphant and the sow had not been flitted (removed).

[21][22] Alexander Boswell of Auchinleck, a descendant of the combatants, wrote a poem upon the subject, entitled Skeldon Haughs; or, the Sow is flitted.

In the meantime Kelwood had become friendly with the Laird of Carse (sic) who as an almost hereditary enemy of the Kennedys, provided a strong guard of Craufurd soldiers to see him safely to Thomaston Castle.