Lawthorn

[4] The Barony of Stane, St Bride's Kirk and Bourtreehill passed by marriage in 1508 of Elizabeth Francis, the sole heiress, to William Montgomery of Greenfield, third son of the 1st Earl of Eglinton.

[8] The term 'Thorn' in Lawthorn may derive from 'torn, thorn, a tower', as in Jocks-Thorn on Cumbrae and in Kilmaurs, "alias Jock-Torn; and head, an eminence; hence tower-hill.

[10] Lawthorn Mount or 'The Thorn' is a scheduled monument classified as "Prehistoric ritual and funerary: mound, ritual or funerary"[11][12] Regarded as a large and prehistoric cairn or barrow, a type of tumulus, a burial mound dating within the time period approximately 1300–700 BC, the Bronze Age.

No 'gallows' place-names are recorded for the vicinity however the Annick Water is nearby regarding judicial drownings of females as per the power of 'pit and gallows' then held by the laird or baron.

[15] Given that the name 'William Frawnces de le Stane' is recorded from 1407 the place-name 'Stane' is unlikely to refer to the castle itself being built of stone to replace an earlier wooden one.

[16][13] Lawthorn Mount has also have been as the possible site of an early castle constructed from wood although no physical evidence has been found as yet to corroborate this.

[17] This much disturbed mound is clearly artificial and its size has been confused by a surrounding protective bank suggestive of a roundel created as part of landscaping works.

[21] The shape of the woodland boundary suggests that approximately half of the main wood was felled prior to 1856.

Parts of this wood survive with a number of old trees, running as far as the main road and bordering Lawthorn Primary School.

In 1855-57 it was described as a good farm steading with outer buildings used as offices and the tenant under the Earl of Eglinton was a James Dunlop.

A Stone Farm once stood opposite Lawthorn Wood and is recalled by inference in the names 'Littlestane' and the old Littlestane Loch.

Stane Castle.
The barrow and the large greywacke stone.
Old road bridge and railway trackbed near Lawthorn Primary School
The western edge of Lawthorn Wood Nature Reserve