This freshwater loch was drained in the 19th century, leaving a wetland area which still periodically floods.

[2] A roughly circular water body with a single outflow and no inflow burn or rivulet.

The loch's drainage may have begun in the 18th century when Alexander Montgomerie, 10th Earl of Eglinton, was pursuing a number of agricultural improvements on his extensive estates and other landowners followed his example.

Many drainage schemes also date to the end of World War I when soldiers returned en masse to civilian life.

Blaeu's map of 1654, dating from Timothy Pont's survey of circa 1604, clearly shows and names the loch and indicates only an outflow to the River Ayr via the Glenslang Burn.