It is well-documented due to the presence of a crannog that was excavated and documented circa 1878, and its association with the poet Robert Burns, who lived here for several years whilst his father was the tenant.

[7] The Duke of Portland abolished thirlage on his estates in the mid-19th century, making Millburn Mill, and its head of water, Lochlea, redundant,[8][9] resulting in active attempts at drainage causing its demise circa 1840.

[8] The natural drainage, the Mill Burn, was from the south-east corner, running into a narrow valley that ran eventually into Fail Loch.

[5] The early Ordnance Survey maps show the site as fully drained,[15] however drainage is now inadequate and the area is becoming re-established as a seasonal loch.

"[17] Although 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, drainage work may have taken place in the 1740s as part of the improvements undertaken to provide employment for Irish estate workers during the Irish potato famines of the 1740s and the mid 19th centuries.

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

[19] This artificial island was mainly visible in the summer months and lay about 75 yards from the southern bank of the loch.

[20][21] The land had become marshy again by 1878[22] and the re-discovery at this time generated enough interest to spark an excavation;[21] the site and Lochlea Farm were owned by the Duke of Portland and Mr Turner, his factor, helped to organise the excavations, together with Mr. Cochrane-Patrick of Woodside, Beith.

Burns moved to Mossgiel Farm near Mauchline in 1784, having spent some nine unhappy months away in Irvine learning flax processing.

The farmland was very mossy and William Burnes had problems paying his rather high rent resulting in a successful court case against the landlord that used up his savings and contributed to his premature death in February 1784.

[28] William Burnes had a verbal agreement in the early 1780s to pay rent on the mill dam, referring to the land covered by the loch.

Burns and Mary Campbell apparently exchanged Bibles over a water course in the area around Coilsfield or Failford and possibly some sort of traditional Scottish matrimonial vows[33] on the banks of the River Ayr, either at the Failford, where the Mauchline Burn has its confluence with the River Ayr, or near Coilsfield.

It is called "Lochlea First Release" and was matured in First Fill Bourbon and Pexdro Ximenez (PX) Casks.