It is situated on a gentle slope about one mile (1.5 kilometres) from the River Ayr, which flows through the south of the parish of Mauchline.

In former days Loch Brown was about 1 mi (1.6 km) west of the town, but was drained when the railway line from Kilmarnock was built.

Bruntwood Loch, near the old laird's house of that name, was once an important site for waterfowl, but drained for agriculture in the eighteenth century.

In 1165, Walter fitz Alan, Steward of Scotland, granted a charter giving land to the Cistercian monks of Melrose.

After the reformation the lands of Mauchline passed into the hands of the Earl of Loudoun, and no further historical events are recorded in the parish.

Formerly horse races were held on the road from the National Burns Memorial past Mossgiel as part of the annual Mauchline Fair.

In 1544 George Wishart, an influential Protestant preacher, visited Mauchline to find the doors of St Michael's church barred against him.

His reaction to this was to retreat to Mauchline Moor and to preach for over three hours to a large congregation, under the watchful eye of the Sheriff of Ayr and an armed force.

After 1918 the use of sandstone declined (houses were built with bricks instead) and this coupled with increased costs meant that eventually, in the 1950s, the last quarry closed.

Burns made many friends (his wife Jean Armour was born in Mauchline) and a lot of enemies whilst in Mauchline, many of whom are buried in the kirkyard: "Holy Wullie" Willie Fisher, the Reverend William "Daddy" Auld, John Richmond, James Armour, "Clockie" Brown and notably Gavin Hamilton, his best friend.

William Campbell of Netherplace came to the poet's attention due to his wife Lilias Nelson, a domineering individual of whom Robert wrote Epitaph on a Henpecked Squire; "As father Adam first was fool'd, A case that's still too common, Here lies a man a woman rules, The devil ruled the woman."

It could be heard working underground and the local place name "Auchenbrain" may celebrate it, translating from the Gaelic as "field of the quern".

[6] As well as containing the remains of many of Burns' contemporaries, including the man generally assumed to be the model for 'Holy Willie', Mauchline Kirkyard is the resting place of Mary Cameron, the wife of the last leader of the Chartist movement George Julian Harney.