Stair, East Ayrshire

The family first became associated with the village in 1450, when William de Dalrymple acquired the lands of Stair-Montgomery and built Stair House.

[1] At the old Clachan of Milton on the other side of the bridge from Stair which lies in South Ayrshire, there used to be an inn here at which Robert Burns would stop on occasion and here also was the end of the old pack horse road to Annbank that once followed the course of the river.

[2] The miller here was one of the Covenanter martyrs who gave his life by refusing to hand over his bible to the king's soldiers.

[2] Margaret or Peggy Orr was a nurserymaid at Stair House and Robert Burns lent a hand as a 'blackfoot' with his friends courtship of this lady, however the engagement was brief and she later married John Paton, an Edinburgh shoemaker.

[3][4] Burns would visit the thatched cottage at the Clachan of Milton in which Mailly Crosbie lived, onetime housekeeper at Stair House and a friend from the days of David Sillars attempts at courtship.