96 
BATHYMETRICAL SURVEY OF 
LOCHS OF THE GIRVAN BASIN. 
The river Girvan, or water of Girvan, which has its entire course in the 
county of Ayr, originates in a tiny lochan, called Loch Girvan Eye, on the 
northern slope of Shalloch on Minnoch, a hill 2520 feet in height, near 
the county border. For some 10 miles from its source it runs from south- 
east to north-west, parallel to, and very near, the river Boon, passing 
through a number of small lochs, the chief of which is Loch Bradan, then 
at the village of Kirkmichael it turns at right angles and flows south-west- 
ward to the sea at Girvan. Three lochs near the source of the river were 
surveyed. Loch Bradan, of fair size, the other two (Loch Lure and Cornish 
Loch) very small. The three lochs have a combined area of nearly one- 
fifth of a square mile, a volume of 24 millions of cubic feet, and drainage 
area of 5J square miles. 
Cornish Loch (see Plate XXXVII.). — A very small loch lying at an 
elevation of 1303*7 feet above the sea, near the source of the river Girvan. 
Rugged rocky and heather-clad hills surround the loch, rising more steeply 
on the north side. The promontories round the shore are of rock. On the 
south side, where two large streams enter, one of them the water of Girvan, 
there is a broad boggy flat, liable to floods. The length, from east to west, 
is a quarter of a mile, and the greatest breadth one-seventh of a mile. The 
loch is shallow and the bottom nearly flat, with a greatest depth of 7 feet, 
and a mean depth of 4 feet. The area is about 15 acres, and the volume 
3 millions of cubic feet. The area drained is fully a square mile. The 
water of Girvan flows northward from the west end of the loch. 
The surface temperature on November 1, 1906, was 42°*5 Fahr. 
Loch Lure (see Plate XXXVII.). — A very small loch, immediately 
west of 1 ^'^h Bradan. It lies among rough moorland, and on the south 
rises a rugged and sparsely wooded hill. The length is over one-third of a 
mile, and the greatest breadth one-seventh of a mile. It is flat-bottomed 
and shallow, the maximum depth 7 feet and the mean depth 4 feet. A 
large area at the west end is filled with reeds and floating plants. The area 
is about 29 acres, and the volume 5 millions of cubic feet. The drainage 
area, including Cornish Loch, is nearly 4 square miles. The water of 
Girvan flows in at the west end, and out at the east, as a broad short 
stream flowing around numerous islands to Loch Bradan, The height of 
