For centuries the Firth of Clyde carried far more than fishing boats and honest trade. It was also the domain of smugglers, landing tobacco, brandy, wine and tea, often under cover of darkness.
John Muir: the merchant who got round the law
In 1666 Loudoun Hall was bought by John Muir, also written Moore or Mure, a prosperous Ayr merchant who became one of the most powerful men in the town.
He was a partner in a group of Ayr merchants trading across the Atlantic. In the 17th century English law barred Scotland from trading directly with England's American colonies, but the Scots were not about to give up the profits of the booming tobacco trade.
So they found a way round it. Muir and his partners imported West Indian tobacco on a ship disguised as English-owned. This was no case of a few barrels landed on a lonely beach. It was a calculated business, with merchants, ships and connections across the ocean.
It did him no harm. He was Provost of Ayr from 1673 to 1675 and again from 1688, and his sons Robert and Samuel carried on the trade, looking more and more to Virginia. Between 1688 and 1721 the family held the office of Provost for 25 of those 33 years.
The Boat Vennel: a gateway to the harbour
Loudoun Hall stands on the Boat Vennel, also once called the Sea Vennel, the lane that linked the merchants' town with the waterfront.
Goods arriving by ship had to be unloaded, carried and stored, and merchants needed secure premises close to the quays. The Hall's strong vaulted cellars were made for the job.
It is tempting to imagine barrels of contraband brandy or tobacco hidden beneath the Great Hall, waiting for trusted friends to collect them. No record says so, but the setting could hardly be better.
The golden age of Ayrshire smuggling
The Union of 1707 changed everything. As a member of the Scots Parliament, John Muir voted for it, and it gave Scots free trade with England's colonies. But it also brought in and raised duties that made smuggling enormously profitable.
Through the 1700s the Ayrshire coast was part of a vast network of illicit trade, with ships from Ireland, the Isle of Man, France and beyond. The most sought-after cargoes were tobacco from the American colonies, brandy and wine from France, rum and other spirits, tea, which carried heavy duties, and silk, salt and other valuable goods.
It was not only desperate fishermen. Respectable merchants, shipowners, landowners and their customers from every level of society were involved, and some dealt in both honest and smuggled cargoes.
The caves of Culzean
Ayrshire's coast offered plenty of quiet bays, beaches and caves for landing goods away from the customs men. For several decades in the 1700s, the caves beneath Culzean Castle were a smugglers' lair, hiding wine, spirits, tea and silk until they could be sold.
The Kennedys of Culzean had their own links to the trade. In 1726 a boat part-owned by Sir John Kennedy was seized by revenue officers while running contraband from the Isle of Man.
The trade could be protected by armed men, and run-ins with the customs officers could be dangerous.
Behind respectable doors
The most intriguing part of the story is how many of the wealthy and powerful were involved. Men in positions of authority could also have an interest in getting round the government's rules.
John Muir is a perfect example: a successful merchant, a property owner, a member of Parliament and the town's leading citizen, whose early trading set out to get round England's colonial laws.
We cannot know what was said in the Great Hall, but the Muirs' documented trade places Loudoun Hall firmly in Ayr's Atlantic story.
The secrets the Hall still keeps
Tales of hidden tunnels, secret stores and smugglers' passages are still part of local folklore. Who knows what lies beneath the streets of Ayr?
What we do know is that behind the respectable front of one of Ayr's oldest houses lies a story of ambition, wealth, political power and the blurred line between lawful trade and illicit enterprise.
Sources: South Ayrshire Council, Loudoun Hall history page, National Trust for Scotland, WMA Group.