David
You are a worse romantic than I am
Caldwell of that Ilk (Little Caldwell) and Mure of Caldwell were in "full flight" well after the worst effects of the plagues. Thes properties were occupied by their families right up antil relatively recent times. The plagues obviously had a devastating effct wherever they happened including Scotland. The trouble is that the early plagues are at the very dawn of written Scots history and not enough is known.

The story is that Kempisland (ouside Largs) which was Caldwell property was also known as "Breed-Sorrow" as it was to here that those infected with the plague (in Largs presumably) were banished in a form of quarantine. Apparently it is an isolated area and the healthy would take supplies as close as they dared and leave them for the sick to come out and collect. Just how this was managed was not recorded in the story.

I don't know exactly where Kempisland is but I believe that it is in the upper reaches of the Gogo Water which is the river that runs through Largs. It was held by the Caldwell family for about 200 years and eventually became a holding of the Brisbane family.

Largs is on the far north Ayrshire coast - it is remote from Kilmarnock and Lochwinnoch.

I believe that the "other" Caldwell properties were taken up naturally by expansion of family numbers.