Benslie itself was made up of 57 stone built miners houses, owned by A. Finnie and Son. Coalmasters. In 1913 the village was said to be 67 years old. The population was 318 in 1881. At first the houses only existed at the 'Square' and then later the village was extended towards the road which runs up passed the church. A number of coal pits were in the area as shown by the first edition OS map, one pit being close to the 'Millburn Cottage' opposite South Millburn. In 1937 most of the miner's rows were demolished and the miners were moved to the Dirrans. The coup for the 'old' miner's rows or village was just to the right of the entrance to Millburn Drive and was excavated circa 2006 by enthusiasts who retrieved many bottles and other items from the 'heyday' of the miner's rows. The original waggonway ran along one side of this coup and part of a stone fronted 'dock' or loading platform wall still stands, partly built with old stone railway sleepers. Much of the 'dock' stones has been robbed and it may have had walling on two sides originally with a lane on the western side running down to a siding on the standard gauge track. The structure may be related to the construction and resource requirements of the Eglinton Tournament of 1839 as it lies close to the tournament site and lay on the railway that ran from Ardrossan Harbour. The name 'coup' may derive from the well known waggon of that name that was designed to tip its load. A good example is preserved at the National Museum of Rural Life. Dr. Duguid states in the late 18th century that the Doura pits had not been worked since the time of Mary Queen of Scots (1542–1587), when they had supplied coal to the Palace of Holyrood and Edinburgh Castle. This is not as unlikely as it seems because the mining methods of the time had exhausted the available coal stocks and that their existed an "exhorbitant dearth and scantness of fewale within the Realme." He was the doctor for the pit and recalls that when the pit was drained, William Ralston, the ganger, found the old workmen's tools and their bones at the coal face. In Duguid's time another disaster took place after heavy frosts had loosened the pit soil and the pit supports gave way. Pate Brogildy from the Redboiler survived, however he later had his arm ripped off at the shoulder blade by the flywheel of the pit steam engine.