John Ballard and his constant companion Barnard Maude were spies seemingly living by the motto `Trust no One`. Ironically, they appear to have trusted one another and claimed to be soldiers surveying possible road routes. Under the tutelage of Ayrshire farmer, Mackenzie Cunninghame, they learnt to be cattle drovers and travelled Scotland establishing the strength and location of support for Mary, Queen of Scots.
Ballard, a Jesuit Priest, Catholic missionary and advocate of restoring Mary to the throne of England also favoured a Spanish invasion and the assassination of Queen Elizabeth I. He was much involved in the Babington Plot and was executed for it. He trusted Barnard Maude who was in fact an English spy for Sir Francis Walsingham, who thus knew of Ballard`s intrigues, and those of Sir Anthony Babington, which enabled Walsingham to entrap Mary Queen of Scots for treason.
Mackenzie Cunninghame, the enigmatic farmer from Coylton, unwittingly became a part of the English spy network.
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