The Coalfield Communities Place-Name project was established in 2020 as part of the Coalfield Communities Landscape Partnership. Its main objective was to survey and analyse the place-names of the main CCLP area, and in particular the historical parishes of Auchinleck, Old Cumnock, New Cumnock, Ochiltree and Dalmellington. The results of this research is available through The Coalfield Communities Place-Name Map.
Please note that this is still a work in progress. In particular, while four parishes are complete, our work on Dalmellington is not, and the entries there are very sparse in their information. We hope to complete this final parish in the near future.
The project is based at the University of Glasgow. The main researchers are Prof. Thomas Clancy and Dr Simon Taylor, and the Systems Developer is Brian Aitken. During the main funded year of the project, 2020-2021, the work was set on its feet by Dr Eila Williamson, who curated a huge amount of data and set in train much of our knowledge exchange activity. We remain very grateful to Dr Williamson for her invaluable work. In the final phases of preparation of the research, Dr Carly McNamara assisted us by inputting entries into the database.
We also received great support from local people, who advised us on locations and details, came with us on walks, and exchanged information. Chief among these are Ailsa and Andy MacInnes, Kay McMeekin, Dane Love and Francis Lopez. Bobby Guthrie has contributed so much to our understanding an analysis of New Cumnock place-names through his New Cumnock History website as well as by personal communication. The Cumnock History Group more widely shared information and pronunciations, and their excellent work on the Ploughing up the Past project immeasurably assisted our work. It is referred to often throughout our research. Finally, we must thank the projects manager at CCLP, Colin MacDonald, for his patience, advice and assistance across the years.
What you will find on The Coalfield Communities Place-Name Map is the result of collecting and analysing around 2000 names: of important sites, small landscape features, and places that are no longer there. Our starting point was the Ordnance Survey 6 inch second edition maps, the data from which was made available via the GB1900 project, hosted by the National Library of Scotland. For our area, this generated names from the period 1896–1899, a point at which the area was brimming with recently established industrial activity, particularly coalmines, and the landscape was filled with miners’ cottages and new industrial villages. By the mid-20th century many of these had disappeared, as the mines gradually closed and as residents relocated to larger towns like Auchinleck and Cumnock, or to new establishments like Drongan. As such, the place-names we have been researching have often been moving targets. Added to this, whole landscapes have in recent decades been lost to open-cast mining. But while many of these names apply to places no longer there, often they live in the memory of families whose ancestors worked and lived in them, and recording and researching them has been important.
The place-names of the area reveal a deep and rich history, from the oldest names, those of its major rivers, the Ayr, Lugar and Doon, through the settlement names of farmers who gave names to their settlements in a variety of languages: Northern Brittonic (a relative of Welsh), in names like Tarinzean and Ochiltree; Gaelic in names like Auchinleck and Auchinbay, Scots in names such as Macoshton and Gibston, and Scottish Standard English in Woodside and Crofthead. The most recent centuries see industrial names, and new names as old settlements are divided and reshaped. Please explore the map and the rich heritage it contains.
The research is not finished. We would very much appreciate contributions, particularly from local people, with additional information about places and names; and with corrections where we may have inaccurate details. The best way to supply this is to email the lead researcher, Prof. Thomas Clancy, at thomas.clancy@glasgow.ac.uk.
We also hope in the future to have some events in the area to introduce the resource further, and to engage with local communities. Contact the same email address if you would be interested in arranging such an event. And we hope to add some further place-name walks to the one we already have on the website, a circular walk from Highhouse Colliery, in Auchinleck. Stay tuned for further developments.