List of Ayrshire place-names beginning with 'C'

Caerniven

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS583148
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 241m
Elements: G càrn + pn Eoghan

Description:

‘Eòghan’s cairn’? Eòghan is the origin of the name Ewen (also spelt Ewan and Euan).

This has given rise to the modern name Caerniven. There is no building here on all OS maps into the second half of the 20^th century. Its spelling suggests familiarity with Wales and Welsh orthography e.g. Caerdydd (Cardiff) and Caernarfon (Carnarvon).The original settlement of probably lay nearer Carnivan Hill, about 2 km to the west.

Cairn

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS560183
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 199m
Elements: Sc cairn or G càrn

Description:

‘A cairn, a burial mound’. There is no trace of such nearby.

The lands of Cairn must have been quite extensive as they are already divided up by the early 16th century, with mention of Over Cairn, which implies that there was a Nether Cairn at this time, mentioned first in 1603. There is also an early mention of *Hither Cairn, that is ‘Nearer Cairn’, presumably nearer the central place on the lands of Cairn. This in turn implies a *Yonder Cairn’, although this is not on record. It is possible that either Over or Nether Cairn is in fact *Over Cairn since affixes can be quite fluid.

Cairn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS671130
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 201m
Elements: Sc cairn or G càrn

Description:

‘A place characterised by a cairn or burial mound’? The name could be either Scots or Gaelic. The eponymous cairn has yet to be identified. Cairn was originally an extensive territory stretching roughly three km east to west and straddling the county boundary (New Cumnock AYR and Kirkconnel DMF). It came to be divided into five farms, two in New Cumnock (Over Cairn and Nether Cairn now Over Cairn) and three in Kirkconnel, Laigh Cairn, High Cairn (formerly McCrierick’s Cairn) and Nether Cairn.

The NGR is of a point very near the parish and county boundary.

Cairn Hill

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS624235
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 230m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE hill

Description:

In 1855-57, the OSNB (OS1/3/3/26) note about this only that it is ‘A conspicious eminence Sou[th] of Stonebriggs about a ¼ of a mi[le]’.

Cairn Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS589142
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 228m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE hill

Description:

‘A hill associated with a cairn’ which can refer to a prehistoric burial mound or simply a pile of stones. As in the other Cairn Hill in the parish (NS622125), no cairn is recorded there in the 19^th century, the OS Name Book writing simply: ‘A small Knowe about 42 chains E.N.E [East North East] of the Hall of Auchincross’ (OS1/3/49/110). It lies only about 1 km east of Cairn Knowe.

Cairn Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS622125
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 236m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE hill

Description:

‘A hill associated with a cairn’, which can refer to a prehistoric burial mound or simply a pile of stones. The OS Name Book has also understood it thus, describing it as: ‘A ridge of arable land slightly elevated on Cairnhill farm to which it gives name. There is no account of a Cairn having been near it’ (OS1/3/49/100). See also under Cairnhill.

Cairn Hill

Auchinleck (AUK), Muirkirk (MUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS667230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 419m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE hill

Description:

OSNB (OS1/3/3/29) notes: “This hill is named from the cairn on which the Trig [Trigonometrical] Station is erected at present the entire cairn now existing is comprised in the Station Pile. It cannot now be discovered the true origin of the Cairn referred to but it is probable that it is identified with similar objects throughout this district of Scotland”

Cairn Knowe

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS578139
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 234m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE knowe

Description:

‘A knowe or small hill associated with a cairn or cairns’, which can refer to a prehistoric burial mound or simply a pile of stones. There is no record of a burial mound there. Cairn Knowe and the surrounding area has been destroyed by opencast mining. It lies only about 1 km west of Cairn Hill (NS589142).

Cairn Road

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS560184
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 195m
Elements: en Cairn + SSE road

Description:

‘A road which goes past the farm of Cairn OCU.' It is not named on the early OS maps.

Cairnennock

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Antiquity
Grid reference: NS507007
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 323m

Cairnford

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS480190
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 135m
Elements: SSE cairn + SSE ford

Description:

‘A ford beside a cairn’. A cairn can be anything from a pile of stones to the remains of a prehistoric burial mound. The latter was in the minds of the OS surveyor who wrote about Cairnford in the OS Name Book (1857): ‘A Small farm house One Storey thatched and in middling repair the property of the Marquis of Bute This name appears to be derived from a Cairn, at one time in the neighbourhood, there is no traces of it now & no information can be had regarding it’ (OS1/3/51/1/39).

The eponymous ford is probably over the small burn that flows from Plaid Loch (now mostly drained) into a slightly larger (unnamed) burn near Cairnford. Alternatively it may refer to a ford over that larger burn. A footbridge is marked on OS Explorer map at or near the point where these two burns meet, which might be the ford’s successor.

Johnston’s 1828 map of Ayrshire shows a small settlement called Cairn c.600m north-west of Cairnford (at or near where Little Clydnoch is shown on OS 6 inch 1^st edn, namely at NS476194. It is therefore possible that the eponymous cairn of Cairnford lay nearer Cairn.

Cairnhill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS621128
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 218m
Elements: en Cairnhill

Description:

A farm on the northern slope of Cairn Hill. The farm was demolished to make way for the expansion of New Cumnock. It took its name from Cairn Hill, on which in the late 1950s a council estate had been built to house families from the surrounding villages such as Connel Park and Burnside. In 1960 Cairnhill Primary school was opened. The estate was in its turn demolished gradually from the late 1990s to 2009 because of a drastic decline in population following the closure of the coal mines. This left a grass-covered hill, with only the tarmac roads surviving to indicate where the houses had once stood. One of these roads was Farden Avenue, named after a local farm. For more details see Lost worlds: a morning in and around New Cumnock - Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities - https://ayr-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/lost-worlds-a-morning-in-and-around-new-cumnock/.

Cairnscadden

New Cumnock (NCU), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS612174
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 306m
Elements: G càrn + G sgadan

Description:

‘A cairn associated with herring; herring cairn’? This might seem a very unlikely name for a feature many miles from the sea. However, on OS 6 inch 1st edn Cairnscadden Loch OCU is shown very close to an old Drove Road, and it is quite possible that sellers of herring and other fish used this road to sell their wares in inland districts. The site of the cairn itself is no longer known but it has given its name to two Cairnscadden Lochs, one in Old Cumnock (OCU), the other in New Cumnock (NCU), as well as Cairnscadden Hill NCU. These three places all lie within about 1 km of each other.

Cairnscadden Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS613165
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 314m
Elements: en Cairnscadden + SSE hill

Cairnscadden Loch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS613165
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 314m
Elements: en Cairnscadden + SSE loch

Description:

‘Loch at or near Cairnscadden’. Even at the time of the first OS (1857) this was no longer a loch or even a lochan. The OS Name Book has: 'A marsh on Cairnscadden Hill formerly used as a curling pond. The tradition of New Cumnock would have it that this loch supplied water thro pipes to the Castle of Bog, which formerly stood in the village' (OS1/3/49/54).

There is another Cairnscadden Loch, only c.1 km to the north over the parish boundary in Old Cumnock (OCU). For an explanation of this unusual name, see under Cairnscadden NCU/OCU.

Cairnscadden Loch

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS610176
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 303m
Elements: en Cairnscadden + SSE loch

Description:

‘Loch at or near Cairnscadden’. There is another Cairnscadden Loch only c.1 km to the south over the parish boundary in New Cumnock (NCU) on Cairnscadden Hill. For an explanation of this unusual name, see under Cairnscadden NCU/OCU.

It is described in the OS Name Book simply as: ‘A Small Loch So called South of Avisyard Hill about 23 chains’ (OS1/3/52/107).

Cairnston

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS432185
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 88m
Elements: pn Cairns + SSE town

Description:

‘Farm associated with an individual or family called Cairns’. We might be tempted to think of the name referring to a cairn (see Cairnford, for instance), but the -s- in the middle makes it most likely that the first element is a family name, especially considering how many farms nearby have a similar formation (Carston, Hannahstone, etc.). The surname Cairns was reasonably common in Ayrshire, at least according the 1881 census, although the name is likely to have been coined sometime before 1700. There is nothing resembling a cairn noted by HES that might indicate the alternative explanation. The OS Name Book (1857) does not even speculate on the existence of such a thing, in contrast to its entry on Cairnford OCH. All it has anent Cairnston is: ‘A farm steading - dwelling house & offices - one story - thatched & in good repair. The property of Alexander Oswald Esqr.’ (OS1/3/51/2/11).

Note that this place belonged originally to a detached part of Stair parish, until 1891. It is found in census records frequently named with Carlaverock (qv).

RN

Caldwell's Glen

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief, Water
Grid reference: NS471083
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 305m

Calton

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS594169
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 228m
Elements: Sc cauld + Sc toun

Description:

‘Cold farm’, often humorously applied. It seems to have become an alternative name for West Lowes, although on Thomson (Johnston) Map of 1838 it appears south of Mid Lowes (now Lowes), considerably south of West Lowes.

Calton Wood

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS597167
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 245m
Elements: en Calton + SSE wood

Description:

The name West Lowes Wood contains the earlier name for Calton farm.

Cameronsike

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS627171
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 283m
Elements: pn Cameron + Sc syke

Description:

‘A sike or small burn associated with a person or family called Cameron’. Bob Guthrie suggests: ‘A possible connection goes back to Covenanting times and the Reverend Richard Cameron “Lion of the Covenant”. On the 5th July 1680 Government troops were stationed at Gemmel’s Meadow near the Old Castle of Cumnock and letters from Earl of Airlie, identified that Cameron and his men had been spotted at Corsancone in the parish’. He has found no heritor or tenant connected with the place. See Cameronsike – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

The name applied to a small cottage (now gone), which took its name from the burn on which it lies, now the Cameronsike Burn. The development of the name is therefore: a watercourse hypothetically called *Cameron Sike, which gave its name to a cottage beside it, which in turn gave its name to the Cameronsike Burn.

Cameronsike Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS629165
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 271m
Elements: en Cameronsike + SSE burn

Description:

See under Cameronsike.

Camlarg

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS486065
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 195m
Elements: G cam +

Camlarg Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS501060
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 353m
Elements: en Camlarg + SSE hill

Camlarg Plantation

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS486063
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 228m
Elements: en Camlarg + SSE plantation

Campbells Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS525020
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 453m
Elements: pn Campbell + Sc hill

Cannock Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS641041
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 574m
Elements: ? + SSE hill

Description:

The first element is obscure. It is described in the OS Name Book as: ‘A high hill, bearing rocky pasture’ (OS1/3/49/196).

Caponacre

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS572191
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 128m
Elements: SSE capon + SSE acre

Description:

‘A field of about 1 acre where capons are reared.’

Caponacre Bridge

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS572192
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 127m
Elements: en Caponacre + SSE bridge

Description:

This bridge crosses over Glaisnock Water to the north of the settlement of Caponacre, from which it takes its name.

In the OS Name Book of c.1857 it is described as: 'A County Bridge with one arch across the Glaisnock Water on the turnpike road between Old and New Cumnock near to the town of Cumnock' (OS1/3/52/50).

Carbellow

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS610228
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 196m
Elements: G car + en Bellow

Description:

The most obvious explanation for this name would be that it indicates '(Settlement associated with) a bend or bends in the Bellow Water'. There are two very pronounced bends in the Bellow Water nearby. However, as noted under Bellow (q.v.), this name originally referred to the pass (bealach) through which the Bellow water flows. Given the name is Gaelic, it is perhaps more likely the name refers to a bend in the pass, rather than the river.

The Correspondence, App. 1 (p.220), notes of this farm, in the Barony of Glenmure: “Carbellow (V[ery] L[arge Farm]), acquired with Defad in 1762, was let in 1781 to George and John McKerrow, whose effects were rouped on 28 Sept 1787… Its houses and offices rebuilt in 1789 and 1793, it was let to John Black, who also held Blackcroft, in 1790 and 1797…”

RN

Carbellow Pit (No. 3)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS616235
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 194m
Elements: en Carbellow + SSE pit

Carbellow Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS616232
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 216m
Elements: en Carbellow + SSE row

Description:

This was a series of rows of miners’ cottages within the mining village of Gasswater, named for the settlement of Carbellow (q.v.) to the south-west of it. Effectively labelled twice on the OS 6-inch maps, hence seemingly duplicate items. No longer extant.

Carbellow Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS614231
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 208m
Elements: en Carbellow + SSE row

Description:

This was a series of rows of miners’ cottages within the mining village of Gasswater, named for the settlement of Carbellow (q.v.) to the south-west of it. Effectively labelled twice on the OS 6-inch maps, hence seemingly duplicate items. No longer extant.

Carcow

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS590067
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 390m
Elements: Br carrog or Br carreg

Description:

Obscure. The first element may be Northern Brittonic *cajr or Old Gaelic *cair ‘fort’. If Blaeu’s Karkurn and Karkur Burn are erroneous (which is not uncommon on Blaeu’s maps), then it can be compared with Carco (Mekill Carco 1558 RMS iv no. 1317) in the neighbouring parish of Kirkconnel DMF. Alan James (BLITON) has suggested (under coll) that the second element may be Old Brittonic *coll ‘hazel’ (also Old Gaelic). Alternatively (under carreg) he suggests that the whole name may represent a plural form of Northern Brittonic *carreg (f.) ‘a rock, rocky place’, namely *carr(e)göü ‘rocks, rocky places’. W. J. Watson briefly discusses the Kirkconnel Carco, stating that it is pronounced with the stress on the first syllable (1926, 368). If that is also the case for Carcow NCU, then it might favour the ‘rocky places’ suggestion. Perhaps relevant to this discussion is the now lost name Treuercarcou #, the older name for Balmaclellan parish DMF.

Yet another suggestion for Carco DMF is that the second element is NBr *cau ‘a hollow’ (the second element in Glasgow) (Johnson-Ferguson 1935, 68). There is perhaps some topographical corroboration for this in relation to Carcow, since the nearby Carcow Hass is described by the OS Name Book: ‘This name is applied to the hollow between Strandlud Hill and Milray Hill’ (OS1/3/49/159).

[FOR SOURCES: Johnson-Ferguson, Edward, 1935, The Place-Names of Dumfriesshire (Dumfries).]

Carcow Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS618102
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 224m
Elements: en Carcow + Sc burn

Carcow Hass

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS587059
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 419m
Elements: en Carcow + Sc hause

Description:

‘A narrow place or defile in the hills associated with Carcow’. Sc hause (with variants hass and hals), the basic meaning of which is ‘a neck’. The defile in question is probably that between Strandlud Hill NCU and Milray Hill NCU on an old route south to Carsphairn DMF.

The OS Name Book has: ‘This name is applied to the hollow between Strandlud Hill and Milray Hill’ (OS1/3/49/159).

Carcow Hole

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS615098
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 265m
Elements: en Carcow + SSE hole

Description:

OS Name Book: ‘A deep Ravine on the west Side of Carcow Burn, near Burnfoot’ (OS1/3/49/164).

Carlaverock

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS435189
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 99m
Elements: en Caerlaverock

Description:

This name must have been transferred from Caerlaverock DMF with its large, well-known castle. It may have been applied humorously through the re-interpretation of the second element as Sc laverock ‘a lark’. If so, this would belong to a category of humorous names of settlements containing bird-names such as Larkhall (see Hough, Carole, 2003, ‘Larkhall in Lanarkshire and Related Place-Names’, Notes and Queries 50 (March), 1–3).

The OS Name Book gives no clue as to its origin, describing it simply as: ‘A farm steading - dwelling - house & offices, one storey - thatched & in good repair. The property of Alexander Oswald Esqr.’ (OS1/3/51/2/12).

Carnivan Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS559151
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 321m
Elements: en Caerniven + SSE hill

Description:

'Hill or upland grazing associated with Caerniven‘. The OS Name Book desribes it as: ‘A hill lying on the west side of Carsgailoch Hill’ (OS1/3/49/19).

Carrier's Well (Spring)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS500029
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 264m

Carsgailoch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS545140
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 332m
Elements: G crois or G cars + G gealach*

Description:

The first element may be G crois in the sense of ‘crossing-place’. It may also be G cars, a loan-word from Sc carse referring to the relative flat (and boggy?) land on either side of the Linn Burn NCU/OCU at the foot of Carsgailoch Hill.

The second element is more problematic. Bob Guthrie proposes cailleach ‘old woman; hag’ Place-Names: C – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY, but the change from c to g would only come about if there was the genitive plural article na(n), ‘of the old women’, and there is no trace of this in any of the forms.

It may be a form of G geal 'white, pale'. It can be compared with the second element in Drumgelloch (New Monklands) LAN, which may be G gealach, an otherwise unrecorded variant of the adjective G geal, ‘white, pale’, a colour often used in hill-names to indicate paler grasses compared to dark peat or heather.

While it was a settlement-name in the 17th century, the name has survived only in combination with hill, spring and runner. 

Carsgailoch Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS549147
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 378m
Elements: en Carsgailoch + Sc hill

Carsgailoch Runner

New Cumnock (NCU), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS561181
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 185m
Elements: en Carsgailoch + Sc runner

Description:

‘A small stream flowing from Carsgailoch Spring’. OS Name Book writes: ‘This Stream issues from Carsgilloch Spring in the parish of New Cumnock it flows in a Northerly direction to Horsecleuch Glen’ (OS1/3/52/121). Adds ‘[Note] Carsgailoch adopted from Names list for New Cumnock O.M.O. {Ordnance Mapping Office}.

Carsgailoch Spring

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS551152
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 344m
Elements: en Carsgailoch + SSE spring

Carston

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS452181
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 116m
Elements: pn Ker(r) + SSE town

Description:

‘A farm associated with a person or persons of the surname Ker(r).' The surname Ker(r) is recorded in the area already in 1534, when one Katherine Ker, along with her son John Speir, lived at Gallowhill beside Ochiltree village (RMS iii no. 1411). The surname of her son and, it can be assumed, of her husband is found in the local name Speirston STA, OCH.

There are three farms called Carston in Ochiltree parish, one near Drongan, one near Ochiltree village and a third, High Carston, separate from the other two. High Carston, however, seems originally to have been Kerrs Burn (see under High Carston). It may be significant that the Carston discussed here was originally in Stair parish and so would have been distinguishable from the other Carston by that means, up to 1891 when this portion of Stair was taken into Ochiltree.

Carston

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS499217
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 114m
Elements: pn Ker(r) + SSE town

Description:

‘A farm associated with a person or persons of the surname Ker(r)’. The surname Ker(r) is recorded in the area already in 1534, when one Katherine Ker, along with her son John Speir, lived at Gallowhill beside Ochiltree village (RMS iii no. 1411). The surname of her son and, it can be assumed, of her husband is found in the local name Speirston STA, OCH.

There are three farms called Carston in Ochiltree parish, one near Drongan, one near Ochiltree village and a third, High Carston, separate from the other two. High Carston, however, seems originally to have been Kerrs Burn (see under High Carston). It may be significant that the other Carston (NS452181) was originally in Stair parish and so would have been distinguishable from this Carston by that means, up to 1891 when that portion of Stair was taken into Ochiltree.

Carston Belt

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS510188
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 176m
Elements: en (High) Carston + SSE belt

Description:

'A belt or strip of trees associated with High Carston'. It lies on the lands of High Carston. Towards the southern end of this belt is the wooded Carston Mount.

Carston Mount

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Relief, Vegetation
Grid reference: NS510187
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 173m
Elements: en (High) Carston + SSE mount

Description:

A circular plantation to the north-west of High Carston.

Cascaya

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS594116
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 232m

Castle

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Antiquity
Grid reference: NS618138
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 186m
Elements: en Cumnock + Sc castle

Description:

This refers to Cumnock Castle at New Cumnock, it is also known as Black Bog Castle.

Castle

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS457145
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 203m
Elements: SSE the + SSE castle

Castle Crofts

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Field
Grid reference: NS483057
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 200m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE croft

Castle Green

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Field
Grid reference: NS619136
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 187m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE green

Description:

‘A common green associated with the castle’, the castle being that of Cumnock in New Cumnock. This served as a common space for the people of Cumnock. It was formally established in 1837 and 1838, when it was created ‘for the use of the village as a market place and bleaching green’. For an exhaustive discussion of the evolution and use of this important piece of land, see Castle Green – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Castle Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS540112
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 249m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE hill

Description:

This hill takes its name from what was the nearby Waterhead castle, situated at NS541114. The castle is shown as Waterhead Cast. on Blaeu (Kyle), on both the OS 6 inch 1st and 2nd edn maps as Castle (Site of) and on the OS Explorer as Castle (remains of).

See also https://canmore.org.uk/site/43530/little-rigend-waterhead-castle where it is indicated that an older wooden fortification (a precursor to the castle) may have existed on the top of the hill.

Castle Hill

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS585174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 190m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE hill

Description:

The hill associated with Borland Castle.

Castle Mains

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS620135
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: Sc castle + Sc mains

Description:

‘Mains or home-farm of Cumnock Castle’. In the earliest records it is referred to as the Mains of Cumnock.

Castle Meadows

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS613136
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 189m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE meadow

Description:

‘Meadows associated with a castle’, the castle here being Cumnock Castle in New Cumnock. It is a lowlying stretch of land immediately west of Cumnock Castle. It is mentioned in the Caledonian Mercury newspaper (30 08 1813), which reads under the headline ‘THE HARVEST IN SCOTLAND: AYR’ – Harvest is becoming general throughout this county. Wheat and barley have already been gathered in many places. On Wednesday se’ennight [Sc sennicht or sevenicht ‘a week’ i.e. ‘a week ago this Wednesday’], a fine field of oats was cut down on the Castle black bog, New Cumnock, a scene of cultivation which a few years ago was a morass’. While it was good arable at this time, the name Black Bog suggests that it had to be hard won as such.

It had become Castle Meadows by the time of the Ordnance Survey (1857), being described in the OS Name Book as: ‘Pasture and meadow land lying on the west side of that portion of New Cumnock called the Castle, it is bounded on the north by the Nith & on the west by Connell Burn’ (OS1/3/49/66). However, the eponymous Black Bog had reasserted itself with a vengeance by the end of the century, it being shown as a loch on the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map (1897).

See under Black Bog Castle (Site of) for more details.

Castle Well

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS484056
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 198m
Elements: SSE castle + SSE well

Castle William

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS627051
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 414m
Elements: SSE castle + pn William

Description:

‘A rock resembling a fortification associated with William Wallace’. For a full explanation as to why it is practically certain that the eponymous William is Wallace, see CASTLE WILLIAM – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY, where there are also some splendid photographs of the feature.

There Guthrie writes: ‘The earliest reference to Castle William appears in 1775 on Armstrong’s Map of Ayrshire south of Blackcraig and Craigdarroch at the head of Glen Afton. Here it appears to be shown as a substantial ruin, although it does not appear on the “reduced version” of that map published a few years later in 1783 …. Similarly, in 1821 only the name Castle William is given on Ainslie’s Map of Southern Scotland’. It is possible that the name itself prompted Armstrong to draw a castle there, but he had become aware of his mistake by the time of the reduced version. It never appears again on any map.

The feature is described in the OS Name Book as: ‘A large rock standing conspicuously on a brow near Afton Water’ (OS1/3/49/195).

Cat's Cleuch

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS680193
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 279m
Elements: SSE cat + Sc cleugh

Description:

This ravine channels a burn which flows from Black Hill into the Glenmuir Water. Presumably this was a haunt of wildcats in the past. Note the form may be plural or singular as the apostrophe does not appear on the OS 6-inch 1^st edn.

Catlock Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS561086
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 353m
Elements: ? + SSE burn

Description:

Obscure. Could the first element ultimately derive from Sc catlowp ‘a short distance’ i.e. a narrow burn a proverbial cat could lowp over? The OS Name Book simply describes it as: ‘A Small Burn flowing between Chang & Little Chang Hills into Crocradie Burn’ (OS1/3/49/151).

Causeyhead Bridge

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS541200
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 120m
Elements: en Causeyhead + SSE bridge

Description:

Causeyhead Bridge crosses over the Polcalk Burn to the south of Dumfries House Mains. This bridge takes its name from Causeyhead, a former name for Dumfries House Mains, as shown on the OS 6 inch 1st edn map. The bridge is shown and named Causeyhead Bridge on the second edition of the OS 6 inch map, published in 1897, but not on the first. By that time Dumfries House Mains had replaced the Causeyhead name.

Cawhillan

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS492215
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 147m
Elements: G cùil or G cùl + G coillean

Description:

‘Small woodland corner, corner or neuk with a small wood’ (G cùil ‘corner, neuk’) or ‘back-lying small wood, small woodland at the back’, from the standpoint of the name-giver (G cùl ‘back’)? This assumes that the second element is a diminutive form of G coille ‘a wood, woodland’. There is a similar name in Fife, Colquhally, Auchterderran parish (PNF 1 s.n.). Several of its early forms correspond closely to those of Cawhillan, such as Coquhellis c.1460 (with the final s representing a Scots plural), Coilquhailye 1530, Coquhille 1542, Coquhalie 1617, Colwhally 1654, Cowhally 1775. In PNF 1 it is analysed in a similar way as above, the main difference being that the specific is the non-diminutive coille. The Fife Colquholly is pronounced locally /cɔˈhɔlɪ/ or cəˈhɔlɪ/. There are, it should be said, other Gaelic words which the second element might represent, e.g. cuileann ‘holly’.

The varying spelling (and presumably underlying pronunciation) of the name is well reflected in the OS Name Books, which variously note ‘Cowhillan’, ‘Cawhillend’, ‘Cawhallan’, Cawhullan’.

There is an excellent and informative account about Cawhillan on the Ploughing up the Past website (https://farminginthecumnockarea.blogspot.com/search/label/Cawhillan) from Russell McNab, who farmed there in thee 1960s, including much detail about the most recent changes to the farm and its lands. There he notes the intriguing ‘Pill Pad’ adjacent to the farm: ‘The Pill Pad (a narrow walking path) starts at the top of the Cawhillan road and runs from the junction south eastwards to the village of Ochiltree along the lands of Watston Farm on the south west and Hill of Ochiltree on the north east, passing Pill Cottage, and into Broom Crescent in the village. The Pill Pad is about 1.25 Km in length.’ ‘Pill Cottage’ is represented on earlier maps as Pool (q.v.). The term pad is Scots for ‘path’.

Chair Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS523050
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 460m
Elements: SSE chair + SSE hill

Chalmerston

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS480071
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 213m
Elements: pn Chalmers + Sc toun

Description:

The NGR refers to a place between East and West Chalmerston, as the estate was clearly split in the 17th century.

Chalmerston Glen

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS478080
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 312m
Elements: en Chalmerston + SSE glen

Chalmerston Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS486084
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 400m
Elements: en Chalmerston + SSE hill

Chang

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS567083
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 461m
Elements: en Chang (Hill)

Description:

This settlement, no longer in existence, has taken its name from nearby Chang Hill, which see for the origin of the name. It was clearly big enough to have been divided into at least two parts as can be seen in the name *Meikle Chang.

Chang Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS567083
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 461m
Elements: G teanga + Sc hill

Description:

Gaelic teanga 'tongue, tongue-shaped piece of  land’. Both Chang Hill and neighbouring Littlechang Hill are elongated hills to which the description ‘tongue’ well applies. They form northern outliers of High Chang Hill, which is less tongue-like.

Changue

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS553187
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 191m
Elements: G teanga

Description:

Gaelic teanga 'tongue, tongue-shaped piece of  land’. This reflects the topography of the lands of Changue, which lie on a broad elevated plain tapering to the north. 

The division into Over and Nether on Blaeu’s map is probably reflected by the later division into Changue and Little Changue. Little Changue has now disappeared as a separate farm and has been incorporated into the lands of Glengyron. It lay between the modern Changue and Glengyron farm-houses (ex info. Robert Stevenson, farmer, Changue, March 2002).

There are other places in south-west Scotland called Changue, e.g. NX29 47, NX28 93, BAR NX32 91, GAL NS57 35.

Note charter RMS ii no. 1225 (dated 1476): The king has granted to George Campbell of Martnaham (Mertinhame) DRL, sheriff of Ayr, and his heirs the lands of half the lands of Corshill, Chang-Leithistoune, Schyr-Donaldstoune and Broustarland in the lordship of Trarynzeane (Tarinzean OCU) sheriffdom of Ayr. Does this refer to Changue OCU?

Changue Burn

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS552193
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 157m
Elements: en Changue + SSE burn

Chapel House

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS594172
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 211m
Elements: SSE chapel + SSE house

Description:

There is very little remaining of the chapel, probably medieval, which gave rise to this name. According to Warrick’s History of Old Cumnock (1899, pp. 69-70), it was called "Hallow Chapel" or "Borland Chapel", although all traces had practically disappeared by his time. A carved stone from this chapel, some 3' x 2', carved in concentric circles, is built into the wall of Chapel farmhouse. It is thought to be part of a cross, though it may be an altar-stone, or part of a sarcophagus (see H. J. Steven’s New Cumnock (189, pp. 73-4). This is noted also in the OS Name Book OS1/3/52/108. Full details can be found in Canmore ID 43508.

The OS Name Book gives the following details about the chapel in 1857, citing Janet McCrone last survivor of a family that claimed to have lived there for more than 500 years (OS1/3/52/81, OS1/3/52/84 and OS1/3/52/108). She is one of the few female authorities to be found in the OS Name Books, and from the account it sounds as though her voice could not be ignored: ‘‘The Site of this burial ground was pointed out by the occupier of chapel who states that the late Mr McCrone father of Janet named as an Authority found at various times human bones and Sculls in the Small inclosure opposite and adjoining Chapel. The occupier also states that her information has passed from generation to generation to the present time and she fearlessly expresses her conviction as to the accuracy of her statements. The Authorities here quoted also agree with the above being resident all their days in the locality.’ These authorities are given as: ‘Janet McCrone occupier of chapel; James McKerrow; Hugh Arthur; Mr Cameron’ (OS1/3/52/84).

Despite this fearlessness, the said Janet McCrone is not given as an authority for her own abode of Chapel House (OS1/3/52/108).

RN

Chapel Row Cottage

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS444080
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 159m

Cistern Mount

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS543195
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 157m
Elements: SSE cistern + SSE mount

Description:

The OS Name Book describes the feature, providing an explanation for its name: 'A small plantation of Forest an[d] Fir trees in which a Cistern is situated for conveyance of water to Dumfries Ho[use] popularly known by the name supplied' (OS1/3/52/23).

Cistern is marked on the OS 6 inch 1st edn map at NS54280 19565.

This is one of a series of artificial circular mounts or mounds which were planted with trees to provide focal points in the landscape on the Dumfries House Estate. These were in existence before the completion of Dumfries House in 1759 (Green 2019, 116).

Clashywarrant Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS649032
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 478m
Elements: G clais + G an + G caorann

Description:

‘Hollow of the rowan’? Gaelic clais a’ chaorainn. The first element is derived from G clais ‘ditch, hollow, trench’, in this case probably the hollow between two large hills from which it flows, as referred to in the OS Name Book entry (see below). The rest of the name is less certain, but Bob Guthrie on the NCH website suggests G a’ chaorainn ‘of the rowan’, which is plausible.

The OS Name Book writes: ‘A small burn having its source in a hollow between Alquhat Hill & Meik[ledodd] Hill and after receiving the water of Blacklorg Burn, takes the name of Montraw Burn and falls into the Afton at Montraw’ (OS1/3/49/10).

Clawfin

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS505072
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 241m

Clawfin Bridge

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS505074
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 260m
Elements: en Clawfin + SSE bridge

Description:

Crossing over the Black Burn, this bridge takes its name from the settlement of Clawfin to its south.

Clawfin Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS518068
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 389m
Elements: en Clawfin + SSE hill

Clockclocher

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS587191
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 172m
Elements: G clach + G clochar

Description:

The first element is very probably G clach ‘a stone’, often a standing stone or some other conspicuous stone in the landscape. The second element is more problematic, but may be Old Gaelic clochar ‘a stony place’, containing the word clach, suggested as the first element of this name. It would therefore mean something like ‘a (standing) stone of a stony place’. Local knowledge might help.

It is described in the OS Name Book (1857) as: ‘an inferior farm steading sub- let of Craigens the property of Mr Campbell Esquire occupied by James Nimme’ (OS 1/3/52/58). It had disappeared by the time of the OS 6 inch 2^nd edn (1896).

RN

Clockclocher Plantation

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS585190
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 173m
Elements: en Clockclocher + SSE plantation

Description:

A plantation of trees beside the small farm-steading of Clockclocher. This farm-steading had disappeared by the time the plantation is first named on an OS map in 1896.

The NGR marks the mid-point of the original plantation. It is now half the size it was on OS 6 inch 2nd edn (1896).

Clockclownie

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS580172
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 189m
Elements: G clach + G claon

Description:

The first element looks probably G clach (OG cloch) ‘a (standing) stone’, while the second element may be G claon ‘a slope’, so ‘a stone on or by a slope’. This name is very similar to the Fife place-name Clockluine (Inverkeithing parish) (PNF 1 s.n. and PNF 5, 330), the stone probably being the large, now destroyed, early medieval cross slab near the top of a brae (Clockluine Road).

Clocklowie

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS697167
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 333m
Elements: G clach + G laogh

Description:

‘Calf-stone’? G clach laoigh or laogh ‘stone associated with a calf or calves; a stone resembling a calf’? The earliest form Knockluy has G cnoc 'a hill, knowe' instead of G clach. This name would appear to be a variant. For good photographs of the now ruined Clocklowie, as well as of Clocklowie Burn and Clocklowie Hill, see Clocklowie, Clocklowie Hill, Clocklowie Burn – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Clocklowie Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS687169
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 312m
Elements: en Clocklowie + SSE burn

Clocklowie Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS699172
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 441m
Elements: en Clocklowie + SSE hill

Closs

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS505168
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 205m
Elements: Sc closs

Description:

Sc closs is given in SND as an alternative for Sc close. There are several meanings listed, the most appropriate for this small settlement being 2. (2) ‘an enclosure (usually covered) for sheltering cattle’. So this may have been the even humbler beginnings of what by the time of the OS Name Book had become a ‘Cothouse on the farm of Auchlin one Storey high thatched and in tolerable repair. Property of the Marquis of Bute’ (OS1/3/51/1/64).

It disappeared from later maps; its traces were still being shown in the 1970s, though without name. Nonetheless it was substantial enough in its time to give its name to the nearby burn.

Closs Burn

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS503175
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 167m
Elements: en Closs + SSE burn

Description:

The burn which runs past the former site of the cottage or farm of Closs (q.v.).

Cloven Stone

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS627045
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 489m
Elements: SSE cloven + SSE stone

Description:

‘A cloven stone; a split stone; a stone with a deep notch.’ It is described in the OS Name Book (1850/1851) as: ‘A small rock with a shepherds Cairn upon it, situate on the summit of a Know[e], derivation not known’ (OS1/3/49/195). It is hard to believe that the derivation of this very transparent name was ‘not known’ at the time of the OS Survey. This more likely means that the feature which gave rise to the name was not obvious.

Clover Park

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS436088
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 182m
Elements: SSE clover + SSE park

Clydeneuck Belt

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS476196
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 141m
Elements: en Clydenoch + SSE belt

Description:

‘Belt’ is used here in the sense of a strip of plantation trees, to the NE of the farm of Clydenoch, from which it took its name. It adjoined Killochside Belt, which was closer to the farm of Killochside; and Provost Mount, which has retained some of its tree cover. The trees seem to have been removed sometime before the 1950s, to judge from maps, and the name disappeared with them.

Clydeneuck Bridge

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS475191
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 126m
Elements: en Clydenoch + SSE bridge

Description:

Situated to the east of Clydenoch from which it takes its name, the bridge crosses over Taiglum Burn. It preserves the spelling of Clydenoch as found on OS 6 inch 2nd edn map, as does Clydeneuk Belt.

Clydenoch

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS472191
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 124m
Elements: G claigeannach

Description:

This name is best explained as coming from Gaelic *claigneach, modern claigeannach, and the earlier forms in Claygnoch represent this well. This word is a form derived from claigeann, which means most basically ‘a skull’, but also has the extended meaning of ‘best arable land of a district’, and this alternative meaning also applies to claigeannach (which otherwise means ‘of or abounding in skulls’). The thought is that the term comes from the smoothness of the land, like the top of a skull, but it is a curious term nonetheless. This appears as a place-name elsewhere, at Claigionnach, in South Knapdale (NR783774), and there are a number of Claigeann place-names, though it is not clear that the ‘arable’ meaning always applies. It certainly seems to have in the case of Clydenoch: see excellent photographs on the Ploughing up our Past website: https://farminginthecumnockarea.blogspot.com/search/label/Clydenoch

In the 1897 form, as well as in the derived names Clydeneuck Belt and Clydeneuck Bridge, the second element has been re-interpreted as Sc neuk ‘a corner’.

A settlement called Dam is shown opposite this on the Roy map.

RN

Coachford Bridge

Ochiltree (OCH), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS524201
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 109m
Elements: SSE coach + SSE ford + SSE bridge

Description:

'A ford suitable for coaches, a ford used by coaches'. Coachford Bridge carries the main road from Ochiltree to Cumnock over the Coachford Burn. It presumably replaced a ford here which was used by coaches. Armstrong's 1775 map shows a small settlement immediately south-west of the bridge on the OCH side of the Coachford Burn at c.NS524201.

RN

Coachford Burn

Ochiltree (OCH), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS522207
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 94m
Elements: en Coachford + SSE burn

Description:

This burn, which partly forms the parish boundary between Old Cumnock and Ochiltree, was clearly named from a ford on the main Ochiltree to Cumnock road, suitable enough for horse-drawn coaches, later replaced by the Coachford Bridge (q.v.). This dates the name of the ford, and hence the burn, to the early modern period, when coaches were prevalent. The name of burn may earlier have been Polnood. This survived only in the name of Polnood Wood, but the first element of its name is the element poll ‘burn’. See Polnood Wood for further discussion.

Coachford Wood

Ochiltree (OCH), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS523203
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 105m
Elements: en Coachford + SSE wood

Description:

The name of woods along the Coachford Burn between Coachford Bridge and the Lugar Water.

Coal Burn

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS625196
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 203m
Elements: SSE coal + SSE burn

Description:

The fact that the upper reaches of this burn were destroyed by a large opencast coalmine is testimony to the accurate description of this name. The OS Name Book makes no mention of coal, writing merely: ‘The Name of this burn is applicable from a junction of Small Streams in a portion of Rough Pasture about 13 chains N E of High Garleffan to the Junction with the Glenmore Water’ (OS1/3/52/111).

Coal Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS571133
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 210m
Elements: Sc coal + Sc burn

Description:

‘A burn characterised by coal’. It has given its name to the lands of Coalburn (later divided into Old Coalburn and Laigh Coalburn, which see for more details). Although the burn-name does not appear on OS maps, it is alluded to in the OS Name Book entry for Old Coalburn, namely: ‘A few cottages on Fardingreoch It takes its name from a Burn of that name’ (OS1/3/49/17).

The eponymous coal was so profuse that the area is dotted with small coal-mines, many disused, on the OS 1st edn (1860), especially around Laigh Coalburn. Unsurprisingly all the lands of Coalburn, along with its burn, have disappeared under an enormous open-cast mine.

It was a tributary of the River Nith.

Coal Glen

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS508078
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 279m
Elements: SSE coal + SSE glen

Coal Syke

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS704215
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 389m
Elements: SSE coal + SSE syke

Description:

A small stream feeding into the Polwhannan Burn. Presumably there had been traces of coal found in the vicinity at some point, but this is not an area which was subject to mining.

Coalburn Quarry

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS567141
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 265m
Elements: en Coal Burn + SSE quarry

Description:

It is marked on the OS 6 inch 1st edn simply as ‘Sandstone Quarry’, not a name but a description.

Coalcreoch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS602112
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 245m
Elements: G cùil or G cùl + G crìoch

Description:

‘A nook or corner on a boundary or associated with a boundary’, if the first element is G cùil ‘a nook, corner, something hidden or tucked away’. Alternatively the first element may be G cùl ‘a back’, so ‘back boundary’ or the like.

Coalhall

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS446199
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 100m
Elements: SSE coal + SSE hall

Description:

‘Coal hall’, one of the many examples in minor Scottish place-names in which a low-status specific subverts the high-status connotations of the Scots and Scottish Standard English hall ‘hall, big house.’ It is assumed in this analysis that Roy’s form with hills is a misunderstanding or misreading of hall. OS 6 inch 1^st edn shows an ‘Old Coal Pit’ c.150m south-east of the small settlement of Coalhall. Love 2021, 231 also reports a ‘coal work’ here on the Taylor-Skinner 1775 map. He has further extensive discussion of the evolution of coal-mining in the area, pp.231ff. 

Cock Clay

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS481020
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 263m

Cockclay

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS506063
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 372m

Coila Hill

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS604180
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 313m
Elements: en Coila + SSE hill

Description:

Coila is the post-medieval Latin for the stewartry of Kyle, one of the ancient divisions of what became the sheriffdom of Ayr, along with Carrick and Cunninghame. It may have first appeared in the bilingual title of Timothy Pont’s map as printed in Blaeu ‘Coila Provincia, [or], The province of Kyle’ (Blaeu (Kyle)). It was also adopted by Robert Burns as the name of his muse, for which see Wikipedia ‘Coila (Muse)’. Why it should be applied to this hill is almost certainly due to the belief that it was the site of a Roman camp in an area where the Romans have left scarcely a trace. While neither the Old Statistical Account (1793) nor the new (1845) mentions Roman remains in the parish, the following is found in the OS Name Book (1857) under Coila Hill: ‘A hill on the farm of Borland Mains the property of General Campbell on which is the Site of a Cairn and Supposed Site of a Roman Camp’ (OS1/3/52/104).

On Johnson’s 1828 map, ‘Roman Camp’ is written in bold letters on the site of Coila Hill, although the hill itself is not named.

Cold Well

New Cumnock (NCU), Sanquhar (SAN)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS654044
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 660m
Elements: Sc cauld or SSE cold + Sc well or SSE well

Description:

Probably a well with especially cold water, but it could also refer to its high, exposed position. It appears to lie on the county and parish boundary between New Cumnock AYR and Kirkconnel DMF. It is included in the OS Name Book for the AYR sheet, describing it simply as: ‘A Spring near the source of Kello Water’. The two informants for this name, Robert Campbell and James McErrail, are described as Meresmen (OS1/3/49/108). A meresman was someone who ascertained and maintained boundaries, which suggests that the above-mentioned county and parish boundary was contentious? The form they gave to the surveyors seems to have been Sc cald, for the more usual Sc cauld ‘cold’. However, o and a in this hand are very difficult to distinguish.

 RN

Colliers' Row

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS489067
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 206m
Elements: SSE collier + SSE row

Common

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS582229
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 194m
Elements: SSE common

Description:

This settlement, sitting amidst Airds Moss, also known as Common Farm, presumably occupies land which had previously been used as common grazing or peat-moss by surrounding settlements. The reclamation of land at the farm from peatland was noted in 1899. See https://farminginthecumnockarea.blogspot.com/search/label/Common%20farm

Listed as feued lands in The Correspondence, App. 1 (p. 226), it notes “Common was feued to the laird of Ballochmyle, Sir John Whitefoord, who was succeeded by Claud Alexander in 1785.” On 1 April 1788 James Bruce writes to James Boswell, “Mr. Alexander was here last week and was desierous that You Should get a Settlement made out with Sir John Whiteford of the Arrear of feu’s due on the farm of Common receding his entry.’ (The Correspondence, p. 115).

Common Coalworks

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other, Settlement
Grid reference: NS579237
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: en Common + SSE coalworks

Description:

This label seems to be used in 1860 for the wider extent of coalfields which would be exploited by opening up multiple pits over the course of the next half century (see ‘Common Pit’ etc.). In 1860 when this name is recorded, only the miners’ rows at Darnconnar and Common Row (q.v.) seem to have been built to house the workers, but two further extensive rows of housing had appeared by 1897: see Ballochmyle Row, Commonloch Row.

Common Loch

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS579232
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 187m
Elements: en Common + SSE loch

Description:

This no longer exists, having gone under opencast. It was in any case a widening of the Auchinleck Burn, perhaps created by damming in the late 18^th / early 19^th century, as it does not appear on Roy.

Common Loch Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS578234
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 188m
Elements: en Common Loch + SSE row

Description:

No longer extant, and not present on the OS 6-inch 1^st edn in 1860, it had been demolished by the 1950s.

In the 1913 Report on the state of miners’ housing, this was called ‘Common Row’, described as ‘96 houses built together in a long line without an opening’ (see http://www.ayrshirehistory.org.uk/Bibliography/monos/amr1.htm, under ‘Common Row’).

Common Pit

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS580230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 194m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Pit (No. 10.)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS585233
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 194m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Pit (No. 11)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS594230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 191m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Pit (No. 14.)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS589239
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 197m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Pits (Nos. 15 & 16.)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS572236
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 180m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Pits (Nos. 7 & 12.)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS582241
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 186m
Elements: en Common + SSE pit

Common Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS577230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: en Common + SSE row

Description:

No longer extant, demolished by the 1950s.

Named from the farm of Common nearby, this row of miners’ houses had been renamed ‘Stable Row’ by the 1910s, when the Royal Commission report on housing summarised it by saying ‘This is a horrible place’, that report’s modern editors noting: ‘No wash-houses. No coalhouses. No ashpits.’

Commondyke Farm

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS577225
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 188m
Elements: SSE common or en Common + SSE dyke + SSE farm

Description:

'Wall associated with a stretch of common land'? It lies a little over 0.5km south-west of a farm called Common, which was presumably so called because it was established on what had formerly been commonty or common land on the edge of Airds Moss.

Commondyke Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS575223
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 181m
Elements: en Commondyke + SSE row

Description:

For more about Commondyke, see: https://www.thelostvillages.co.uk/background/commondyke/

RN

Connel Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS612138
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 186m
Elements: pn (St) Convall + Sc burn

Description:

This most likely takes its name from the patron saint of the medieval parish of Cumnock, before the huge parish was divided into Old and New Cumnock in 1650. The name appears first in a charter of 1384, when the church is called ‘the church of St Conval of Cumnock’ (ecclesia S. Convalli de Cumnok) (RMS ii no. 90). This referred to church on the site of the present Church of Scotland church in the square at Cumnock. This is several km away from Connel Burn, but it should be noted that the burn flows into the Nith about 0.5 km west of the parish kirk of New Cumnock, established there when Cumnock was divided (see above). It is possible that the new kirk brought with it the name of the original foundation to become known as St Conval’s Kirk or the like. This would then go some way to explain how the burn became so closely associated with the saint.

For a full discussion of this saint, his identity and his presence in south-west Scotland, see Gilbert Márkus’s piece Cumnock and Glasgow, Conval and Kentigern: saints and their authority – Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities (https://ayr-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/cumnock-and-glasgow-conval-and-kentigern-saints-and-their-authority/).While he remains an obscure figure, his presence in the wider Cumnock area was strong, as the name of the neighbouring parish to the east, over the county boundary in Dumfriesshire, is Kirkconnel ‘Conval’s kirk’

Connel Park

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS605126
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 200m
Elements: en Connel Burn + SSE park

Description:

The name of a mining village on the Connel Burn, from which it takes its name. The village grew up in the second half of the 19^th century. It was once home to around 1,200 people. Since the closure of the mines much of the village has been demolished. For more details see Lost worlds: a morning in and around New Cumnock – Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities (https://ayr-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/lost-worlds-a-morning-in-and-around-new-cumnock/).

Connelburn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS608128
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 191m
Elements: en Connel Burn

Description:

This was the name of a settlement on the Connel Burn, described in the OS Name Book (1857) simply as: ‘A row of Small Cottages near Connel Burn on the public road from New Cumnock to Dalmellington’ (OS1/3/49/92). It was later subsumed into the mining village of Connelpark.

Connelburn Bridge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS608128
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 191m
Elements: en Connel Burn + SSE bridge

Description:

The bridge crosses over the Connel Burn on the main road (B741) from New Cumnock to Dalmellington. The settlement of Connelburn is shown on the OS 6 inch 1st edn map to the east of the bridge.

RN

Connelburn Rig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS592090
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 373m
Elements: en Connel Burn + Sc rig

Description:

‘A hill-ridge associated with the Connel Burn’.

Connelwood House

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS598133
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 199m
Elements: en Connel Burn + SSE wood + SSE house

Description:

This is one of several local names incorporating the element Connel, earlier Conval, the name of the patron saint of the medieval parish of Cumnock. See under Connel Burn for more details.

Connor Craigs

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS709197
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 340m
Elements: en Connor + Sc craig

Description:

See under Connor Hill for analysis of name.

Connor Hill

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS713198
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 389m
Elements: en Connor + SSE hill

Description:

The underlying name Connor is perhaps from OG conar ‘way, path’ (ScG conair) though it is not clear what that would refer to here. The earliest form, on Roy’s map, would support this explanation.

Connor Syke

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS703200
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 300m
Elements: en Connor + SSE syke

Description:

See under Connor Hill for analysis of name.

Cooperhill

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS519195
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 149m
Elements: Sc couper or SSE cooper or pn Cooper + SSE hill

Description:

‘A hill associated with a dealer, especially in horses and cattle’, Sc couper, cowper or cooper (SND)? Or ‘a hill associated with a barrel-maker or cooper’? Or ‘a hill associated with a person or persons of the surname Cooper'?

There is no indication as to the origin of the name in the OS Name Book entry: ‘A farmsteading, all slated one storey & in good repair. Property of the Marquis of Bute’ (OS1/3/51/45).

The farm of Cooperhill lay on the lands of Stamley OCH, which see.

Cooperhill High Plantation

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS515191
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 151m
Elements: en Cooperhill + SSE high + SSE plantation

Description:

A plantation of trees on the higher ground to the south-west of Cooperhill farm.

Cooperhill Low Wood

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS522195
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 126m
Elements: en Cooperhill + SSE low + SSE wood

Description:

A stand of trees along the Coachford Burn to the east of Cooperhill farm.

It may extend into Old Cumnock parish (OCU).

Corbie Craig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS631056
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 450m
Elements: Sc corbie + Sc craig

Description:

‘A crag or craggy cliff associated with ravens’. Sc corbie can also refer to a crow or a rook, but the craggy, upland terrain here is a typical haunt of ravens. It is described in the OS Name Book as: ‘A precipitous ledge of rocks lying between Garnel Craig and Stayamrie Craig’ (OS1/3/49/191).

Corbie Craig

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS500047
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 266m
Elements: Sc corbie + Sc craig

Corbie Craig Reservoir

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS501047
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 280m
Elements: en Corbie Craig + SSE reservoir

Corbie Craigs

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS456089
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 269m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs

Corbie Craigs

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS456091
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 289m
Elements: Sc corbie + Sc craig

Corbie Craigs Pit

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS458089
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 269m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs + SSE pit

Description:

The first of eight ironstone pits taking the Corbie Craigs name, which were worked between 1850 and 1919, as listed by Smith (1957, 238-9). This pit was 40 fathoms deep and operated from 1850 until 1860 (ibid., 238).

Corbie Craigs Pit (No 2, Ironstone)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS456092
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 295m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs + SSE pit

Description:

The second of eight ironstone pits taking the Corbie Craigs name, which were worked between 1850 and 1919, as listed by Smith (1957, 238-9). This pit was 54 fathoms deep and operated from 1859 until 1878 (ibid., 238).

Corbie Craigs Pit (No 4, Ironstone)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS459097
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 321m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs + SSE pit

Description:

The fourth of eight ironstone pits taking the Corbie Craigs name, which were worked between 1850 and 1919, as listed by Smith (1957, 238-9). This pit was 87 fathoms deep and operated from 1866 until 1901 (ibid., 238).

Corbie Craigs Pit (No 6, Ironstone) (Disused)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS470095
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 330m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs + SSE pit

Description:

The sixth of eight ironstone pits taking the Corbie Craigs name, which were worked between 1850 and 1919, as listed by Smith (1957, 238-9). This pit was 61 fathoms deep and operated from 1876 until 1890 (ibid., 238). It is shown on the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map (published in 1897) as disused.

Corbie Craigs Pit (No 7, Ironstone)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS465089
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 300m
Elements: en Corbie Craigs + SSE pit

Description:

The seventh of eight ironstone pits taking the Corbie Craigs name, which were worked between 1850 and 1919, as listed by Smith (1957, 238-9). This pit was 68 fathoms deep and operated from 1893 until 1901 (ibid., 238).

Corby Knowes

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS602088
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 377m
Elements: Sc corbie + Sc knowe

Description:

‘Knowes or small hills associated with ravens or crows’. As is the case with Corbie Craig NCU, the upland nature of these features suggest ravens rather than crows. It is described in the OS Name Book as: Two knowes north of Lamb Hill and on the same ridge [i.e. Meikle Hill]’ (OS1/3/49/170). Its immediate proximity to both Lamb Hill and Ewe Hill is ominous, given the predeliction of ravens and crows for sheep and lambs, both alive and dead.

Corselet

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS484216
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 150m
Elements: Sc cross + Sc latch or Sc lat

Description:

‘A small burn associated with a cross? A small burn crossing a feature or running across or athwart another feature’. OSc cors can refer to an actual cross or to a feature crossing or lying athwart another feature. The second element may be a reduced form of Sc latch (also letch, leche) ‘a small burn, especially one flowing through boggy ground; a mire, patch of bog’ (SND). An alternative might be Scots lat ‘an obstacle, hindrance’, with Corselet then perhaps meaning ‘an obstacle to crossing’. There are several places called Cors(e)let in Scotland, two in MLO alone. These are discussed at some length in Dixon 1947, 180, 297–8. He writes: ‘the frequent occurrence of Corslet, -lat forms in toponomy [sic] requires further investigation’ (1947, 180).

The name may be compared with other names in -let such as Mucklet and Horselet. For Mucklet see PNF 5, 609 (https://fife-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/placename/?id=1379 )

The name might have referred to an actual cross, perhaps beside the old road from Ochiltree to Stair, which passes close to Corselet farm-steading. If it means ‘crossing etc.’ it may be significant that it lies on the watershed between the small burns that run into the Lugar Water to the north-east and the River Ayr to the north-west.

Corsencon

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS667138
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 216m
Elements: G crois + G an + G cù

Description:

‘Crossing of the hound or hounds’. Gaelic crois an coin (singular) or crois nan con (plural). W. J. Watson discusses the name in some detail, interpreting it as ‘crossing of the hound’ (Watson 1926, 198-9), which see for more details. The crossing referred to is most likely the route through the hills taken by the modern A76 from New Cumnock to Dumfries. It has given its name to the iconic Corsencon Hill, which dominates the landscape for miles around. The dogs in the name are probably hunting-dogs.

There was another Corsincon [sic] on the Peeblesshire/Lanarkshire border (parishes of Kirkurd PEB and Dolphinton LAN) at NT100444. According to the OS Name Book: 'This name applies to the place where the boundary between the Counties of Peebles and Lanark cross the road which leads from the Town of Peebles to Lanark ...' (OS1/24/18/7).

For more on the settlement, as well as the hill, see CORSENCON, CORSENCON HILL – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

RN

Corsencon Bridge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS667138
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 216m
Elements: en Corsencon + SSE bridge

Description:

A road bridge over Mid Burn beside Corsencon.

Corsencon Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS671147
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 474m
Elements: en Corsencon + Sc hill

Description:

While not the highest hill in the area, it is certainly the most conspicuous, and the most famous. It takes its name from the settlement on its southern flank, which in turn takes its name from an important crossing through the hills. For some fine pictures of the hill, as well as history, lore and legends connected with it, see CORSENCON, CORSENCON HILL – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Cottertacks Glen

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS546211
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 113m
Elements: Sc cotter + Sc tack + SSE glen

Description:

Sc cotter-tack: 'a piece of land held on lease by a cottar or cottars’, a cottar being ‘a married farmworker who has a cottage as part of his contract; a tenant occupying a cottage with or without land attached to it’ (CSD2). The x is for ks, the s being the possessive singular ending.

Cottertax Wood

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS546211
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 113m
Elements: Sc cotter + Sc tack + SSE wood

Description:

References to Cottertacks Glen in 1860 and earlier to a Cotter Tack Park suggest that the land – perhaps that just to the west of the glen and wood, or perhaps different parcels of land on either side – was held before 1772 by cottars.

‘A piece of land held on lease by a cottar or cottars’, a cottar being ‘a married farmworker who has a cottage as part of his contract; a tenant occupying a cottage with or without land attached to it’ (CSD2).

Coupla

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS626128
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 218m
Elements: Sc coup (1) or Sc coup (2) or Sc cup + Sc law

Description:

This name survives in the two hill-names Big Coupla and Little Coupla, which lie on either side of the old road from New Cumnock to Dumfries. It also survived in the village-name Couplagate, now part of New Cumnock.

This is a difficult name to analyse. Bob Guthrie, in his excellent entry on Coupla and related names Coupla, Couplagate, Couplaligate – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY, discusses at length its various possible origins. These include: Sc coup, cowp ‘to buy, barter’, as a noun ‘a barter, a deal’ (SND), so ‘a hill where barter or selling was carried out’, including cattle or horses; and Sc coup, cowp ‘a place for emptying rubbish, a dump’, including mine waste (SND). As Guthrie writes on the above-mentioned website, on the OS 6 inch 1^st edn map ‘a “Coal and Schist Pit” is shown in the vicinity of Big Coupla while there is an “Old Coal Pit” near Little Coupla. Were these hills identified by the coups of coal-waste?’ In a coal-mining context Sc coup can also mean ‘a sudden break in a stratum of coal’, although this meaning is not well-attested (SND). After careful consideration of the various possibilities, Guthrie’s preferred option is ‘bargaining hill’ i.e. hill where bargaining or bartering took place. However, he does not entirely rule out a meaning connected with coal-mining.

The second element is very likely Sc law ‘a hill’. Guthrie usefully brings together three other similar names from southern Scotland, namely Couplaw, Avondale LAN (Cowply 1822; Couplay 1858), Couplaw (farm), Stonehouse LAN (Cowplow 1816, Couplaw 1864); and the now lost name of Cowplaw #, Eaglesham RNF (Cowplie 1685, Cowplaw 1752-55).

Yet another possibility, not discussed by Guthrie, is that the first element is Older Scots coup, cowp(e) ‘a cup’ (DOST), with reference to a hill reminiscent of the shape of an upturned cup. This is the etymology proposed in Place-Names of Fife vol. 4 (2010), for which see Fife Place-name Data :: Cuplahills (glasgow.ac.uk). From early forms such as Cowplawhillis (1620) it would seem that the Sc hill was added when law was no longer understood as such.

The NGR is that of Big Coupla, although it is possible that the name applied to both Big and Little Coupla.

Coupla Cairn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS604072
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 463m
Elements: ? + Sc cairn

Description:

It is difficult to know how this relates to the better known Coupla names beside New Cumnock (see under Coupla NCU), especially as Coupla Cairn lies c.4 miles to the south. Here is an extract from New Cumnock History website under Coupla:

‘There is another coupla place-name in the parish of New Cumnock, that of Coupla Cairn some 4 miles to the south on Auchincally Hill. Although it appears on the Ordnance Survey map (1857-60), there does not seem to be a corresponding entry in the Ordnance Survey Namebook (1855-57). In the case of Coupla Cairn most of the Scots coup elements discussed above can discounted … . Could it be a corruption of cupola  a rounded dome’ in reference to the shape of the cairn perhaps?’ (Coupla, Couplagate, Couplaligate – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY).

While the answer to this question is almost certainly no, it may nevertheless be related to the cairn’s shape, containing Sc cup, coup ‘a cup’ (see under Coupla NCU for more discussion of this element). What is more difficult to explain is the second element of Coupla. If it is Sc law ‘hill’, as it is in the other Coupla, then it is hardly appropriate when applied to a cairn. It may be, however, that it was originally *Coup Cairn, and the -la was added under the influence of the well-known Coupla group of names in the same parish.

Couplagate

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS622131
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 191m
Elements: en Coupla + Sc liggat

Description:

‘A self-closing gate associated with Coupla’, Coupla being the name of two hills, Big Coupla and Little Coupla, lying on either side of the main road from New Cumnock to Dumfries. At the time of the 1^st edn OS map (1860) the name applied to a small village lying along this road. This may have been how the original name *Couplaliggat became re-interpreted as Couplagate ‘Coupla road’. Bob Guthrie in his excellent entry on this and related names on the New Cumnock History (NCH) website Coupla, Couplagate, Couplaligate – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY puts beyond doubt that the second element was originally liggat. It is not until the OS Name Book that the modern form appears.

The Couplagate entry in the OS Name Book is as follows: ‘‘This small village lies on the New Cumnock and Dumfries Road. And on the east side of Afton Bridgend. And although they appear to be one village they are named seperately."Couplagate" extends east from the R.P. Meeting House- and Afton Bridgend from the same House, west to Afton Bridge’ (OS1/3/49/98).

The village of Couplagate and its relationship with the neighbouring village of Afton Bridgend is discussed in illuminating detail in the above-mentioned NCH website entry.

Court Knowe

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Antiquity
Grid reference: NS583140
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 228m
Elements: SSE court + SSE knowe

Description:

‘A knowe or small hill associated with a place of legal assembly’. The association may be real or conjectured. The OS Name Book describes it as: ‘A knowl upon which criminals are said to have been tried in ancient times by the laird of Auchincross’ (OS1/3/49/105). The likelihood that Court Knowe was indeed the site of an early place of judgment is strengthened by the fact that there was a Gallows Knowe nearby. Although it is not marked on any OS map, it does appear in the OS Name Book of 1857 as follows: ‘A small knowe about 20 chains [c.400m] S.E. of the Hall of Auchincross. Condemned criminals are said to have been executed upon it, after having been tried upon the Court Knowe by the Laird of Auchincross’ (OS1/3/49/109).

The historical context of Court Knowe, including the question of jurisdiction, is explored in enlightening detail on the New Cumnock History website Court Knowe – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Court Knowes

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS510037
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 436m

Covenanters' Monument

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS663129
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 234m
Elements: pn Covenanter + SSE monument

Description:

The OS Name Book provides the following description: 'A small tablet, surrounded by an iron railing, erected in memory of two men named Corson and Hair who are said to have been shot near this spot by Claverhouse's dragoons "for their adherence to divine truth" - They were Covenanters' (OS1/3/49/116).

For photographs of this monument and further detail about these two individuals - George Corson and John Hair - see the entries on the Scottish Covenanters Memorial Association website (http://www.covenanter.org.uk/corson_and_hair.html) and on Mark Jardine's book of martyrs blog (https://drmarkjardine.wordpress.com/2012/08/06/the-killing-of-the-covenanters-corson-and-hair-near-new-cumnock/).

Coyle Bridge

Coylton (COY), Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS432197
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 74m
Elements: en (Water of) Coyle + SSE bridge

Description:

This bridge on the main road (A70) from Coylton to Ochiltree crosses over the Water of Coyle, from which it takes its name, north of Shield Mains. It also crosses the parish boundary between Ochiltree and Coylton parishes.

In the OS Name Book for Ochiltree parish, the bridge is described as: 'A small stone one-arched bridge spanning the Water of Coyle, on a County Trust Road - Built and kept in repair by the County; and one-half in the Parish of Coylton' (OS1/3/51/1/41). There are four named authorities for the spelling of the name: two give 'Coil Bridge', one states 'Kyle Bridge' while the fourth has 'Coyl Bridge never Kyle Bridge'. However, the form in the first column (entitled 'List of Names as written on the Plan') is 'Coyle Bridge'.

The bridge is recorded in the OS Name Book for Coylton parish in a similar way: 'A small stone bridge of one arch spanning the Water of Kyle on a County Trust Road built & kept in repair by the county' (OS1/3/17/41). The same four authorities are given as for Ochiltree parish. The name 'Coil Bridge' in the first column entitled 'List of Names as written on the Plan' has been altered to 'Coyle Bridge' with a note at the foot of the page stating: 'Assimilated to "Water of Coyle" page 39.

Crae Moss

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS635098
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 378m
Elements: G crathaidh + Sc moss

Description:

The first element is probably G crathaidh ‘a quaking or shoogly bog’ (see Watson 1926, 477–8). When this word was no longer understood as such, Sc moss ‘a moss, bog’ was added to make it clear to Scots-speakers what the feature was. This element is also found in Crae in Balmaghie KCB (Place-Names of the Galloway Glens (glasgow.ac.uk)) and Cray in Glenshee, Kirkmichael PER.. Cray is recorded as early as c.1460, when it appears as Crathy, which retains the medial th later lost in Gaelic. Both these are settlements, unlike this Crae, which refers only to a bog.

It is just possible that the first element is Sc cray or crae ‘a pen for sheep, hens or pigs’, and a sheepfold is in fact shown on or immediately beside Crae Moss (OS 6 inch 1^st edn). However, as Bob Guthrie points out, the standard word locally for a sheepfold is ree, and in Ayrshire cray refers only to a hen-coop or a pig pen (SND) (Crae Moss – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY). , so only a Gaelic derivation of Crae has been given here.

Craig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS634064
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 282m
Elements: G creag + G braonach

Description:

‘A crag characterised by oozing or dripping water’ (G braonach ‘oozy, wet’). The name of this settlement was originally Craigbraneoch, which by the 18^th century had been shortened simply to Craig. We know this both from its name on Blaeu’s map (1654) (Kraigbrinach) and from the fact that it lies beside what is now called Craigbraneoch Hill.

Craig Bridge

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS506024
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 276m
Elements: en Craig (Burn) + SSE bridge

Description:

'A small substantial Stone Bridge of one arch over Craig Burn on the Turnpike road from Ayr to Dumfries and about 3 miles from Dalmellington' (OS1/3/21/128).

Craig Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS635065
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 280m
Elements: en Craig + SSE burn

Description:

This burn joins the Afton Water at the settlement of Craig, formerly Craigbraneoch.

Craig Burn

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS506024
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 276m

Craig House

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS505027
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 290m

Craig of Bahoun

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS574066
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 451m
Elements: Sc craig + Sc of + ?

Description:

‘Crag of ?’ This is a problematic name. The specific element is difficult to interpret, and various possibilities, none of them convincing, are discussed by Guthrie under CRAIG OF BAHOUN – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY. Whatever its origin, it had by the time of the OS Name Book (1857) been assimilated to the name of the English nobleman Humphry de Bohun, Earl of Hereford, who was granted the Bruce family lands in south-west Scotland in 1306 (Barrow Bruce, 222). The OS Name Book has the following: ‘A rocky precipice bounding on one Side a deep Glen, Situated at the Source of Connel Burn Messrs Murray [the local minister] & Johnstone [the schoolmaster] State that this name is derived from "Bohun", the name of a proprietor of the ground who lived in the days of Robert Bruce. They also state that Bruce was pursued by de Bohun's Bloodhounds into this glen and that he drew blood from his arm which he scattered on the ground in order to escape the pursuit. It appears that if the Bloodhound sees blood or sents it, when found out on the ground, he will not proceed any farther, and perhaps considers that his mission has been performed’ (OS1/3/49/158). It was this story that led the two informants Murray and Johnstone to give the name as Craig de-Bohun.

In reality de Bohun’s lands did not include Cumnock, and the story about the pursuit of Bruce by de Bohun’s bloodhounds is a garbled version of the story told in Barbour’s Bruce (Bk 6, lns 486 ff.). It relates that Sir Aymer de Valence and John of Lorne pursued Bruce (now king) and his men in the hills near Cumnock, and John of Lorne used Bruce’s own beloved bloodhound to hunt him down. Barbour gives two different endings to the story. In one Bruce and his one companion walk down a burn for ‘an arrow shot’ (a bow-drought) and in this way put the hound off their scent. In another an archer with the king kills the hound. For more discussion, see CRAIG OF BAHOUN – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY. This story may also have given rise to the name of the nearby burn,   Bitch Burn, which flows past Craig of Bahoun. The name of the rock-feature Stayamrie NCU (NS630055), about 5km to the east, has also been drawn into the forcefield of this story (q.v.).

Craig of the Shore

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS502029
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 293m

Craigbank

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS597121
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 229m
Elements: Sc craig + en Bank

Description:

‘A crag on the lands of Bank (formerly *St Brydesbank)’. Immediately west of the village the OS 6 inch 1^st edn map shows an ‘Old Quarry (flagstone)’ and it may be that this is the crag or craig after which the village was named (Place-Names: C – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY).

The OS Name Book describes Craigbank in 1857 thus: ‘Six rows of well built cottages erected by the Nithsdale Iron Co. [Company] for the accommodation of their work people, they are now chiefly untenanted,owing to the Iron Works being idle’ (OS1/3/49/96).

Little trace of the village now remains.

Craigbrae

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS450165
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 148m
Elements: Sc craig + Sc brae

Description:

‘A brae associated with a crag or rocky outcrop’. Sc brae in the singular often refers to a slope on a road.

This farm was among those in the parish of Stair until 1891, when it was transferred to Ochiltree.

Craigbrae Cottages

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS450164
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 149m
Elements: en Craigbrae + SSE cottage

Description:

Cottages near the farm of Craigbrae; they first appear on maps around 1960.

Craigbraneoch Hill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS633054
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 556m
Elements: en Craigbraneoch + Sc hill

Description:

The hill or upland grazing associated with the farm of Craig, formerly Craigbraneoch. There is a very fine photograph of Craigbraneoch Hill with its constituent crags Garnel Craig, Corbie Craig and Stayamrie, all labelled, on Craigbraneoch Hill, Craigbraneoch Rig – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Craigbraneoch Rig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS634052
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 554m
Elements: en Craigbraneoch + Sc rig

Description:

‘A ridge or long, narrow hill’ (Sc rig) which runs south from Craigbraneoch Hill, which itself takes its name from the farm of Craig, formerly Craigbraneoch.

Craigdarroch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS632065
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 289m
Elements: G creag + G darach

Description:

‘Crag of an oak, an oakwood or oaks’, modern Gaelic darach ‘an oak’. The medial y in the earliest form is difficult to explain and may simply be an editorial error in the printed source.

For discussion of the original crag which gave rise to the name, along with an annotated photograph, see Craigdarroch, Craigdarroch Rig – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY

Craigdarroch Rig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS628072
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 435m
Elements: en Craigdarroch + Sc rig

Description:

‘A ridge associated with Craigdarroch’. For an excellent photograph of this feature, see Craigdarroch, Craigdarroch Rig – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY

Craigdonkey

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS466103
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 412m
Elements: G creag + pn Donnchadh

Description:

‘Duncan’s crag or rock’, Creag Donnchaidh / Creag Dhonnchaidh. The second element is almost certainly for Donnchadh, the Gaelic personal name which is rendered Duncan in English.

Craigdullyeart

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS662152
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 326m
Elements: en Craigdullyeart

Craigdullyeart Hill

New Cumnock (NCU), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS658159
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 407m
Elements: G creag or Sc craig + Sc dullyeart + SSE hill

Description:

The word order of this name suggests that it is of Gaelic origin. If so, then the first element is G creag 'a rocky hill or crag' and the second element is obscure. However, it may be a Scots coining, first element craig 'crag etc.', second element Sc dullyeart (adj.) 'of a dirty, dull colour' (SND). ). Dullyeartcraig would be the more expected word order of a Scots name, but there are some Scots names which have this word order (generic element first, specific element second), probably partly influenced by Gaelic name-structure.

It originally referred to what is now Craigdullyeart Hill, through which runs the parish boundary between Old and New Cumnock. It gave its name to the small settlement of Craigdullyeart NCU.

Craigdullyeart Lime Works (Disused)

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS663153
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 337m
Elements: en Craigdullyeart + SSE lime works

Craigenrig Hag

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS612068
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 458m
Elements: en Craigenrig + Sc hag

Description:

For a full discussion of this name, see under Black Loch NCU.

Craigens

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS581189
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 160m
Elements: Sc craig + Sc house or G creag + G -an

Description:

If the Blaeu form (1654) is accurate, then the later -ens ending is a reduced form of Sc house, so 'a house on or by a crag or rocky outcrop'. However, Blaeu is prone to errors so the more likely derivation of this name is G creag ‘rock, crag’ with a diminutive ending -an etc., so ‘small crag’. The final ­s may be the Sc plural ending, indicating some kind of division of lands. There are at least 6 places of this name in AYR alone.

It has given rise to the nearby housing estate of Craigens.

Craigens

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS583186
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 163m
Elements: en Craigens

Description:

A housing estate named after the nearby farm of Craigens, in same way that Barshare housing estate is named after neighbouring farm of Barshare. Both are suburbs of Cumnock.

Craighouse

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS549104
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 279m
Elements: Sc craig + Sc house

Description:

‘A house at or near a crag or cliff face’.

The OS Name Book describes it as: ‘A Cottage house occupied by William Nisbet’ (OS1/3/49/138). William Nisbet was one of the informants for this name.

Craigie Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS709170
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 360m
Elements: Sc craigie + Sc burn

Description:

'Rocky or craggy burn'.

Craigman

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS542124
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 233m
Elements: G creag + G màm

Description:

‘Crag or rocky outcrop associated with a rounded hill’?’ The second element is difficult. Dwelly gives màn as a variant of màm ‘a rounded hill’. The crag or rocky outcrop of the name may be nearby Dow Craig (NS541117) beside the Beoch Lane Burn. However, it may also be on Stony Hill to the north. The rounded hill (if that is indeed the second element, which is doubtful) may be this same Stony Hill.

On the OS 6 inch 1^st edn map (1860), Craigman is shown where later maps show Old Craigman, while on the same 1860 map Marchburn is shown where later maps show Craigman. These settlements along with a large swathe of the surrounding countryside have been lost to opencast mining.

All the early references to Craigman will be to Old Craigman.

Craigman Cottage

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS538117
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 241m
Elements: en Craigman + SSE cottage

Craigmark

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS473071
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 179m

Craigmark Burn

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS473072
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: en Craigmark + SSE burn

Craigmark Hill

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS474080
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 290m
Elements: en Craigmark + SSE hill

Craigmark Pit (Coal No. 1)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS470073
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 199m
Elements: en Craigmark + SSE pit

Description:

The first in a series of coal pits and mines taking the Craigmark name, which were in operation from 1866 until 1923 (Smith 1967, 239). Craigmark No. 1 was a coal pit of 39 fathoms in depth. It was worked from 1866 until 1883 (ibid.).

Craigmark Pit (No. 2, Coal)

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS467077
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 219m
Elements: en Craigmark + SSE pit

Description:

The second in a series of coal pits and mines taking the Craigmark name, which were in operation from 1866 until 1923 (Smith 1967, 239). Craigmark No. 2 was a coal pit of 9 fathoms in depth. It was worked from 1879 until around 1901 (ibid.).

Craigmark School

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS473069
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 177m
Elements: en Craigmark + SSE school

Craigs of Ness

Dalmellington (DAL), Straiton (STT)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS478022
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 235m

Craigshiel

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS675154
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 363m
Elements: Sc craig + Sc shiel

Description:

‘A shieling near or beside a crag or rocky outcrop’.

The OS Name Book (1857) describes it as: ‘A poor looking farm house on the Earl of Dumfries property occupied by Robert McNaught’ (OS1/3/49/62). McNaught was one of the three informants for the name.

Craigston

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS590212
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 145m
Elements: pn Craik + Sc toun

Description:

'A farm associated with a family or individual with the family name Craik.' A number of individuals are known in Scotland with this designation in the middle ages, the name hailing perhaps from Crayke in Yorkshire, or from Craik in the Borders. The same name (as Craikstown). appears in Cumberland See also Craiksland in Dundonald Parish, Ayrhsire.

Of this site, The Correspondence, App. 1 (p.215), notes: “Craikston or Craigston, acquired from William Logan in 1726, included a part of Burnside. It was let to Thomas Dickie, whose grass crop was rouped in 1783, to Alexander Dunbar and Andrew McTurk for grazing in 1783, to David Kennedy who was sequestered in 1786, and to William McKerrow in Woodside in 1786 and 1797. Its houses and offices were rebuilt in 1789.”

This became the site of Lugar Iron Works, and then subsequently the village of Lugar was built at the site. Craigston House survives, however. An obituary for David McKerrow of Rodenhead, but formerly of Craigstone, published on his death in 1888, notes regarding this transition, that around 1841 “the greater part of Craigstone was acquired for Lugar Iron Works and the village of Lugar”, and of McKerrow’s life “He has seen the Lugar furnaces, houses, and works built on the farm where he was born.” See https://cumnockhistorygroup.org/ploughing-up-our-past/ploughing-up-our-past-blog/ under Craigston, Auchinleck.

Craigston Burn

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS592212
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 145m
Elements: en Craigston + SSE burn

Craigston Glen

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS591219
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 163m
Elements: en Craigston + SSE glen

Craigston Pit (Ironstone)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS591216
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 165m
Elements: en Craigston + SSE pit

Craigston Pits (Ironstone)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS589219
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 195m
Elements: en Craigston + SSE pit

Craigston Plantation

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS587211
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 143m
Elements: en Craigston + SSE plantation

Craigstonholm Row

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS591211
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 147m
Elements: en Craigstonholm + SSE row

Description:

This name only appears on the OS 6 inch 1^st edn map, as the name of a row of workers’ houses along the bank of the Lugar. It testifies to an otherwise unrecorded name for the low, level land by the Lugar near Craigston, ‘Craigstonholm’.

Crawford Hill

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS623180
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 307m
Elements: pn Crawford + SSE hill

Description:

The identity of the individual or family in this name has yet to be established, as there appear to be no Crawfords connected with Garleffan OCU in the record. The OSNB is no help in this matter, writing only: ‘An Arable hill so called about 13 chains N N West  of High Garleffan’ (OS1/3/52/111).

Crawford Well

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS540213
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 119m
Elements: pn Crawford + SSE well

Description:

The family name Crawford here may refer to the Crawford who previously held lands in the area, see Tarinzean Castle, the property of which seems to have been called in 1647 Crawfuirdstone.

Crawsland

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS471179
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 152m
Elements: Sc craw + Sc land

Description:

‘Land characterised by crows’, presumably a place where crows (or rooks) tended to congregate. Roy’s form Craws town is almost certainly an error.

Creel Ford

Carsphairn (CPH), New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS581052
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 378m
Elements: Sc creel + SSE ford

Description:

‘A ford associated with creels or baskets’. It is a ford over the upper reaches of the Water of Deugh where it forms the boundary between New Cumnock parish AYR and Carsphairn parish KCB. It therefore appears in both the AYR and the KCB Ordnance Survey Name Books. In the AYR Book it is simply described thus: ‘An angle in Deugh Water fordable for Carts, there is no road to it’ (OS1/3/49/161).

There are two entries in the KCB Name Books, both of which give extra information which goes some way to explain why there is no road to it. The first is: ‘A ford in the Water of Deugh and situated a little North of Hen Craig, it is said that Smugglers wont to carry their Contraband goods with Creels across here, hence the name’ (OS1/20/2/3). The other entry is similar, adding a brief explanation of what a creel is: ‘A Ford in the Water of Deugh traditionally handed down to have been frequently crossed by Smugglers in their day, who Carried the evaded goods in a Kind of Baskets Called Creels, hence arose the name’ (OS1/20/2/19).

Creoch

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS476209
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 156m
Elements: G creagach

Description:

‘Rocky place’. G creagach is an adjective meaning ‘stony, rocky, craggy’ (Dwelly), but the -ach or -och ending is better seen as a place-name forming suffix. The name has had an unusual development, as names containing G creag do not normally lose the g. It is possible that its form has been affected by that of Creoch in New Cumnock, which, however, has a different derivation. 

Creoch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS601139
Certainty: 2
Altitude: 185m
Elements: G crìoch

Description:

‘Boundary’. If this is the correct derivation, then it is not entirely clear as to what boundary it refers. The lands of Creoch, later divided into Meikle and Little Creoch, lie not far from the parish boundary between Old and New Cumnock. While that boundary was only established in the mid-17^th century when the older parish of Cumnock was subdivided, and cannot therefore be the eponymous boundary as such, this new boundary no doubt followed that of an earlier estate or territory. Only the farm of Benston NCU lies between the lands of Creoch and that boundary. This farm, with its later Scots name, could well have been established on Creoch lands.

The boundary in question is also a physical one, being the important watershed between the Lugar (tributary of the River Ayr) to the north and the Nith to the south. The northmost of the string of three lochs here (from north-west to south-east Black Loch, Creoch Loch and Loch o’ the Lowes) is unusual in that its water runs both north to the Lugar and south to the Nith. This peculiarity is remarked upon in various 18^th-century sources. See Black Loch OCU/NCU for more details.

The name Creoch also occurs in Ochiltree parish (OCH). This has earliest forms Corgoch 1530 (RMS iii no. 980), Crago 1538 (RMS iii no. 1807), Cragoch 1586 (RMS v no. 1030), Kragoch 1654 Blaeu (Kyle) (G cragach ‘rocky or craggy place’), not appearing as a one-syllable name until the 18^th century (e.g. Crouch 1752 x 1755 Roy). Therefore, comparing the early forms of the two Creoch place-names, it is clear that their origins are different.

The NGR is that of Meikle Creoch.

Creoch Belt

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS474206
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 156m
Elements: en Creoch + SSE belt

Description:

‘Belt’, here, in the sense of a plantation of trees, in this case bordering Killoch Colliery; only a thin line of these trees now remain.

Creoch Loch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS596150
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 183m
Elements: en Creoch + SSE loch

Description:

This takes its name from the lands of Creoch (now Little and Meikle Creoch). It is the middle loch in the string of three lochs consisting of Black Loch to the north-west and Loch o’ th’ Lowes to the south-east. The water in Black Loch flows both north to the Lugar and south to the Nith. See under that name for more details.

Crichton Row

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS530174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 212m
Elements: pn Crichton + SSE row

Description:

Crichton Row was described in the OS Name Book as: 'Dwelling houses occupied by working people the property of the Marquis of Bute' (OS1/3/52/67).

Crichton became a family name of the Marquesses of Bute through the marriage of John Stuart, Lord Mount Stuart (1767-1794), son of the first marquess whom he predeceased, to Lady Elizabeth McDouall-Crichton in October 1792.

Crichton Row Bridge

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS531174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 213m
Elements: en Crichton Row + SSE bridge

Description:

The bridge takes its name from its proximity to Crichton Row in Skares.

Crichtonrow T.P.

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS529174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 214m
Elements: en Crichtonrow + SSE turnpike

Description:

A turnpike was a toll bar which could be swung open once the toll on the road had been paid. It is often abbreviated as T. P. on early OS maps. This one is described in the OS Name Book (1857) as follows: ‘This Bar is at the Junction of the Parish and Turnpike Roads near Crichton Row (OS1/3/52/67).

Crighton's Knowe

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS472053
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 165m
Elements: pn Crighton + SSE knowe

Crocradie Burn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS572096
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 278m
Elements: ? + SSE burn

Description:

‘A Stream formed by the Union of two burns west of Chang Hill, it flows in a N.E. [North East] direction and after meeting Trough Burn, it takes the name Dalleagles Burn to its junction with Lane Burn’ (OS1/3/49/144).

Crofthead

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS506187
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 167m
Elements: Sc croft + Sc heid

Description:

'The head or end of a croft or crofts', or here, perhaps, 'a head of land with a croft on it'?

Crofthead

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS550180
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 217m
Elements: SSE croft + SSE head

Description:

‘(Settlement at) the head or top-end of a croft or small piece of enclosed land’. It was  originally a small-holding on Garrallan, being referred to in 1759 as Croftead of Garrallan.

Croftside

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS510190
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 161m
Elements: SSE croft + SSE side

Description:

This is the converted site of the former Ochiltree Station, on the disused railway line. The name first appears on maps after 1970; the name presumably alludes to the nearby farm of Crofthead. See also: https://www.trove.scot/place/162999.

Cronberry

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS603225
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 177m
Elements: en Cronberry

Description:

This name refers to the mining village of Cronberry, named from the earlier farm of the same name (q.v.). THis was an extension of the Gasswater wors, established earlier (q.v.). Founded in 1862 (Love 2015, 126), it had been mostly demolished by the 1960s (Love 2015, 254). 

Cronberry

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS611239
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 199m
Elements: G cruinn or G crón + G àirigh

Description:

Although this has been reanalysed as a name in -berry, earliest forms seem to indicate strongly it was actually an airigh name, that is a shieling, something supported by the reference to Cronberry shiel as well. If first element is cruinn it would perhaps explain the -d- in the middle of the name.

This is the orginal farm settlement, from which the later mining vollage was named: see the other Cronberry entry for discussion.

Cronberry

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS604230
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 181m

Cronberry Crossing

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS615234
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 195m
Elements: en Cronberry + SSE crossing

Cronberry Junction

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS606224
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 188m
Elements: en Cronberry + SSE junction

Cronberry Pit (No. 1, Disused)

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS599235
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 195m
Elements: en Cronberry + SSE pit

Cronberry Tile Works

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS602225
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 175m
Elements: en Cronberry + SSE tile works

Crook (Ruin)

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS578145
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 254m
Elements: Sc cruik

Description:

Sc cruik ‘a bend’, often in a burn or river, as in Crook of Devon KNR, which lies at a very pronounced bend in the River Devon. There is, however, no noticeable bend in the small burn that runs to the west of Crook. Sc cruik can also be ‘a curved or crooked piece of ground; a corner or nook.’ (DOST). This is the more likely meaning here. Whatever the feature or features were that gave rise to the name, they were no doubt lost at the time of the enclosures in the late 18^th century when more regular fields where created.

Bob Guthrie on the New Cumnock History website suggests that the name derives from cruck ‘a curved piece of timber’, commonly used in the construction of cottages and barns. See Crook – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY. However, it is difficult to see how this would work as a place-name.

Crook Brae

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS684175
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 382m
Elements: Sc cruik + SSE brae

Description:

‘Bends’, in this case in the Guelt Water. The identification of Cruicks, presumably a settlement, with Crook Brae is made on the grounds that it is associated with places in the vicinity of Crook Brae.

The Correspondence, App. 1 (p. 227) notes ‘Cruck’ as one of the jointure lands of the Barony of Glenmure.

Crosshill

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS569145
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 284m
Elements: Sc cross + Sc hill

Description:

‘A hill with a crossing; a hill lying across or athwart (a road or a stretch of terrain); a hill with a cross (probably as a boundary marker)’. There is another Crosshill in OCU, the earliest forms of which go back to the 15th century.

Crosshill

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS526184
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: Sc cross + Sc hill

Description:

‘A hill with a crossing; a hill lying across or athwart (a road or a stretch of terrain); a hill with a cross (probably as a boundary marker)’. There is another Crosshill in NCU.

Crosshill Belt

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS526180
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 199m
Elements: en Crosshill + SSE belt

Crosshill Mount

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS530187
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 192m
Elements: en Crosshill + SSE mount

Description:

This circular plantation was known as Auchinway Mount at the time of the OS 6 inch 1st edn map, taking its name from the settlement of Auchinway (NS531179). However, by the time of the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map, published in 1897, it had been separated from Auchinway by Whitehill Pit and had taken the name of Crosshill Mount from the nearby settlement of Crosshill (NS526184).

Auchinway Mount is described in the OS Name Book as: 'A circular Plantation situated on the farm of Auchinway the property of the Marquis of Bute - chiefly Fir' (OS1/3/52/63).

Crosshill Pit (Coal)

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS569141
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 269m
Elements: en Crosshill + SSE pit

Crosshill Wood

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS529184
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 190m
Elements: en Crosshill + SSE wood

Crosslar

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS601198
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 226m
Elements: Sc cross or G crois + ?

Description:

This name could be either of Gaelic or Scots origin, the first element either G crois or Sc cross 'a cross; a cross-shaped object; a crossing'. The second element is obscure although, if Gaelic, then G làr  ‘ground, floor, low ground’ might be considered.

Crosslar Plantation

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS603199
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 240m
Elements: en Crosslar + SSE plantation

Crow Cleugh

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief, Water
Grid reference: NS691196
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 316m
Elements: SSE crow + Sc cleugh

Description:

'A narrow gorge or chasm associated with crows'.

The NGR is where the burn which flows through Crow Cleugh meets the Glenmore Water.

Crow Wood

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS596207
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 200m
Elements: SSE crow + SSE wood

Description:

‘This plantation is named from a rookery which was established some years ago but now cleared of crows Name applies from a little north of Longmore farm steading to near Lugar Water’ (OS1/3/52/11).

Crucket Rig

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NX506995
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 225m

Cruive Burn

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS655186
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 245m
Elements: Sc cruive + Sc burn

Description:

It is not clear what this name refers to, but it is likely that it contaons the word cited in the Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue under cruve: 'A wicker or wooden enclosure for catching salmon or other fish'; or SND under cruive: 'A wicker salmon trap in a river or tideway'.  See these resources for other meanings.

Cubs

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS609206
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 197m

Description:

It is very uncertain what the etymology of this name could be!

Ploughing up Our Past notes that the name is “pronounced ‘coobs’”, which is consonant with the form on Roy. See: https://farminginthecumnockarea.blogspot.com/search/label/Cubs which also notes that the site had been abandoned by 1900. They also cite an Old Parish register for “James Goldie age 1 formerly residing in Cubsmilne died 12/8/1782.” Cubs Mill was presumably related to Cubs in some way, but there is no trace of it on the OS 6 inch 1^st edn.

There is another Cubs Holm in nearby Sorn parish.

Cubs Craigs

Auchinleck (AUK), Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS606208
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 207m
Elements: en Cubs + Sc craig

Description:

Cubs is a farm in Auchinleck parish (AUK).

Cubs Holm

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Field
Grid reference: NS609204
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 189m
Elements: en Cubs + SSE holm

Description:

There is another Cubs Holm in Sorn parish to the north.

Cummock Burn

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS467061
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 162m

Cumnock

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Parish (extant / non-extant), Settlement
Grid reference: NS567201
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 115m

Description:

 This is one of the more difficult names in the region, and has attracted many suggestions. It is attested fairly early, and its form is fairly consistent, the earliest forms implying an original something like *Comnoc. One problem is knowing how to segment the name, in particular whether the second half is -oc or -noc. In the former case, it would be likely to be the NBr constitutive suffix -oc or -og (see Alan James, BLITON, under the element -ōg), but the first element is then difficult. The current Gaelic form of the name in use, Cumnag, seems to be based on this interpretation of the name, or something similar.

Perhaps more likely, however, is that the second element is G cnoc ‘hill’, found also in the nearby name Glaisnock (q.v.), which gives its name to the burn which flows through Cumnock. In this case, the first element, as in Glaisnock (*glas-chnoc, ‘green hill’), would be the specific or modifier, given the way the stress in the name falls. Here the most likely element might be OG coim / com (https://dil.ie/10134), G com, a word with many meanings: ‘body, breast, waist; cloak, mantle, covering; shelter, refuge’. The name, which would originally have appeared as *com-chnoc or similar, would perhaps then mean something like ‘shelter-hill’ or ‘refuge-hill’. The ch- of chnoc seems to have been elided in Glaisnock as well. While far from certain, this might suit well the site of the current burgh of Cumnock, set on a hill protected by the waters of the Lugar and Glaisnock.

RN

Cumnock Junction

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS583201
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 152m
Elements: en Cumnock + SSE junction

Cushat Linn

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS638244
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 247m
Elements: Sc cushat or en Cowshyte + Sc linn

Description:

As it stands, this name contains Sc cushat 'a woodpigeon', so 'a waterfall associated with woodpigeons'. However, it is not as simple as that. The Boghead Burn, on which this small waterfall lies, is on the eastern boundary of a small farm which appears on Roy's map c.1750 as Cowshyte, i.e. 'cow shite'.  Roy's surveyors sometimes changed names into scurrilous forms, and Cowshyte may well be one of these, the farm originally being called *Cushat'. Calling your farm *Cowshite is the height of the deprecating humour which gave rise to such names as Coldawakening LAN, Hungerhimout and Blawearie.  It is difficult to imagine a conversation such as: 'Whaur do you bide?' 'I bide in Cowshite'. However, Cushat as the name for a small upland farm is also not very convincing, unless nearby Boghead Wood on Peat Hill was especially frequented by them. In either case, a generic such as 'farm' has probably been lost.

OSNB: 'This name applies to a ledge of rocks in Boghead Burn forming an angle of about 70°' (OS1/3/3/25).

The feature has now disappeared due to opencast mining.

RN

Cutler

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS449078
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 169m

Cutler Burn

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS448078
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 159m
Elements: en Cutler + SSE burn