List of Ayrshire place-names beginning with 'N'

Ness Glen

Dalmellington (DAL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS478021
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 235m

Nest

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS544201
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 126m
Elements: SSE nest

Description:

Some of the workforce during the building of Dumfries House (begun in 1754) ‘were housed at the Nest, along, low thatched cottage which stood to the south-east of the present house, close to the Nest Burn, until the late 19th century’ (Green 2019, 32). It is likely that the name was coined around this time. It is described in the OS Name Book as: ‘A cottage on the Nor West corner of Broad Wood property of the marquis of Bute Occupied by Andrew Cumming’ (OS1/3/52/24).

 RN

Nest Burn

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS543206
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 96m
Elements: en Nest + SSE burn

Nether Beoch

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS524117
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 272m
Elements: Sc nether + en Beoch

Description:

'Lower Beoch'. It formed a pair with Upper (formerly Over) Beoch NCU. Beoch had already been divided into three parts by 1452, since in a charter of that year both Over and *Middle Beoch (no longer extant) are mentioned (RMS ii no. 559). It can therefore be assumed that the counterpart to Over Beoch, namely Nether Beoch, was already in existence, although it does not appear on record until 1533 (RMS iii no. 1276).

It has disappeared from modern maps, which show only an enclosure under forestry and a very small building. It was already a ruin in 1860 (OS 6 inc 1st edn). For an excellent very detailed discussion and description of the lands of Beoch and their divisions, see Beoch – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY.

Nether Black Law

Auchinleck (AUK), Kirkconnel (KCL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS729193
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 383m
Elements: SSE nether + en Black Law

Nether Guelt

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS636192
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 222m
Elements: Sc nether + en Guelt

Description:

Northern Brittonic *wel(t), modern Welsh gwellt ' 'grass, pasture’, a collective noun (BLITON under welt(t). This follows Watson, who writes: 'Guelt, in Cumnock, is W. gwellt, O.W. guelt, grass, pasture’ (Watson 1926, 191).

Nether Guelt appears as Guelt on OS 6 inch 2nd edn.

Nether Tarrioch

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS634269
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 193m
Elements: Sc nether + en Tarrioch

Nether Tarrioch Holm

Auchinleck (AUK)
Classification: Field
Grid reference: NS635269
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 189m
Elements: en Nether Tarrioch + SSE holm

Netherlinn

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS643145
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 224m
Elements: Sc nether + en (Mansfield) Linn

Description:

The lands of Linn lay on the Mansfield Estate. They take their name from the Mansfield Linn. They were divided into Upper (formerly High) Linn and Netherlinn. Both the farm-steadings are now ruined. Robert Guthrie on his New Cumnock website, writes: ‘the property was also known as Low Linn or just Linn’. (Linn Burn, Upper Linn, Netherlinn – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY), which see for discussion of the Linn-names and photographs.

Netherthird

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS575188
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 153m
Elements: Sc nether + Sc third

Description:

‘Lower third’. A small farm created out of approximately a third of a larger  one, in this case probably Skerrington. Both Netherthird and Skerrington were the property of Robert Campbell in 1857 (OS1/3/52/56 and OS1/3/52/75).

Netherton

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS505206
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 113m
Elements: Sc nether + Sc toun

Description:

‘Lower farm’. This is a division of Findlayston OCH as it appears on Johnson’s map (1828) as Nether Findlayson. Armstrong’s Newton (1775) may be an error for Netherton.

Netherton

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS592174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 214m
Elements: Sc nether + Sc toun

Description:

‘Lower farm’. Usually a settlement so named is a division of a larger, earlier unit of land, with reference to its position lower than other divisions, these often having the specific or affix over. It would appear to be a division of the lands of Borland, other divisions of which are Midton and Watston OCU.

Netherton Bridge

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS558171
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 223m
Elements: en Netherton (Burn) + SSE bridge

Description:

A road bridge over Netherton Burn, the bridge is named on the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map. There is no name on the OS 6 inch 1st edn map, at which time the burn was called Muirdyke Burn.

Netherton Burn

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS576178
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 155m
Elements: en Netherton + SSE burn

Netherton Plantation

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Vegetation
Grid reference: NS552170
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 243m
Elements: en Netherton + SSE plantation

Nethertown

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS672136
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 220m
Elements: Sc nether + Sc toun

Description:

‘Lower farm’. This was a division of the lands of Corsencon. See NETHERTOWN, NETHERTOWN BURN – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY for a detailed discussion of the divisions of the lands of Corsencon and their complexities.

Nethertown Burn

Kirkconnel (KCL), New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Water
Grid reference: NS671133
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 178m
Elements: en Nethertown + SSE burn

New Bank Colliery (No 1, Pit)

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS595114
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 237m
Elements: SSE new + en Bank + SSE colliery

Description:

New Bank Colliery, with its two pits (Nos. 1 and 2), takes its name from the lands of Bank NCU, beside or on which they lie. They are not shown on OS 6 inch 1st edn (1860), but nearby is ‘New Cumnock Iron Works’, which on OS 6 inch 2nd edn (1897) are named ‘Bank Furnaces’.

New Bank Colliery (No. 2, Pit) is at NGR NS600115.

New Blackfauld Square

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS586188
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 174m
Elements: SSE new + en Blackfauld + SSE square

Description:

‘A few dwelling houses with joiners shop and smithy attached the Property of Mr McNaughton’ (OS1/3/52/57).

New Chiswick

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Field
Grid reference: NS534202
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 121m
Elements: SSE new + en Chiswick

Description:

Situated to the west of Homeston Wood the name of this late nineteenth-century garden on the Dumfries House estate reflects family links of the earls with Chiswick House in London: 'The design echoes the garden at Chiswick House, evoking the shade of Lord Burlington, who had advised the 5th Earl of Dumfries on his new house in the 18th century; and the 3rd Marquess and his family had lived for a time at Chiswick House' (Simpson & Brown 2008, 139).

New Cumnock

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Parish (extant / non-extant), Settlement
Grid reference: NS617137
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 189m
Elements: Sc new + en Cumnock

Description:

This was the site of the medieval castle of Cumnock, some 5 miles south-east of the medieval parish kirk of Cumnock. The relatively large distance between the medieval secular and ecclesiastical centres of this parish is unusual. In 1650 the enormous parish of Cumnock was divided up into the parishes of Old and New Cumnock, with Old Cumnock centred on the medieval parish kirk and New Cumnock centred on a new kirk built beside the castle in 1659. It was following this division that Sc new was affixed to the name of this latter parish.

The OS Name Book (1857) describes the village of New Cumnock as being made up of five villages, namely Pathhead, Mansfield, Castle, Bridgend, and Couplagate (OS1/3/49/70).

New Cumnock Iron Works

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS601115
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 219m
Elements: en New Cumnock + SSE ironworks

Nipes

Auchinleck (AUK), Kirkconnel (KCL)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS739198
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 409m
Elements: Sc nipe

Description:

The suggested origin is based on the location of this place-name, at a place where the boundary of both the parishes of Auchinleck and Kirkconnell, and the counties of Ayrshire and Dumfriesshire, make two sharp v-shaped swerves, which could easily be described as ‘nips’ or ‘pinches’.

Nith Bridge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS536092
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 269m
Elements: en (River) Nith + SSE bridge

Description:

This is one of three bridges called Nith Bridge that are shown on the OS Explorer map in the parish of New Cumnock. All three cross the River Nith. This one is a road bridge carrying the main road (B741) from Dalmellington to New Cumnock beside Nith Lodge.

It is shown on the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map as Nith Bridge, but the name on the OS 6 inch 1st edn map is Knockenlee Bridge. The bridge took this earlier name from Knockenlee Burn, which flows into the River Nith here. The burn in turn takes its name from the nearby settlement, now lost, of Knockenlee NCU (which see).

The OS Name Book entry for Knockenlee Bridge reads: 'A small Bridge of one arch on the River Nith on the Dalmellington and New Cumnock Trust Road. It is kept in repair by the County p[?]' (OS1/3/49/137). Knockenlee Burn is described later in the same name book as: 'A rivulet rising west of Flush and flowing eastwards falls into the Nith at Knockinlee Bridge' (OS1/3/49/146).

By the time of the OS 6 inch 2nd edn map, published in 1897, Nith Lodge had been built close by so that three Nith names (Nith Lodge, River Nith and Nith Bridge) were grouped in this area.

For detailed discussion with maps and photographs, see KNOCKENLEE BURN, KNOCKENLEE BRIDGE – NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY. 

Nith Bridge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS595137
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 190m
Elements: en (River) Nith + SSE bridge

Description:

This is one of three bridges called Nith Bridge that are shown on the OS Explorer map in the parish of New Cumnock. All three cross the River Nith. This one is a road bridge to the north of Fordmouth.

RN

Nith Bridge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Other
Grid reference: NS618140
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 184m
Elements: en (River) Nith + SSE bridge

Description:

This is one of three bridges called Nith Bridge that are shown on the OS Explorer map in the parish of New Cumnock. This bridge, carrying the main road (A76) from Cumnock to Dumfries crosses over the River Nith at the northern end of New Cumnock.

Roy's mid-eighteenth-century map has simply Bridge at this location.

Nith Lodge

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS536092
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 269m
Elements: en (River) Nith + SSE lodge

Niviston Hill

Kirkconnel (KCL), New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Relief
Grid reference: NS687153
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 457m
Elements: en Niviston + SSE hill

Description:

This hill takes its name from Niviston, a farm in the neighbouring parish of Kirkconnel (KCL) DMF, on Dempster's Burn. While clearly a relatively well-established name, the farm is called Dempsters Glenmuckloch (1860 OS 6 inch 1st edn, 1957 OS 2.5 inch), re-appearing as Niviston on the OS Explorer (2006). It is one of several divisions of the lands of Glenmuckloch KCL. 

Niviston itself contains the personal name Niven. Early forms include Nivinton 1804 Crawford Map DMF; Nivinton 1807 Arrowsmith map; Dempsters Glenmuckloch 1860 OS 6 inch 1st edn; Dempster’s Glenmuckloch 1957 OS 2.5 inch

North Auchingibbert

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS598196
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 215m
Elements: SSE north + en Auchingibbert

North Barbeth

Ochiltree (OCH), Stair (STA)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS442199
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 97m
Elements: SSE north + en Barbeth

Description:

For the various divisions, see Barbeth OCH itself.

North Boig

New Cumnock (NCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS603135
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 185m
Elements: SSE north + en Boig

Description:

Formerly Nether Boig, it seems to have changed to North Boig in contrast to South Boig, which first appears in 1759, at the same time as the first appearance of North Boig.

North Palmerston

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS507200
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 132m
Elements: SSE north + en Palmerston

North Woodhead

Old Cumnock (OCU)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS550194
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 167m
Elements: SSE north + en Woodhead

Description:

A part of the lands of Woodhead OCU, which see for more details.

Northcrest

Ochiltree (OCH)
Classification: Settlement
Grid reference: NS463174
Certainty: 1
Altitude: 137m
Elements: SSE north + SSE crest

Description:

This cottage was built some time before 1990, on the roadway into Drumjoan farm. The name seems likely to have been created around the same time.