Most of these names are to be found on NX 79 and NX 89 1:25000 OS maps. Though quite a few names are Old English (O.E.), more are Gaelic in origin and have been Anglicised to some extent. At the time these names were written down, in the twelfth century mostly, Gaelic was dominant. I got lots of help from Johnson-Ferguson’s book.
A four-figure map reference is given.
AIKIEKNOWE 8092 O.E. hill with oaks, (the steep rocky wee hill by the glen road end)
THE AIKS 7992 O.E. oaks (also known as Dalmakerran Wood)
AIRD 8293 ard = a height or high place
APPIN 7497 apuinn = abbey lands
AUCHENBRACK 7696 achadh na = field of; breac = spotted; or salmon, trout
AUCHENGIBBERT 8093 tiobart = a well; or Gilbert
AUCHENGOWER 7698 gobhar = goats
BAIL HILL 7296 O.E. back; or bonfire, beacon hill
BARR 8292 hilltop
BENNAN 7894 beannan = small hill
BIRKHILL 7893 O.E. birch
BLACKCRAIG HILL 7098 creag = crag
BROOMY KNOWE 7795 O.E. cnoll = round-topped hill
BROWN KNOWES 7298 and 7895
BRUNT HILL 7496 probably “burnt”
CAIRNEYCROFT 8293 O.E. croft of cairns
CAIRNEY KNOWE 7697 O.E. hill of cairns
CAMLING 8394 cam linne = winding pool
CAPENOCH 8392 ceapanach = place of tillage or tree stumps
CAUL 7993 O.E. cald = dam to divert water into a mill lead.
CLODDEROCH 7893 cluain = meadow; darroch = oak
CLODQUHANOCH 7992 clach = stone; canach = of the tax; or chanaigh = of cotton-grass
CLONE 8291 cluain = meadow
CLONRAE 8293 cluain = meadow; reidh = smooth
COATS WOOD 8393 probably Cotts, who ran Shinnel Mill
COLT HILL 6998 O.E. colt
CONRICK HASS 7097 comhrag = confluence, meeting-place; (Norse) hass = a pass
CORFARDINE HILL 7995 curr = end, pit; feoirlinn = farthingland
CORMILLIGAN 7495 mollachan = hillock, or Milligan a name as in Strathmilligan.
CORMUNNOCH 7396 (Welsh) cor = bog, or coire = deep circular hollow; munnoch = ? O.E. bilberry
CORRIEDOW 7694 coire = deep circular hollow; dubh = black
COUNTAM 7698 con = hound; or can = head of; tom = hill
COURT HILL 8192 used as a court by barony of Aird
CRAIGELLER 7199 creag = crag; iolaire = eagle
CRAIGENCOON 7795 creagan = little crag; cumhainn = of the gorge
CRAIGSKEAN 7399 sgine = knife-cut
CRAIGTURRA 8193 turaid = turret; or O.E. turf or peat
CRAW LINN 7000 O.E. crow
CROGLIN 7397 creag linn = crag waterfall
CRYSTAL FOULDS 7897 ???
CRYSTAL KNOWES 8193 ???
DALMAKERRAN 8092 dail = field; of sons of Ciaran
DALRY dal righ = meadow, field of the king
DALWHAT HILL 7295 chat = wild-cat
DEMPSTERS HASS 7396 dempster = judge or officer of court; (Norse) hass = a pass
DRY BURN 7295 and 7594 O.E. burn = stream
DUDDIESTONE HASS 7996 Duddie or Doddie is probably a name (George); or doddy = without horns or bare hill
DUN BRAE 7397 (Anglo-Saxon) dun = hill or place or dwelling
DUN CLEUCH 7297 O.E. cloh = steep-sided valley
DUNSCORE (Welsh) din = fort; ysgor = rampart or dun = hill; sgor = sharp rock
EVERSIDE 7597 O.E. upper side
EWE CRAIG 7495
FAIRY CRAIG 7497
FIDDLERS MOSS 7698 O.E. mos = moss; fiddler = common sandpiper
FORD 8292
GLED BRAE 7893 gled = kite
GLENSKELLY HILL 7395 sgealaighe = teller of tales
GRAIN BURN 7199 (Norse) grein = a small valley branching off a big one
GREEN HILL 7296 green = grein? as above
HALFMARK 7696 measurement of land by value
HARD KNOWE 7499 O.E. hard = herd
HERD NAZE 7100 O.E. shepherd’s promontory
HILLHEAD 7992
HOLMHEAD HILL 7593 (Norse) holm = low-lying land by river
HOLMHOUSE 7894
HULTON 8293 O.E. hyli tun = hill farm
JARNEY HILL 7499 ?O.E. marshy place
KEB HILL 7598 O.E. keb = a ewe that has an immature lamb
KEIR (Welsh) caer = fort
KILLIEWARREN 7993 coille = wood; a’bharain = baron, or gharain = undergrowth
KILNMARK 7696 O.E. cyla = grain-drying kiln or coille = wood; mark = land measure
KIRKCONNEL 7694 O.E. Connel’s Church
KIRKLAND 8093 land belonging to the church
LADY’S KNOWE 7992 which lady?
LAGDUBH HILL 7098 black hollow
LAGGANPARK HILL 8390 lagan = a hollow
LAGLUFF 7199 lagan again
LAIRD’S BRIDGE 7894 Queensberry probably
LAMGARROCH 7198 O.E. lann = enclosed land; or lamb; carroch = rough
LAMGARROCH STRAND 7299 O.E. strand = stream
LANN 8092 (enclosed) land
LINNHOUSE 8192 linn = waterfall
LOCKERTY SHEUCHS 7000 luachair = rush; O.E. sheuch = ditch, stream,
SYKES, BURN and BOG furrow or peat digging; O.E. sic = stream or ditch
LOOP END 7497 ?winding glen
MACQUESTON 7794 personal name + O.E. tun
MAGMALLOCH 7396 marg = mark; mallaichte = accursed (though in the nineteenth century it was Marshmalloch)
MARKMONY 7893 monadh = hill
MARKREACH 7397 reachd = of the law; or of great sorrow
MARQUESTON BURN 7596 O.E. marg = markland; wasten = O.E. western
MIDSHINNEL 7498
MILNTON 8192 O.E. mill farm
MONIAIVE moine = a mossy place; shaimhe = of stillness; or eibhe = cry or monadh abh = hill stream
MOUNTHOOLIE BRIDGE 7894 monadh chuile = hill with corner or nook
MOUNTRASCAL 8092 monadh raschoill = hill of brushwood; or O.E. raskill = deer
MULLWHANNY 7197 meall or maoil = hill; vaine = green; or chanaigh = cotton-grass
OX HILL 7200
PAGAN’S THORN 7794 a thornbush near Strathmilligan on Kirkconnel Burn
PATIE’S CLEUCH 7299 ???
PEAT RIG 7298 O.E. rig = ridge
PEELTON HILL 8091 (Old French) pel = palisade of stakes
PENFILLAN MOOR 8492 (Welsh) pen = a head; faolan = little wolf
PENPONT (Welsh) head of bridge
PINZARIE 7894 peighinn = pennyland; iaraigh = westerly; or arigh = shieling
ROUGH CRAIG 7299 O.E. rush
ROUGH GLEN 7993
ROUNDHILL 8393
ST. CONNEL’S CHAPEL 7595
SCAUR LAW 7399 sgor = mark, notch, sharp rock O.E. hlaw = a hill
SCROGHOUSE 8193 O.E. stunted bush, thornbush
SHANCASTLE DOON 8190 sean chaisteal = old castle
SHARP CRAIG 7498
SHIEL 7398 (Middle English) schele = a shepherd’s summer hut
SHINNEL sean allt = old river
SHINNELHEAD 7299
SIGHT KNOWE 7594 formerly used as a place of observation
SNAB 7795 O.E. projecting point
STELLBRAE 7594 O.E. steall = place with stones, enclosure for sheep
STENHOUSE 8093 O.E. stonhuis = stone house
STONEFAULD KNOWES 7496 O.E. fald = fold
STRATHMILLIGAN 7794 srath = valley + Maolagan 1291 (a name)
TERERRAN HILL 7693 tir iaran = western land
THISTLEMARK 7795 sounds obvious, but old spelling is Sislimark or Thirstymark
TORBRAEHEAD 7896 O.E. torr = pile of rocks, rocky peak
TRANSPARRA 7296 O.E. parroch = small field
TROSTON HILL 7099 (Welsh) traws = across; O.E. tun = enclosure with dwelling
TYNLEOCH 7695 tanaloch = shallow water
TYNRON 8092 various old spellings:
Tynrone, Tintroyn, Tindroyn, Tintroyan,
Tinrin, Tyndron, Tindrim, Tinnerin, Tinrane.
suggested meanings:
dun ron = fortified hill with nose
tan drum = fire ridge
(Welsh) din rhon = lance fort
tigh an sroin = house on the point
WAUK HILL 8490 O.E. wet, or fulling of cloth
WETHER HILL 7196 a male lamb
WHITE KNOWE 7200
YEARN CRAG 7298 O.E. earn = eagle
Other place names are not recorded on maps and so can easily be lost. As an example, King’s Seat is the prominent rock on the top of the face of Pinzarie Hill. It is now disappearing into the forestry. Another is Silver Well Brae, the gentle incline up from Killiewarren Bridge, beside which in a layby was once a well-known horse trough, Silver Well. Glenmar Linns is the disused name of the rapids above the bridge on the forestry road on the way up to Shinnelhead.
Place names on Ordnance Survey maps can also be misleading. In the 1980s update of the 1:25000 maps the survey confused the names of the woods on Auchenbrack. For instance, Jubilee Wood is the one at 772963 and not as marked. Unfortunately, this sort of mistake is likely to remain on future maps, although I did write to the OS and point out this plus other small errors on the new map.