Place Names of Tynron

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.