Papers:
Lanarkshire Place-Names
Privick and Lickprivick
Going Round the Bend
Fancy a Game of Pool?
LANARKSHIRE PLACE-NAMES
The SPNS was welcomed to the Lanarkshires (North and South), home to 0.6 million Scots. As a starter, a flavour of local names was given, based on primary school names across the area - these reflect local area names well. Lanarkshire is at an interface between Gaelic and Scots/English, with underlying Cumbric/British. There are also pre-Celtic river names (eg Clyde), Cumbric (eg Lanark), Gaelic (eg Airdrie) and Scots (eg Stane and Dykehead) names. There's a hint of Norse too in Biggar, Dolphinton, Covington.
The speaker then looked at how Lanarkshire had been treated by place-name studies in the last 150 years, both in the few major studies that had been Scotland-wide (Robertson 1869, W J Watson 1916/1926, J B Johnston 1892/1934 and Nicolaisen 1976), and in local study areas - which show a heavy bias towards more rural parts of the country. His own booklet on Monklands (1987) was one of the few to look at industrial areas, although the work of J P Miller on Lanarkshire in the 1920s blazed a more exciting trail - of which more later.
In the Scotland-wide studies, the four main writers had different biases. JA Robertson's (1869) central thesis was to refute works by Carlisle and Thos McLaughlin on the alleged dominant Cymric element in Scottish place-names. He argues they were all Gaelic, and that even English names were given by ancient Celts. He argued that Lanark, Calder and Clyde, for example, were all Gaelic, which we would not accept now.
Next on the onomastic scene was JB Johnston who seems to have had a lot of affection for Welsh, or Brython as he calls it. Some of his meanings were pretty wild, such as Coatbridge deriving from coed (Welsh, wood) or Airdrie as ard tref (Welsh, dwelling at the height). Johnston, although a reverend, is now seen as but a minor god beneath the ex-headmaster WJ Watson, whose "History of the Celtic Place-names of Scotland" is for many the holy bible of toponymics. He got the balance right, accepting British names as well as Gaelic. However, this book's unsystematic layout, with circa. 100 Lanarkshire names scattered throughout the book, some in a sub-chapter on the county, many elsewhere, makes mining in his work a search for many veins. His explanations are generally soundly based, but there are lacunae in the omissions of places like Coatbridge and Motherwell (by 1900 major Scottish towns), and by his failure to relate to Scots language names. JP Miller's work [patience, it's coming] draws a lot on Watson's work, which indicates its reliability.
WFH Nicolaisen's 1976 book ("Scottish Place-Names") focusses on the geographical patterns of different layers of names. For Lanarkshire he found no genuine Early English names (eg -ingtun) - Symington and Abingtun being late adaptations from Symon's toun etc. He picks out Gaelic name-zones - most of Lanarkshire is in his zone 2 (shorter, less dense Gaelic settlement than in Stirlingshire or the south-west zones). He jalouses Old Norse personal names in Covington, Bonnington, Dolphinton: Cumbric names in Lanark, Papperthill, and the Car-names (eg - Carfin, mapped but not texted); and pre-Celtic river names incl Clyde, Avon. However he, like WJW, makes no mention of Scots names.
Last but not least the speaker turned to the amateurs who have worked on Lanarkshire: Paul Archibald on upper Clyde (Forrest's map) , Peter Lyons on East Kilbride, John Young on Stonehouse, Ruth Richens on Lesmahagow, Pete Drummond and Steven McCabe on Monklands, and others too, along with the 17th century's Timothy Pont who opened the bridgehead, so to speak. But JP Miller must be the grandpapa of these amateurs. Working in the 1920s he collected many old versions of names (some from local informants), lists them, refers to WJW, JBJ etc, and notes pre-Celtic, Brittonic, Gaelic and English possibilities. He lays out alternatives and does not always judge. His maxim was 'place-names are descriptive of the local topography', advice that some later amateurs might have done well to follow. He lists nearly 1, 900 names in his series, which was published in the local weekly "Hamilton Advertiser" in 1931 and 1932. Sadly, we presently know nothing more about the man, but copies of his work are in the School of Scottish Studies. A specimen article of his newspaper is shown nearby, indicating that his work made him a professional among amateurs.
[Summaries of the talk's overhead illustrations were distributed later in the meeting, and are still available from speaker Pete Drummond, the treasurer.]
PRIVICK AND LICKPRIVICK - ONOMASTIC CONNECTIONS IN SOUTH-WEST SCOTLAND
Maggie Scott (A version of the paper summarised here was delivered at the Annual Conference of the Society for Names Studies in Britain and Ireland, in Bangor, Wales, April 28th - May 1st 2000).
There are a number of place-names in Ayrshire and Renfrewshire which appear to indicate 'Anglian overlordship or sporadic influence in the area at a fairly early date', as WFH Nicolaisen states in Scottish Place-Names (1976). Old English bodl 'dwelling', ham 'village' and wic '(dependent) farm', are found as generics in a small number of place-names including Maybole, Eaglesham and Prestwick. Two place-names which may also contain the element wic are Previck in Ayrshire and Lickprivick in Renfrewshire.
The lost Ayrshire place-name Previck survives in the name of Privick Mill, near Annbank, and can be traced back to the twelfth century in written records. Lickprivick in Renfrewshire, from which the personal name Lapraik is derived, is documented from 1456 when it appears in a transumpt of a charter dated 1397-98. Lickprivick Castle once stood in the area of East Kilbride now known as Greenhills, although the name has been retained in the nearby Lickprivick Road.
Nicolaisen has suggested that the first element of Previck could be derived from a word for 'pear'. If the generic is indeed Old English wic, then the possibility that the specific may be Old English *peru 'pear-tree' can be supported by comparative evidence. Similar name-forms have been found in other parts of Scotland and England. Smith's English Place-Name Elements (1956) identifies tree-names as one of the major categories of first elements found in combination with wic in English place-names. More recently, Richard Coates had drawn attention to a group of English place-names in -wic where the first elements represent plants which can be harvested, 'including fruit trees' (Nomina 22, 1999). His examples include Crabbet in Sussex, 'crab-apple wick', and Appletreewick in the West Riding of Yorkshire. Similar constructions are found in Scotland including Old English haga 'hawthorn' in Hawick and Old English hœddre 'heather' in Hedderwick, East Lothian.
A number of other names found within the British Isles which can also be considered as sources of comparative evidence for the first element of Previck, including Parwich in Derbyshire and Perwick on the Isle of Man. However, the etymologies of these names remain problematic.
In conclusion I would like to suggest that the place-name Previck is of Anglo-Saxon etymology, from Old English wic 'dependent farm' with either Old English *peru 'pear-tree', or the same unidentified Old English word that comprises the first element of Parwich in Derbyshire. Leckprevick in Lanarkshire appears to represent the same compound with the addition of Gaelic leac, 'stone'. These names can therefore be considered to provide further evidence of Anglian settlement in this area of the Scottish south-west.
GOING ROUND THE BEND
John Reid
East Stirlingshire has three principal natural water-courses: the rivers Carron and Avon and the Pow of Airth. All of these fall into the Firth of Forth and to do so each has to cross the Carse of Stirling. Consequently they formed meanders in their lower courses or, at least, once did so. The Carron and Avon have been subjected to engineering which has straightened their courses. The Pow of Airth being remote from the effects of the Industrial Revolution remains relatively untouched.
It is evident that the river convolutions and, by association, the portions of land enclosed within them were named. Some of this toponomy survived long enough to be recorded. Many such names fall into distinct groups within which only a limited number of elements are found as the nominative. On the other hand, the defining elements are more varied. A few names fall outside these large groups. It is apparent that the languages used to coin names for these features reflect the strands otherwise observable in the area.
The most common recurring elements are: crook; hook; nook. As we should expect, these often appear in a vernacular form: cruik; heuk or heuch; neuk.
While some examples of names containing the relevant elements are found beyond the bounds of the carselands the largest group does occur there or on the meadowlands in the lower reaches of the rivers where they approach the carselands. Examples of the three main groups [crook, hook, nook] are:
Burncrook 1755 sic; Crook 1683 kreuch; Crooks [1] 1597 cruikis;
Crooks [2] 1755 sic; Crooklandgate 1755 sic; Headcrook 1597 heidcruik;
Richards crooks 1646 ritschertsecruikis; Thorniecrook ward 1627 thorniecruik-waird.
Most of these, such as Crook and Burncrook, are literal. Crooklandgate was a road running through a tract of land bounded by the Pow of Airth. Headcrook lay at the extremity of the Pow where it ran ito the Forth. Richards crooks, presumably, incorporates a personal name. Thorniecrook may be the more complex: it possibly represents thorn-eg crook where thorn was applied to a spur of land. If so, it might be rendered something like *hook-meadow crook.
Broken hook 1551 brokenheugh; Green hook 1541 greynehuke;
Ring and hewks 1806 sic; Heuk 1554 huke.
Broken hook lay by the River Avon. The history of the River Carron demonstrates that natural breakthroughs in the meanders did occur (1). The salt marshes common along the tidal reaches of the rivers were known locally as greens and explains Green Hook. At the confluence of the Carron with the Forth was a pointed headland known as Heuk. This is identical in sense with 'The Hook of Holland'.
Bent neuk 1662 sic; Higgins neuk 1707 heggins-nook; Kersie neuk 1817 kersieneuk; Mossneuk 1755 sic; Neuk meadow 1781 sic; Thorny neuk 1791 sic; Neuk 1685 neuck of airth.
While bent is invariably rendered in place-name studies as representing the type of grass known as bent, this may not always be the case. Jamieson gives bent, the slope or ridge of a hill, a hillside; cognate with band. Arguably, the type of grass known as bent would have to be the most wide-ranging vegetation in the land. On the other hand it would be easy to demonstrate the co-relationship between many of the land-names incorporating the word and the existence of vertical bends or banks in the landscape. And so, Bent neuk may be rendered 'bank corner'. Higgins neuk was latterly used of the place where the last of the Airth ferries operated from but was transferred from Neuk, or Neuk of Airth which was in the possession of the family of Higgins for several generations. Kersie Neuk, now called South Alloa, lay in the lands of Kersie. Two Mossneuks were situated in Airth parish. They relate, one to Elphinstone Moss, the other to Letham Moss. Consideration of Thorny neuk would follow the same argument as that proposed for Thornycrook.
Just as most of the names in crook, hook and nook are transparent in meaning and need no explanation, others, also coined in English are equally obvious in meaning. One such, ring, appears unique in this area. It is, nevertheless, evident in English place-names (2). Another, point, does appear as a naming element on a number of occasions but it is evident that it is a late introduction. Degedy Green Point has what may be an eroded dal name as its first element, while Green, as mentioned above, refers to the salt greens. Ferry Green Point was the place at which Newton Ferry operated. Hook Point is named from the lands of Heuk on the south bank of the Carron. The element common to Point and Tillage and Tillyflats, introduces other components that are less explicit. Given that the carse clays are homogenous in their structure, it is unlikely that the work relates to the nature of the soil at either place unless it is OE til, 'useful, good'. Nevertheless, perhaps we have a word with the same root as that in till, used in the sense of 'turning'. Just below the tidal limit of the Avon are Jinkabout Bridge and the site of Jinkabout Mill. Here the river takes an abrupt about turn, or as we say in Scotland, makes a 'jink'. The last is wheel. This is not an uncommon place-name element in England (3). From OE hweogol, it is used of features which are circular in form; 'something which wheels round'. Here we find Meggats Wheel, which has as the defining element a work found in Water of Meggat DMF and Megget Water SLK. Less recognisable, at first glance, is Wholeflats [1683 wheillflat]. Some twenty instances of flat are found on the carselands. Given the paucity of Norse elements in the area, these are more likely to derive ultimately from OE flet rather than ON flat.
A further group is composed of Celtic names. Dalratho, now lost, would happily translate as *wheel-meadow. It would appear to have been situated close to Wholeflats. While Gael. rath is most often found as a term for a man-made structure it can simply mean 'circle'. There is too the derived rathach, of or belonging to circles, which word may be represented by -ratho. Claret appears as Goodclaret in 1781. Given its situation, it is difficult not to take the first element to be Gael. clar, any smooth surface or plane. It is possible that the final element is, once again, rath. This may also hold true of Reddoch which is "lie redheuch" in 1442. This name appears to be a hybrid: *rath-hook. Another 'bend' name of Celtic origin lies just above the carse: Camelon. In context, it is evident that Cam- represents either Gael. cam, 'crooked' or an earlier Celtic equivalent.
1 Bailey, GB, Along and Across the River Carron, Calatria, No. 2, pp49-84
2 AH Smith, English Place-Name Elements, Part 1, p265
3 ibid Part 1, p272
FANCY A NAME OF POOL?
On display at the Motherwell conference was a map of the Clyde's tributary River Avon (S. Lanarkshire) with over 70 pools named. The map was compiled by member John Young from information collected by the Avon Angling Club and its secretary Hugh Burns in the 1960s. John has added a few names and the collection exceeds 80 now.
Names such as Deif Tam's Hole, Bilin' Pot and Puddock Hole indicate the strong Scots tongue in the area, while the noun in Arthur's Linn and Wee Linn indicates the Gaelic source of some Scots words. The word 'wheel' in several names (eg - Sandwheel) underlines a possible source for nearby Motherwell, which may have been the mither wheel on the Clyde.
Some names have very specific roots: Target Hole is where volunteer riflemen in the first war practiced their shots (there's an echo in distant Airdrie where the Target Tip's name originated simultaneously). At Washing Green Hole downstream the potshotters' wives got on with more serious matters - two large flat boulders made excellent scrubbing boards. Swallow Brae Hole remembers a 60-foot escarpment created by a landslip, where these summer birds made their tenement nests in its face, but a further landslip wiped out their hame but not the name.
Peter Drummond