Topographical, statistical, and historical gazetteer of Scotland > Volume 1

CUMNOCK.
285
Glasgow, it reverted, as to its patronage, to the
Crown. The chapel of Trailtrow stood upon the
eminence which is now surmounted by Repentance
tower; and is commemorated by a burying-ground,
still in use, within which the tower is situated.
Minister's stipend £158 6s. 7d. ; glebe £18. There
are two parochial schools, and one nonparochial.
Salary of the first parochial schoolmaster £30, with
£27 other emoluments; of the second £8 lis., with
school-fees amounting to about £15.
CUMNOCK," (Old Cumnock,) a parish in the
eastern section of the district of Kyle in Ayrshire.
It is bounded on the north by Auchinleck and Muir-
kirk ; on the east by Dumfries-shire ; on the south
by New Cumnock; and on the west by Ochiltree
and Auchinleck. It is of an oblong figure, and about
10 miles in extreme length, by about 2 in aver-
age breadth: stretching, as to its length, from east
to west. The surface is in part flat, and in part
hilly. The soil in general is clay upon a strong till ;
but in some places is bog, and in the holms is a light
and dry mixture of sand and gravel. The river
Lugar intersects the parish from east to west, drink-
ing up several rivulets in its course, and eventually
emptying itself, near Barskimming, into Ayr water;
and it abounds in trout, and furnishes an occasional
banquet of eels. On the southern confines of the
parish are three lakes which jointly have an area of
about 100 acres, and which, though communicating
with one another, discharge their waters south-east-
ward, though the rivulet Aith into the Nith, and
north-westward, through another rivulet, into the
Lugar. The uplands — hilly but not mountainous,
though partly covered with heath — are in general
verdant, abound in a coarse grass called sprit, and
exhibit some volcanic appearances intermixed with
basalt. In the beds of the rivulets, petrifactions of
shells and fish are thrown up from the strata. In
an extensive lime-quarry belonging to the Marquis
of Bute, are beds abounding with a species of coral.
The limestone in this quarry is, in some places,
mixed with shells and spar, takes a beautiful polish,
and is capable of being dressed into a pleasing bluish
marble. A vein of lead-ore likewise runs through
it, and was found, on trial at the lead-mines of
Wanlockhead, to yield 65 pounds per cwt. Free-
stone abounds, is of easy access, and has contributed
largely to the walls of neat and comfortable dwell-
ings. Coal is supposed, with a covering or crumb-
cloth of strata, to carpet the parish; but has been
worked chiefly in subordination to the burning of
lime. Very recently a bed of what is called black
ironstone, 2i feet thick, has been discovered here.
Hugh Logan, Esq., ' the Laird of Logan,' and cele-
brated wit of Ayrshire, was a native of this parish.
Here also, within the precincts of the burying-
ground, are the remains of the famous Alexander
Peden, of covenanting, and, as the vulgar say, of
prophesying memory, — remains which were originally
interred in the aisle of Lord Auchinleck, — which, after
forty days, were exhumed by a body of dragoons,
who intended to hang them up on a gallows, — and
which, in yieldance with the entreaties of the Countess
of Dumfries and other influential personages, were
eventually allowed to rest along with the remains of
other martyrs, at the Gallowsfoot of Cumnock.
Around the dust of Peden, as well as on the estate
of Logan, and on the moor which forms the south-
* " The name of Cumnock," says the author of * Caledonia,'
*' is derived from the British cym,& hollow or valley, aud cnoc,
a hill, which was usually pronounced ' Cumnock.' The British
cym, in the prefix of the name, applies exactly to the hollow
or valley in which the church and village of Old Cumnock
stand, on the hank of Glaenock rivulet, which falls into Lugar
■vater ; but whether the cnoc, in the termination of the name,
applies to the small hill at the village, or to some other hill in
the vicinity, is not quite certain."
west boundary of the parish, is the dust of martyrs,
who, in popular phrase, sacrificed themselves to the
covenant of Scotland, but who may be allowed to
have surrendered their lives in the cause of heaven.
The principal proprietor is the Marquis of Bute and
Earl of Dumfries, who acquires from the parish his
title of Baron. Dumfries-house, the seat of the
Marquis, is situated in the north-west pa. < of the
parish, near the banks of the Lugar, and is sur-
rounded with a fine demesne which, extending on
both sides of the river, is connected by an elegant
new bridge at the most accessible point from the
mansion. The other mansions in the parish are
Garallan, Logan, and Glasnock, the last of which,
situated on the stream whence it derives its name
is a recent and elegant edifice, built of white free,
stone. Within the demesne of Dumfries-house stand
the ruins of Terringzoan castle, whence the present
Countess of Dumfries — Countess in her own right,
though Marchioness of Bute by matrimonial alliance —
still derives the title of Baroness. Some traces, in
the southern division of the parish, exist of an old
keep called Boreland castle, and also of a Catholic
chapel, which gives to the farm on which it stands
the name of Chapel-house. This parish is traversed,
south-eastward, by the great line of road from Glas-
gow to Dumfries, and, in various directions, by minor
fines ; and it boasts no fewer than 1 6 bridges. Popu-
lation, in 1801, 1,991 ; in 1831, 2,763. Houses 454.
Assessed property, in 1815, £7,287 The parish
is in the presbytery of Ayr, and synod of Glasgow
and Ayr. Patron, the Marquis of Bute. Stipend
£218 0s. 7d. ; glebe £20 There are 3 schools, one
parochial and 2 nonparochial. Salary of the parish
schoolmaster £34 4s. 4jd., with £45 other emolu-
ments. The parish-church, built in 1754, and situ-
ated in the village, at a distance of 5| miles from
the most remote limit of the parish, has from 600 to
700 sittings. A United Secession meeting-house,
also situated in the village, has 900 sittings. More
than one-third of the parishioners are dissenters.
Cumnock was dislocated, early last century, into its
present form, and that of the parish of New Cum-
nock. Originally it was a rectory ; but in the 15th
century it became a prebend of the cathedral of
Glasgow, and afterwards a vicarage.
Cumnock, a village in the parish just described,
situated in a deep sheltered hollow, at the confluence
of the Lugar and the GHsnock, 10i miles south-west
of Muirkirk, 6£ south-east of Mauchlin, and 16 east
of Ayr, on the main road from Glasgow to Dumfries.
It was, in the year 1509, made a burgh-of-barony by
James IV., and consists principally of a sort of square,
or rather triangle, which occupies the area of what
was anciently the burying-ground. A remarkable
circumstance is that, situated in a sort of mimic
basin, it can, from any point of the compass, be
entered only by a declivity. Its subsistence is weav-
ing, which, when trade is good, keeps 120 looms at
work ; hand-sewing, which is a common employment
with both adult and young females; the manufacture
of thrashing-mills, which are in high esteem through-
out the west of Scotland, and are, in considerable
numbers, exported to Ireland; a pottery, which,
from clay of the best quality found in the parish, pro-
duces a superior brown- ware ; and the manufacture
of wooden snuff-boxes, which, throughout Scotland,
have, for their inimitable beauty, rendered — among
snuff-takers, at least— the village surpassingly cele-
brious. In the last of these sources of support, Cum-
nock is competed with only by Laurencekirk and
Montrose. An ingenious mechanician of the name
of Crawford, seized — from a box which had been
made at Laurencekirk, and which was sent to him
to be repaired — the first idea of the celebrious Cum-