Ashmark, Ashmark Hill

Place-name:Ashmark
Suggested Meaning:‘merkland of the ash wood’
 1st element:Scots esche ‘ash tree, ash wood
 2nd element:Scots mark ‘mark, unit of measurement’
Blaeu Coila (1654):Efhmarck
OS Names (1855-57):Ashmark
Valuation Roll 1855:No Entry
Valuation Roll 1940:Ashmark
Location:OS Map Six-inch Scotland 1892-1960
Other Early Forms:

Eschetpark (1564), Eschemerk (1575, 1618), Eschemerke (1583) Eshmark (1642), Ashmarke (1684)

Ashmark

Scots esche ‘ash tree, ash wood’ Scots mark ‘mark, markland’

Map 1: Eshmarck (Blaeu 1654) | Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) entry for Ashmark reads –

A good farm house with a — sheep farm attached. Occupied by James Sloan, the property of — Buchannan Esq.

Niel Snodgrass Buchannan Esq. was the owner of what was known as the Knockshinnoch Estate which included the properties of Ashmark, Carcow, Knockshinnoch and Laight.

Map 2 : Ashmark (OS Map 1856) | Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

1st element | Scots esche- ‘ash tree, ash wood”

The early forms Eschetpark*, Eschemerk, Eschemerke and Eshmark are all associated with the records of the Campbell family that held these lands in the 16th/17th century [1].

* [the ‘tp’ of Eschetpark may be a misreading of ‘m’]

The first element is Scots esche ‘ash tree, ash wood’ [2]. There is a local tradition that  ‘really old farms always had six ash-trees around the yard, this was to shape bows and arrows to guard against thieves’. [3]

2nd element |Scots mark ‘mark, merkland’

A common place-name element signifying a unit of land-measurement merkland “a piece of land assessed as having an annual rental value of one mark at the time of assessment” where a mark was worth 13s. 4d Scots [4].

Ashmark Hill

Ashmark hill lies to the south of the farm.

Map 3 : Ashmark (OS1896) | Reproduced with the permision of the National Library of Scotland

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References
[1] Source: Stuart Clarkson, Guelph, Ontario correspondence
[2] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004 | esche
[3] George Sanderson | New Cumnock Far and Away
[4] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004 | mark

Maps
Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland
https://maps.nls.uk/
Images used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.
Map 1: Blaeu, Joan, 1596-1673 (1654) Coila Provincia, [or], The province of Kyle / auct. Timoth. Pont.| Eshmarck
Map 2: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1855-1882 (1858) | Ashmark
Map 3 : Ordnance Survey, One-inch to the mile maps of Scotland, 2nd Edition – 1885-1900 (1896) | Ashmark and Ashmark Hill
Images used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC-BY) licence.

Ordnance Survey Name Books
scotlandsplaces.gov.uk
Ayrshire OS Name Book (1855-57) Vol. 49 | Ashmark
Ayrshire OS Name Book (1855-57) Vol. 49 | Ashmark Hill