| Place-name: | Ashmark |
| Suggested Meaning: | ‘merkland of the ash wood’ |
| 1st element: | Scots esche ‘ash tree, ash wood‘ |
| 2nd element: | Scots mark ‘mark’ |
| 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) |
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 th 16th/17th century [1]. 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]
* [the ‘tp’ of Eschetpark may be a misreading of ‘m’]
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” [4] where a mark was worth 13s. 4d Scots.
* [the ‘tp’ of Eschetpark may be a misreading of ‘m’]
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Source: Stuart Clarkson correspondence |
| [2] Dictionary of the Scots Language | esche |
| [3] George Sanderson | New Cumnock Far and Away |
| [4] Dictionary of the Scots Language | mark |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1|Blaeu Colia Provincia (1654) | Eshmarck |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Book (1855-57) Vol. 49 | Ashmark |
