| Place-name: | Auchtitench Lane |
| Suggested Meaning: | Place-name Auchtitench + S. lane ‘slow moving stream’ |
| element | Scots lane ‘slow-moving stream’ |
| Place-name: | Auchtitench |
| element | Gaelic ochdamh ‘an eighth part |
| element | Gaelic teanga ‘tongue’ ? |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | Achinteinchfh, Achintencfh hill, |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Auchtitench Lane |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1892-1960) |
| Other Early Forms: |
| Achtitinch (1680), Achtytench (Roy’s Map, 1747/55), Auchentench (Armstrong Map, 1775) |
Auchtitench Lane
Scots lane ‘slow-moving stream’
The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) entry for Auchtitench Lane under the parish of New Cumnock reads –
“This Stream, a portion of which is the Parish Boundary, runs in a North West direction. from its source, at the west base of Auchtitench Hill, to its junction with Glenmuir Water & Penbreck Burn.“
The parish boundary in question is that between the parishes of New Cumnock and Auchinleck a the ‘stream‘ takes the form Scots lane ‘slow-moving stream’ [1] as does the neighbouring stream Back Lane which also forms part of the boundary.
The entry for Auchtitench Lane in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) under the parish of Auchinleck includes the following additional note from John Jamieson’s Scottish Dictionary –
Lane – “A Brook of which the motion is so slow as to be scarcely perceptible”
Jamieson
The lane takes its from the farm of Auchtitench as does Auchtitench Hill both of which sit in the parish of Auchinleck.
Auchtitench, Auchtitench Hill
element: Gaelic ochdamh, ochtamh ‘an eighth part’
The early form Achtitinch (1680) appears in a Government Warrant [2] of that year in response to the Sanquhar Declaration delivered by the Reverend Richard Cameron and his band of fellow Covenanters against the tyranical King Charles II. Included in the names of the ‘notorious Traitors and Rebels against Us and Our Authority‘ given in the warrant was that of ‘Creichton, sone to Robert Creichton of Auchtitinch, now in Waterhead.’ This was John Crichton and his father Robert who had relocated to Waterhead in the upper reaches of the River Nith in the parish of New Cumnock.
W.J. Watson [3] gives Auchtigammill, Auchtyfardle and Auchtogorm as examples of place-names where their first element have, or may have, the anglicised form of Gaelic ochdamh, ochtamh ‘an eighth part‘, in reference to a unit of land-measurement. Dwelly defines ochdamh as an eighth of a davoch [4] which was a unit of land-measure.
The map shows the land has been cleared and worked and so too does the photo from the Jimmy Taylor collection of photographs [5].
element| Gaelic teanga ‘tongue’
The second element is proving difficult to identify. Could it be Gaelic teanga ‘tongue’ in reference to tongue shape strip of land? This element is found elsewhere in New Cumnock but in the anglicised form of chang in Chang hill and High Chang hill; while in Old Cumnock it is found in Changue farm.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |lane |
| [2] Public Proclamation Against Richard Cameron, Donald Cargill and Others, 30 June, 1680. Records of Privy Council |
| [3] W. J. Watson | The Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (Birlinn 2004) |
| [4] Edward Dwelly | Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary (1902-1912) |
| [5] Jimmy Taylor Collection | Auchtitench photo |
| 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: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857) | Auchintench Lane |
| Map 2: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857) Auchtitench, Auchtitench Hill |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49, New Cumnock| Auchtitench Lane |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 3, Auchinleck |Auchtitench Lane |
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 
