| Place-name: | Blood Moss (Peat Hill) |
| Suggested Meaning: | 1. blood-red coloured moss |
| SSE blood ‘blood-coloured’ | |
| Scots moss ‘moor’ | |
| Place-name: | Blood Moss (Carcow) |
| Suggested Meaning: | 2. moss where cattle were bled |
| SSE blood ‘blood associated with bleeding of cattle’ | |
| Scots moss ‘moor’ | |
| Place-name: | Blood Burn |
| Suggested Meaning: | 1. burn tinged with blood from cattle-bleeding |
| SSE blood ‘blood associated with bleeding of cattle’ | |
| Scots burn ‘stream’ | |
| Suggested Meaning: | 2. burn tinged with colour of moss |
| SSE blood ‘blood-coloured’ | |
| Scots burn ‘stream’ | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | N/A |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Blood Moss (Peat Hill). Blood Moss (Carcow), Blood Burn |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1894) |
BLOOD MOSS
There are two occurences of the place-name Blood Moss in the parish of New Cumnock.
1. Blood Moss (Peat Hill)
The entry in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) for this Blood Moss (Peat Hill) reads –
A moss on the South Side of Peat Hill – the cause of it being called this is not known
2. Blood Moss (Carcow)
The entry in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) for Blood Moss (Carcow) reads –
A moss Situated on the east Side of Carcow Burn, at Carcow
Neither of the entries give any clue to the origin of the name and indeed the entry for Blood Moss (Peat Hill) confirms that is the case ! Nevertheless, the second element Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’ [1] is common to them both.
A search through Scotland’s Places yielded 18 entries for the place-name Blood Moss (including one in the form ‘The Blood Moss’) across the following seven counties – Ayrshire (6), Caithness (1), Dumfriesshire (2), Kirkcudbrightshire (3), Lanarkshire (3), Renfrewshire (1) and Wigtownshire (2). Ten of the entries made no reference to the derivation of the name or stated that it was not known while the remainder of the entries were categorised as follows –
| Scotland Places | Derivation of place-name Blood Moss categories (and occurrences) |
|---|
| A: Associated with human bloodshed – battle, skirmish, murder (4) |
| B: Colour of the moss – red, dark red, crimson tints (3) |
| C: Place where cattle were collected to bleed (3) 2 |
| N.B. some entries had nore than one suggested derivation |
Since both New Cumnock occurrences of Blood Moss fall into the category of ‘making no reference to the derivation or not known‘ it is worthhile exploring the above categories to consider if they fit the bill.
A. Blood Moss
SSE blood ‘human bloodshed’
Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’
John Barbour in his epic work ‘The Brus’ relates how in the summer of 1307, Robert the Bruce, King of Scots and his men escaped from the combined forces of John of Lorn and Aymer de Valence in the hills of New Cumnock. During his escape Bruce killed four pursuers and his foster-brother a fifth [2,3]. The local traditions from this episode include Bruce being hunted by bloodhounds at Craig of Bahoun while later he was given shelter at Glenlee [4].
Blood Moss (Peat Hill) can be discounted from any association with Bruce’s heroics and although Blood Moss (Carcow) is in the vicinity of the aforementioned local traditions, there is no such tradition associated with it – and it too can be discounted.
B. Blood Moss
SSE blood ‘blood red coloured’
Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’
The Wildlife Trust notes the range of colours of sphagnum moss, including red, as follows [5] –
There are over 30 species of sphagnum moss in the UK, which are very difficult to tell apart. These species range in colour from red and pink, to orange and green.
The Wild Life Trusts | sphagnum-moss
There are 19 named mosses in the parish of New Cumnock including Black Moss and Yellow Moss and perhaps Blood Moss may also fall into that category of those mosses named after their colour, in this case in the sense of a blood-red colour.
Extracts from the Blood Moss entries in Scotland’s Places that included a reference to colour are given below including one from the neighbouring parish of Kirkconnel.
- Kirkmichael (AYRSHIRE ): It is conspicuously red from contrast with the green pasture of the hill, and this circumstance is doubtless the origin of the name.
- Kirkconnel (DUMFRIESSHIRE): It may possibly have been so called from its dark [sombre] colour produced by a Combination of the crimson tints of the heather-flower with the dark brown of the loam which forms its Subsoil .
- Lesmahagow (LANARKSHIRE): A small deep patch of moss. Some derive its name from its having been the alleged scene of a hostile engagement, others, with more probability, from its dark red colour.
‘Blood-red coloured moss’ may apply to both Blood Moss (Peat Hill) and Blood Moss (Carcow) but today it is difficult to judge, particularly at Carcow, where the moss is now covered in forestry.
Aerial view of Blood Moss (Peat Hill) can be viewed at Map 5, listed below.
C. Blood Moss
SSE blood ‘place where cattle were bled’
Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’
Although there are 3 entries in the OS Name Books that maKe reference to the ‘bleeding of cattle’, two of them refer to the same Blood Moss that cuts across both the parishes of Minigaff and Girthon in Kirkcudbrightshire. To complicate matters these entries have conflicting views on the derivation of the place-name.
The entry for Minigaff reads –
A considerable tract of ….on the farm of Kitterick … Round Fell where it is said the shepherds collected cattle and bleed, food being scarce the blood was made into kind of
OSNB, Minigaff, Kirkcudbrightshire
The entry for Girthon reads –
It is Said to derive its [name] from the Circumstance of a Shepherd being murdered by a neighbouring Shepherd at this place. A rude granite Stone (with inscription) points out his grave. Others Say that the farmer used to bleed his young Cattle at this place which gave rise to the name but the former circumstances (from the fact of the grave being at this place) is the most probable.
OSNB, Girthon, Kirkcudbrightshire
The Girthon entry may of course have been influenced by the Minigaff entry.There is a grave marked on the OS Map roughly three-quarter of a mile from the heart of the Blood Moss.
The Wigtownshire Ordnance Survey Name Book (1845-1849) for Kirkcowan reads –
A large moss on the farm of Polbae and DarlosKine. This is supposed to have derived its name from the circumstance of driving young Bullocks into it for the more easy securing them for the purpose of Bleeding.
The practice of bleeding cattle is said to have been universal in the Highlands and it appears that this is also the case in Galloway and in between. Here is a extract from the tradition in Gairloch, North-West Ross-Shire [6]
The practice of drawing blood from living cattle was universal in the Highlands. In Gairloch the practice continued to the beginning of the nineteenth century, if we may trust the evidence of the old inhabitants. At the east end of “the glen” (the narrow-pass about half way between Gairloch and Poolewe), there is a flat moss called to this day Blar na Fala, or “the bog of the blood,” because this was a usual place for the inhabitants to assemble their cattle and take blood from them. This barbarous mode of obtaining blood as an article of food, affords striking evidence of the miserable poverty of the old days.
John H. Dixon F.S.A. Scot, Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire
It would also be the case that the cattle were bled at slaughter and the blood would not go to waste through making puddings [7 ].
The presence of a Blood Burn on Blood Moss (Carcow) may support this as a place where cattle were bled and /or slaughtered, the burn occasionally being tinged with blood.
It is worth noting that the only other occurrence of Blood Burn in the OS Name Books is that in the neighbouring parish of Old Cumnock, and like its New Cumnock counterpart it is paired with a Blood Moss. However, like its counterpart it offers know explanatation of the derivation of the names, i.e. moss or burn.
There is a similar occurrence in the parish of New Luce, Wigtownshire with the the pairing of The Blood Moss and The Blood Lane, although in later maps the definitive article is dropped. Here too the OS Name Book entries offer no comments on the derivation of the name.
In conclusion it may be the case that the two occurrences of Blood Moss in the parish of New Cumnock do not share the same derivation. i.e. Blood Moss (Peat Hill) takes its name from the blood-coloured mosss while Blood Moss (Carcow) was a placed where cattle were bled (or slaughtered).
3. Blood Burn
SSE blood ‘blood’ + Scots burn ‘stream’
A Small stream rising south of Blood Moss, and flows into Carcow Burn near Carcow
If the burn [8] has taken its name from Blood Moss it may have expected to be known as Blood Moss Burn. Instead, as suggested above the element blood in both burn and moss are both associated with the activity of the bleeding of cattle in the vicinity, and that the burn may often have been tinged with the colour of blood. Which may also be the case for Blood Burn (Old Cumnock) and Blood Lane (New Luce).
Alternatively of course, if Blood Moss (Carcow) is named after the blood red colour of the moss, then Blood Burn may be tinged that colour by the moss!
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd.|moss |
| [2] John Barbour ‘The Bruce’ an edition with translation and notes by A.A.M. Duncan, Canongate Classics, 1st Edition (1997) Reprinted (1999) |
| [3] New Cumnock History |Robert the Bruce |
| [4] New Cumnock Place-Names | Craig of Bahoun |
| [5] The Wildlife Trusts |sphagnum-moss |
| [6] John H. Dixon, F.S.A. Scot. , Gairloch In North-West Ross-Shire Its Records, Traditions, Inhabitants, and Natural History With A Guide to Gairloch and Loch Maree And a Map and Illustrations | PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK GAIRLOCH IN NORTH-WEST ROSS-SHIRE|bleeding cattle, |
| [7] Tastes of History | blood puddings |
| [8] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. | burn |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the Permission of National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1: Ordnance Survey, One-inch to the mile maps of Scotland, 2nd Edition – 1885-1900 (1895) |Peat Hill and Carcow |
| Map 2: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1960 (1894)|Blood Moss (Peat Hill) |
| Map 3: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857) |Blood Moss (Carcow) |
| Map 4: Bartholomew’s “Half Inch to the Mile Maps” of Scotland, 1899-1905 (1900) | Blood Moss, Craig of Bahoun, Glenlee |
| Map 5: Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain – 1945-1971(1957) | Blood Moss, Blood Burn (Old Cumnock) |
| Map 6: Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain – 1945-1971(1957) |Blood Moss, Blood Lane (New Luce) |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49|Blood Moss (Peat Hill) |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Blood Moss (Carcow) |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Blood Burn |
| Kirkcudbrightshire OS Name Books (1848-51) Minigaff Vol. 74 | Blood Moss |
| Kirkcudbrightshire OS Name Books (1848-51) Girthon Vol. 77 |Blood Moss |
| Wigtownshire OS Name Books (1845-49) Kirkcowan Vol. 09 | Blood Moss |
Appendix
Ordnance Survey Name Book Extracts for Blood Moss
| AYRSHIRE (6): Derivation| Not known or noted(4) , Skirmish/Murder (1), Red coloured moss (1) |
| 38. Kirkmichael :It is conspicuously red from contrast with the green pasture of the hill, and this circumstance is doubtless the origin of the name. |
| 43. Loudon: A Small piece of Moss near Wallacegill Muir on the Marquis of Hastings’ property derivation not known |
| 49. New Cumnock (1): A moss on the South Side of Peat Hill – the cause of it being called this is not known. |
| 49. New Cumnock (2): A moss Situated on the east Side of Carcow Burn, at Carcow |
| 52. Old Cumnock: A peat Moss situated on the farm of Nether Guelt the property of Marquis of Bute |
| 55. Sorn: Tradition States that a Skirmish took place here between the Lairds of Daldilling and BlacKside The Source of this Small Stream is at or about the SE [South East] corner of the Blood Moss and flows in an Easterly direction to its Junction with Windy Burn near Burnhouse. – Name derived from the circumstance of a man the name of Harly being either Shot or Committed Suicide near this place – |
| CAITHNESS (1): Derivation|Not Known or noted (1) |
| 06. Latheron: A large peat moss Situate north of Achow the property of G. M. Gordon Esq. of Swiney the origin of this name is unknown |
| DUMFRIESSHIRE (2): Derivation |Not Known or noted (1), Red Coloured Moss (1) |
| 27. Hutton & Corrie: Situation] 25 chains S.W. [South West] by from Corse Hill. A Moss partly on the farm of Hutton & partly on Heathwood |
| 30. Kirkconnel: A moss of inconsiderable Extent, situated to the south & at the base of Friar-minnan Hill. It may possibly have been so called from its dark [sombre] colour produced by a Combination of the crimson tints of the heather-flower with the dark brown of the loam which forms its Subsoil . |
| KIRKCUDBRIGHTSHIRE (3): Derivation| Skirmish/Murder (2), Bleeding Cattle (1) |
| 74. Minnigaff: place where shepherd collected cattle to bleed, food being scarce, blood made into some kind of ? |
| 77. Girthon: It is Said to derive its [name] from the Circumstance of a Shepherd being murdered by a neighbouring Shepherd at this place. A rude granite Stone (with inscription) points out his grave. Others Say that the farmer used to bleed his young Cattle at this place which gave rise to the name but the former circumstances (from the fact of the grave being at this place) is the most probable. [N.B. same moss as Minnigaff] |
| 117. Kirkgunzeon: local tradition of a battle, by whom and when , unknown? |
| LANARKSHIRE (3): Derivation|Not Known or noted (2), Skirmish/Murder(1), Red-coloured Moss (1) |
| 02. Lanark: This is a small piece of moss west of the road leading from Strathaven to Muirkirk at the south end of the parish |
| 21. East Kilbride: This piece of Moss is situated on the West Browncastle Farm and is the property of Robert Steele. Why it uses this name is not known. |
| 44. Lesmahagow: A small deep patch of moss. Some derive its name from its having been the alleged scene of a hostile engagement, others, with more probability, from its dark red colour. |
| RENFREWSHIRE (1): Derivation|Not Known or noted(1), |
| 12. Innerkip: This name applies to a considerable extent of moss on the farm of Cornalees about 2½ Miles south by east from Innerkip. |
| WIGTOWNSHIRE (2): Derivation|Not Known or noted (1), Bleeding Cattle (1) |
| 06. New Luce: A Deep moss upon the farm of Laggangarn. N.B. named The Blood Moss |
| 09. Kirkcowan: A large moss on the farm of Polbae and DarlosKine. This is supposed to have derived its name from the circumstance of driving young Bullocks into it for the more easy securing them for the purpose of Bleeding. |
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 