Cameronsike

Place-name:Cameronsike
Suggested Meaning:Personal Name + sike
1st element:Personal Name Cameron
2nd element:Scots sike ‘slow sluggish stream‘
Blaeu Coila (1654):No Entry
OS Name Books (1855-57):Cameronsike
Location:Ordnance Survey (1892-1960)

Cameron

A personal name (cf. Mitchell’s Sike). No immediate family (e.g. heritor or tenant) comes to mind.

A possible connection goes back to Covenanting times and the Reverend Richard Cameron “Lion of the Covenant”. On the 5th July 1680 Government troops were stationed at Gemmel’s Meadow near the Old Castle of Cumnock and letters from Earl of Airlie, identified that Cameron and his men had been spotted at Corsancone in the parish.

‘intelligence that Cameron with a partie of 13 or 14 horss marched to Corsancone toward Cummerhead and Crawford John’

Papers of Earls of Airlie

Sike , Syke

The names appears as Cameronsike on the Ordnance Survey map and in the Ordnance Survey Name Books along with the alternative spelling Cameronsyke.

Sike or Syke is the Scots term

A small stream, rill or water-course, especially one that meanders through a hollow or across flat or boggy ground and is freqently dry in summer

Dictionary of Scots Language

The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) entries for Cameronsike and Cameronsike Burn reads –

Cameronsike: A house occupied by work people on Polquhays farm

Cameronsike Burn: A small Burn rising about 30 chains east of Cameronsyke by which it passes – and from thence it runs in a Southerly direction into Muirfoot Burn east of Mossback

Cameronsike | Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

It appears the naming of Cameron Sike, Cameronsike and Cameronsike Burn follows the sequence –

  • (1) The sike was named Cameron Sike after a personal name
  • (2) The farm cottage was later built next to the sike and was named Cameronsike
  • (3) The original Cameron Sike was called Cameronsike Burn, taking its name from the cottage of Cameronsike, without the realisation sike was a reference to this water-course. On another day it could have been called Cameronsike Sike!

Cameronsike would house agricultural labourers that worked on the Polquheys farms but also miners that worked at Mansfield Colliery. In 1841 Cameronsike was home to collier David Monteath and his wife Ann along with their 7 children, including 3 year old Robert. The family later relocated to Craigbank where Robert’s son Hugh Monteath was born and went to make a name for himself as a goalkeeper – winning an F.A. Cup winners medal with Bury in a 6-0 defeat of Derby County in 1903 at Crystal Palace.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References
[1] Dictionaries of the Scots Language | sike, syke
[2] Papers of the Earls of Airlie Letters, National Records of Scotland

Maps
Reproduced with the Permission of The National Library of Scotland
https://maps.nls.uk/
Map 1 | Ordnance Survey (1892-1960)
Ordnance Survey Name Books
By Permission of Scotland’s Places
scotlandsplaces.gov.uk
Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Cameronsike