| Place-name: | Cameronsike |
| Suggested Meaning: | Personal Name + sike |
| Personal Name Cameron | |
| Scots sike ‘sluggish stream‘ | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | No Entry |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Cameronsike |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1892-1960) |
| Current Status: | opencast |
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
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
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.
Who was Cameron?
Mitchell’s Sike that flows into the Beoch Lane is the other example of a sike name pre-fixed with a Personal Name. Here there are records of a Mitchell family that were tenants at (Old) Craigman on the banks of the Beoch Lane and the sike may be named for that family.
Thus far the search for Cameron connections with Cameronsike have failed to identify any candidates.
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
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionary of Scots Language | sike, syke |
| [2] Papers of the Earls of Airlie Letters, National Records of Scotland |
| Maps | |
| By Permission of 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 |
