Clints; Black, Merry

Place-name:	Clints
Suggested Meaning:	‘crags, cliffs, rocks’
	Black Clints
	SSE black ‘black, dark’ S. clint ‘crags, cliffs, rocks’
	Merry Clints
	SSE merry ‘merry?’ ; S. clint ‘crags, cliffs, rocks’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	No Entry
OS Name Books (1855-57):	Black Clints, Merry Clints
Location:	Ordnance Survey (1882-1961)

Clints

Clint is an Old Scots terms for ‘crag, rock, cliff, rock’.

Black Clints and Merry Clints on the west facing slopes of Blackcraig Hill are the only examples of clints in the parish of New Cumnock. Together these clints must be the source of the term craig in Blackcraig and the dark colour of them both responsible for the adjective black.

Map 1 | Reproduced with the Permission of National Library of Scotland

Black Clints

The Ordnance Survey Name Books Survey (1855-57) entry reads –

Part of the range of rocks on the west side of Black Craig extending 50 chains southwards from Spout Burn.

Merry Clints

The Ordnance Survey Name Books Survey (1855-57) entry reads –

Part of the range of rocks on the west side of Black Craig, stretching north and north east from Spout Burn to Gray burn

It is not clear the significance of the term merry in this context. Other topographical examples found in the Ordnance Survey Books include Merry Knowe (Dumfriesshire), Merry Field (East Lothian), Merry Knowe and Merry Law (Selkirkshire), Merry Cleugh (Roxburghshire) and Merry Holm (Shetland).