| Place-name: | Craigbank |
| Suggested Meaning: | craig, rock at the place-name Bank |
| SSE craig ‘crag, rock’ Scots craig ‘crag, rock’ | |
| Place-Name: Bank | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | N/A |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Craigbank |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1895) |
| Other Forms |
| Craig Bank (1851 Census), Village of Craigbank (1861 Census) |
Craigbank
The entry for Craigbank in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Book reads-
Six rows of well-built cottages erected by the Nithsdale Iron Co. [Company] for the accommodation of their work people, they are now chiefly untenanted, owing to the Iron Works being idle.
The ‘Authorities for the Spelling’ were John Hyslop Esq. of Bank House and William Johnstone, School Master, New Cumnock both of whom put forward Craigbank while on a Mineral Map (undated) the name was given as Craig Bank.
SSE craig ‘crag, rock’ Scots craig ‘crag, rock’
When craig is the 1st element, it is typically Gaelic creag ‘craig’ and is expected to be followed by a Gaelic 2nd element. This is not case with Craigbank as the 2nd element is clearly not Gaelic. In this case the 1st element is SSE craig ‘crag, rock’ or Scots craig ‘crag,rock’ [1] mimicking Gaelic word-order. As such it may be a reference to the Old Quarry (flagstone) on the opposite side of the road to Craigbank since there is no other rocky outcrop of note in the immediate vicinity. Indeed, one of the dictionary entries for Scots craig gives ‘(4) A rock used for quarrying‘ [2]. It is easy to imagine that before the Old Quarry was worked that the rocky outcrop was much more impressive and noteworthy.
Place-name: Bank
The second element of the place-name Craigbank is itself the place-name Bank which through time had evolved from St. Brydesbank > Brydesbank > Bank [3]. Along the road from Craigbank were the Bank Cottages and nearby was Bank House, home of the Hyslops of Bank, landowners and coal-barons.
Village of Craigbank
The OS Name Book entry for New Cumnock Iron Works records that it was the Nithsdale Iron Company that erected the ‘six rows of well built cottages‘ at Craigbank, as confirmed in the entry by landowner John Hyslop of Bank. The Nithsdale Iron Company had been in 1847 by a group of three men from the North of England with experience in the iron industry. However, the company failed, and it was put up for sale as the ‘New Cumnock Iron Works’ [4].
Certainly, the houses at Craigbank had been built by 1851, as witnessed by the Census Records of that year, where their address is recorded as Craig Bank.
The first Craig Bank entry in that Census was that of William Hunter, Manager of Blast Furnaces, and his wife Jane, along with their 8 children who had moved here from England, their youngest child, 3 months old, was born in New Cumnock. The next entries in Census were for Bank House and Bank Cottages, which suggests that the Hunter family were not residing in one of the houses at the ‘six rows‘ but instead probably at the small row of houses just north of the New Cumnock Iron Works (Map 2) which was later known as the Furnace Row.
Some 18 entries then followed under the address Craig Bank, the first of which was the home of Nicholas Robinson, mineral oversman, and his wife Elizabeth both of whom had moved here from England. Their first child, 2-year-old James was born at New Cumnock, probably at Craig Bank – dating the rows to 1849. The 18 residences were home to a total of 105 adults and children while another 48 residences at Craig Bank were recorded as being uninhabited, reflecting that the ‘iron works’ were idle. A total of 66 residences clearly confirms that these addresses included all the ‘six rows of well built cottages‘.
There were no takers for the New Cumnock Iron Works and since the furnaces, buildings and houses were on the lands of Bank they were acquired by the Hyslops of Bank. The iron works were dismantled, and machinery and equipment sold off and in 1860, John Hyslop formed the Bank Coal Company to work the considerable coal deposits on his lands [5]. The Craigbank houses would serve as homes to their employees, chiefly coal miners, and their families.
The Village of Craigbank, as it was referred to in the 1861 Census Records, had set down its roots. A school-room had been established and in the census of that year Elizabeth Grisson, 24, is recorded as a ‘School Mrs‘ (probably mistress) while Andrew Gibson, grocer had established a shop & store.
Sometime before the 1871 Census the sense of belonging was enhanced with the naming of the streets in the ‘Village or Hamlet of Craig Bank‘ – Peesweep Row, Blair Street, Front Street (later changed to Front Row before the 1881 Census), Plantation Row and Stable Row.
- Peesweep Row: Named from the Scots peesweep ‘lapwing’ which would have been common in the surrounding fields, although the bird are perhaps better known as peasies.
- Blair Street: Probably named after someone of that surname, but nothing comes to mind. It was perhaps called a street rather than a row because there were houses on both sides of the ‘street’. A schoolroom was established in one of the houses.
- Front Row: A row at the front of the main road from New Cumnock to Dalmellington.
- Front Row: The top of the row comprised of privately owned commercial premises- shop, store and later a public house – as well as house for the owners.
- Plantation Row: The row looks on to a wooded plantation, reduced in size in comparison with that shownMap 1 (1856).
- Stable Row: Possibly the row looked on to a stable, perhaps for pit-ponies.
George Sanderson in ‘New Cumnock Far and Away‘ noted ’At Craigbank a Mr Kay* kept on his adventure school at the top of Blair Street until as such time as the Board school was completed at Bank Glen, 4th September 1874′ [6] .
* James Kay was born at Ochiltree in 1823 and became a schoolmaster, first at Garallan, for a short time at Benston, and latterly Craigbank [7].
John Hyslop of Bank passed away in 1878 and his son William Hyslop inherited the lands of Bank and quickly made changes to the running of the Bank Coal Company to form the New Bank Coal Company [5].
Almost 300 adults and children were living at Craigbank at the time of the 1881 Census –
- Plantation Row (No.1 to No.6)
- 26 people in 5 houses, 1 house uninhabited.
- John Hammond was the only New Cumnock born adult.
- 10 of the children were New Cumnock born.
- Stable Row (No. 7 to No. 14)
- 27 people in 6 houses, 2 houses uninhabited.
- Mungo Walker, Andrew Clark and Jemima Hunter were the only New Cumnock born adults.
- 12 of the children were New Cumnock born.
- Blair Street (No. 15 to No. 16 and No. 20 to No. 38)
- 125 people in 20 houses (presumably No. 17 to No. 19 uninhabited)
- Jane Campbell, Robert Monteith, James Campbell & Catherine Campbell, James Walker, George Park , Robert Hammond & Jane Hammond were the only New Cumnock born adults.
- 67 of the children were New Cumnock born.
- Peesweep Row (No. 39 to No. 50)
- 75 people in 12 houses. William Osborne, Janet Stevenson, Sarah Kerr and Margaret Hendrie were the only New Cumnock born adults.
- 34 children were New Cumnock born.
- Front Row ( No. 51 to No. 59)
- 43 people in 8 houses.
- John Wilson and Annie Monteith were the only New Cumnock born adults.
- 15 of the children were New Cumnock born.
*Donald McIver writes ‘A rare photo of Blair Street which must have been taken around the turn of the century. The man in the street on the left is most likely the knife grinder with his knife-grinding machine’ [8]
In the following decade the New Bank Coal Company carried out some major rebuilding on the houses that they owned on the Front Row (Valuation Rolls 1895) while the commercial building at the top of the row also underwent a major transformation.
In 1909 the Lanemark Coal Company (founded in 1865) failed and their neighbours and competitors, the New Bank Coal Company, took over their operation under the name of New Cumnock Collieries Ltd., under the leadership of William Hyslop of Bank [5]. By this time the ‘Front Row’ had been extended towards the Bank Glen by private owners.
A Royal Commission on housing conditions in the Industrial Population of Scotland initiated a survey in 1913 of the Ayrshire Miners’ Rows for the Ayrshire Miners’ Union [9]. Their report on Craigbank reads –
Craigbank Village was formerly owned by the late Bank Colliery, but now belongs to the New Cumnock Collieries, Limited. The village forms a square, and has a population of 247 persons. The back row of this square has two earth-closets, one of which has no roof. No one can ask friends to come here. How the people who are condemned to live here manage to exist is a mystery. It is alleged that one lady visitor lately had to go out into the open moss, no other accommodation being available. She is not likely to repeat the experience. Such is the shameful state of affairs here. The houses are two-apartment ones, many of them consisting of two storeys, the room above the kitchen.
Ayrshire Miners’ Rows, Evidence submitted to the Royal Commission on Housing (Scotland) by Thomas McKerrell and James Brown (1913)
However, there was some positive changes in the offing [9] –
There are a number of new houses in course of erection presently (13th November 1913), of a superior character. They consist of two rooms and a kitchen, the kitchen 12 feet by 12 feet, the rooms each 12 feet by 10 feet. There is a bathroom, water-closet, scullery, and coal-bunker, all on the premises. There is an oven grate in the kitchen and a sink. The rooms are also provided with handsome grates. If these houses are not too highly rented they will be a boon to the mining families who get them.
Ayrshire Miners’ Rows, Evidence submitted to the Royal Commission on Housing (Scotland) by Thomas McKerrell and James Brown (1913)
Indeed by 1915 considerable progress had been made as witnessed by the Valuation Rolls (VR) of that year, most noticeably with the demolition of Peesweep Row, the oldest row at Craigbank, and the construction of 50 new houses on the opposite side of the New Cumnock to Dalmellington road. On the near side of the road, 4 blocks of 8 houses were built and assigned the address South-Western Road with even numbers (2-64), in the direction from New Cumnock to Dalmellington. Behind this row of houses, 3 blocks of 6 houses were erected in a crescent shape and assigned the address The Crescent (Nos. 1-18). Meanwhile, the houses that were formerly known as the Front Row were assigned the address South-Western Road with odd numbers (25-37).
The privately owned public house, shop & store and associated houses were simply addressed as Craigbank, as were the privately owned houses at the ‘top of the Front Row‘. However, these houses were later tenanted by New Cumnock Collieries Ltd. (VR 1925) and then owned by the company (VR 1930) at which time they were assigned the address Craigbank Terrace (1-8).
Meanwhile the houses in the remaining rows in the street were numbered Blair Street (16-39), Old School House (40)*, Hall (41)**, Stable Row (42-50) and Plantation Row (51-60) but this was later simplified to Blair Street (1-24), Stable Row (1-9), and Plantation Row (1; 3-9).
* Following the building of Bank School in 1874, the School House at Blair Street was no longer required for that purpose and had been tenanted by by miners and their families for some time. **The Hall was used by the Craigbank Baptist Congregation, per secretary James Hood (VR 1905) ed as a hall including a place of worship for the substantial Baptist community in the vicinity of Craigbank .
As time passed, plans were afoot to build new housing schemes at Afton Bridgend and Coupla, closer to centre of New Cumnock. The days of the miners’ rows at Craigbank, as well as others at Connel Park and Burnfoot too, were numbered. By 1960, only the middle block of houses in the Crescent were left standing, but not for much longer.
Eventually all the houses were demolished and nothing now remains of the village of Craigbank.
Craigbank Public House, Shop and Store
The records of Births, Marriages, Deaths, Censuses and Valuation Rolls of the times in Scotland Places helps create a brief history of the merchants that served the village of Craigbank.
The iconic image of Craigbank shows the Public House and the neighbouring shop at the top of the Front Row.
Andrew Gibson | ca.1859 – 1879
Andrew Gibson was born in 1825 at Nith Bridgend, New Cumnock the third son of Andrew Gibson, surgeon and Ann Kennedy. As a young man he moved away from the parish and married Margaret Brown from Langholm. Together on their travels they had three daughters in turn at Langholm, New Cumnock (Bank Cottages) and Coylton; where Andrew had found work as a grocer. The family returned to New Cumnock and Andrew established himself as a Grocer, Storekeeper and Spirit Dealer in the Front Street (later known as Front Row) of the miners’ rows at Craigbank. Here, three other daughters and three sons were born (1859-1871). In addition, he owned the Gibson property on Pathbrae in the town, presumably his late father’s Nith Bridgend property. Indeed by 1875 he owned the Craigbank properties as well as the Pathbrae properties which now comprised inn, houses, cellar garden – the forerunner to the Afton Hotel.
Margaret Gibson passed away in 1877 and widower Andrew Gibson now referred to as a Public House Keeper, died two years later. His properties fell under the ownership of his Trustees for a spell, which included Kenneth McKenzie of the Bank Coal Company. In between times, John Hyslop Esq. of Bank passed away in 1878 and his son William Hyslop inherited the lands of Bank and as previously discussed he formed the New Bank Coal Company. In 1882 William Hyslop Esq. of Bank married Andrew Gibson’s daughter Margaret.
*See Also Afton Hotel and Auld Kirkyard [10]
William Lind | ca.1880 – 1885
By the 1881 Census, William Lind, Spirit Merchant and native of West Calder was living in the former Gibson property with his wife Marion Shields and their six children and Agnes Robertson, Marion’s daughter from a previous marriage. The following year Agnes married Hugh Ross, Grocer and Provision Merchant, a native of Auchinleck, lodging at the nearby Bank Cottages.
See Also Afton Hotel and Auld Kirkyard [10]
Hugh Ross | ca.1885 -1899
By 1885 Hugh Ross, Grocer and Spirit Dealer was now living at Craigbank with his wife Agnes and their two children. Sadly, Agnes passed away in 1890 and five years later he married Margaret Hastie. By this time, he had he purchased the Gibson properties at Craigbank as well as the Afton Hotel in the town, where his father-in-law Willam Lind, who had returned to West Calder for a spell, was now the tenant. Ross also owned the ‘new’ houses that formed the extension to the Front Row above. Hugh Ross died in 1899 after which his public house, shop & store and two, houses were put up for sale. Meanwhile the houses he owned in the extension of the Front Row were held in trust and later passed to his son William Ross, who had emigrated to Canada while his father-in-law Willliam Lind purchased the Afton Hotel.
See Also Afton Hotel and Auld Kirkyard [10]
Gavin Lawrie | ca. 1900 – 1915
Gavin Lawrie, from Braidwood, Lanarkshire purchased the public house, shop & store and two houses, renting out one of them, at Craigbank. In 1901 he married Agnes Bell Paul and together they had two sons, while in between time they moved house from Craigbank down the road at Oakdene, Bank Glen.
In September 1910, he appeared at Ayr Sheriff Court, in what appears that ‘Glorious 12th’ backfired! [11] –
TOO MUCH POWDER – Gavin Lawrie, jun., Craigbank, New Cumnock, pleaded guilty in the Sheriff Court yesterday, to having had , on the 11th August, 300lb. of gunpoweder on the premises licensed to keep only 200lb. The accused stated that he had been on holiday, and that powder had been kept in the premises to supply an order next day. A fine of £5 was imposed.
Daily Record, Thursday 08 September, 1910
By 1915, Lawrie had given up the public house and shop & store, but continued to be a tenant of two houses at Craigbank (albeit renting them both out), as well as owning a stable at Bank. The family moved to Monkton, and then later to Prestwick, where Gavin Lawrie passed away in 1929.
John Pennycuick | ca. 1915 -1926
By 1915, John Pennycuick*, wine merchant, 29 Burn Statue Square, Ayr had acquired the public house, shop & store, and a total of four houses at Craigbank.
* In the 1900-01 Ayr Directory there is an entry for ‘John Pennycuick, Burns Statue Hotel, 19 Burns Statue Square [11].
In mid-June 1919, much of South-West Scotland experienced severe thunderstorms and unfortunately the Craigbank shop & store suffered considerable damage [12]
NEW CUMNOCK BUILDING SET ON FIRE
During a sharp thunderstorm which took place at New Cumnock the upper-storey of the drapery department of Craigbank Store (John Pennycuick) was struck by lightning, which, passing inside severed a gas pipe and set the place on fire. The outbreak was soon got under, but not before considerable damage was done by fire and water
The Scotsman, Friday, Jun 13, 1919
By the time of 1925 Valuation Rolls, John Pennycuick still owned the Craigbank Properties, but his address was now given as Drumclair, Airdrie. The following year, during the miners’ strike of 1926, he sold off his Craigbank properties.
Robert Currie (I) | 1926-1935/40
Robert Currie, spirit merchant, The Brae, Old Cumnock acquired the Craigbank properties in 1926, which consisted of the public house, shop & store, two houses on the Front Row along with the house round the corner at No. 1, Plantation Row [13] –
During the 1926 strike Mr. Currie obtained from Messrs Pennycuick, the licensed premises and grocery business at Craigbank Stores, Bank, New Cumnock. He succeeded in extending his business very considerably and soon had established a wide connection in Muirkirk, Mauchline, Auchinleck, Ochiltree, New Cumnock and Kirkconnel. New Cumnock folks will certainly always remember Mr Currie’s gesture during the 1921 and 1926 strikes, when his offer to New Cumnock Miners’ Union of all possible credit, was accepted and honoured.
Cumnock Chronicle 1940, Courtesy of Cumnock Connections
In 1935 he disposed of his New Cumnock and Cumnock grocery shops and the Cumnock licence to his son Mr R.Currie, jun., who also acquired the New Cumnock licence in April of last year.
Robert (Bobby) Currie (II) | 1935-1960s
As noted above Robert Currie took over the New Cumnock grocery shop in 1935 which was reflected in the Valuation Rolls of that year. Robert Currie sen., spirit merchant, Holm, Old Cumnock continued to own all the Craigbank properties – i.e. public house, shop & store and three houses while Robert Currie, junior, was recorded as the tenant of the shop & store.
Bobby Currie acquired the licence of the public house at Craigbank in April, 1939 and by the time of the 1940 Valuation Rolls, he owned all the Craigbank properties, after his father had passed away earlier that year on Burn’s Day, 25th January, aged 68 years.
Bobby had quickly become a popular figure in Craigbank and New Cumnock in general. He was ‘the driving force behind forming a Debating Society in New Cumnock’ and was a dedicated member of the New Cumnock Burns Club and honoured in 1946 to be the club’s 23rd President. Bobby also recognised that changes going on in the town with the building of new houses and in 1954 he had a new public house called ‘The Avenue’, built at Castlemains Avenue, close to the junction with the main thoroughfare of Afton Bridgend. He retired in 1969 and passed away six years later, aged 75 years [14].
Craigbank|Today
Nothing now remains of the Craigbank community and the dramatic change in the landscape can be observed to some extent by overlaying the map of the day aerial photography. Click on the licks and scroll the ‘Change transparency of overlay’.
| Map 3 : 1895 | Craigbank square and Peesweep Row |
| Map 6: 1960 | Remains of Craigbank Crescent |
Blair Street
The footpath through the scrub-land runs along the lenght of the former Blair Stree.
Craigbank Crescent
Craigbank Crescent was built on top of the raised land one the left of the road
Dalmellington to New Cumnock Road
Heading towards New Cumnock with the site of Blair Street on the right and the Crescent on the left.
New Cumnock to Dalmellington Road
Looking from Craigbank to Dalmellington with houses at Knowe Tap on the right.
Craigbank | The Future
There are devlopments at Craigbank and the neighbouring Bank Glen. Two bungalows have been built at Craigbank, one just beyond what was the junction of Plantation Row and Front Row and the other across the road.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. | crag, craig |
| [2] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. | craig |
| [3] New Cumnock Place-Names | Bank, St. Brydesbank |
| [4] New Cumnock Place-Names | New Cumnock Iron Works (in progress) |
| [5] J. L. Carvel , The New Cumnock Coal-Field (1948) |
| [6] George Sanderson ‘New Cumnock Far and Away‘ . |
| [7] British Newspaper Archive | Ayr Observer and Galloway Chronicle, Friday 08 July 1887 |
| [8] Donald McIver’A Stroll through the Historic Past of New Cumnock (2000) |
| [9] Ayrshire Miners’ Rows, Evidence submitted to the Royal Commission on Housing (Scotland) by Thomas McKerrell and James Brown (1913) | Craigbank |
| [10] New Cumnock Heritage | Afton Hotel and the Auld Kirkyard |
| [11] British Newspaper Archive | Daily Record, Thursday 08 September 1910 |
| [12] Ayr Post Office General and Trades’ Directory for Ayr, Newton and Wallacetown| John Pennycuick |
| [13] British Newspaper Archive |The Scotsman, Friday, Jun 13, 1919 |
| [14] Cumnock Chronicle 1940, Courtesy of Cumnock Connections | Robert Currie (1872-1940) |
| [15] Cumnock Chronicle 1940, Courtesy of Cumnock Connections |Robert Currie (1900-1975) |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the Permission of National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1855-1882 (1858)|Craigbank |
| Map 2: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857)|Craigbank |
| Map 3: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1949 (1895)|Craigbank |
| Map 4: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1949 (1908)| Craigbank |
| Map 5: Craigbank (Courtesy George Sanderson , New Cumnock Faraway & Long Ago) |
| Map 6: Ordnance Survey National Grid maps, 1944-1973 (1960)|Craigbank |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Craigbank |
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 