| Place-name: | Crook |
| Suggested Meaning: | cottage of cruck construction (‘curved timber’) |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | Cruck |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Crook (ruins) |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1843-1882) |
| Other Early Forms: |
| Cruck (1654) |
Cruck is shown on Blaeu’s Coila Provincia (1654) to the west of Benston (O. Benstoun) and north-west of Wellhill (Welhil).
In 1753 the baptism of ‘William Hamilton, son of William Hamilton and Janet McKnight in Crooks of Benstone‘ is recorded in the Old Parish Reords of New Cumnock (1706-1854).
One hundred years later, as recorded in the Valuation Rolls (1855), these properties were under the ownership of the Marquis of Bute and tenanted by the Arthur family – Benston by Alexander Arthur and Wellhill & Crook by William Arthur.
William Arthur had been born at Crook, in 1809, and so too his elder brother John Findlay Arthur (1807) who many years later would serve as a Surgeon Major in Her Majesty’s Indian Army and received the honour “The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India, CSI.”
The Ordnance Survey Names Book (1855-57) entry for Crook (ruins) is short and sweet and reads ‘the remains of an old farm House‘. It also identifies Mr. Arthur, Benston as one of the ‘Authorities of spelling‘.
The name cruck is a reference to a style of construction using oak trunks to build, for example, cruck cottages or cruck barns. Here a single oak trunk was split down the middle to give a pair of curved crucks. The crucks were then joined together, raised and held in position to support the roof. There is a wonderful example of a restored Cruck Cottage [1] can be seen at Torthorwald, Dumfriesshire and is open to visitors. Perhaps the cottage was named Crook.
UPDATE: January 2026
The Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities entry for Crook (ruin) reads [2] –
Sc cruik ‘a bend’, often in a burn or river, as in Crook of Devon KNR, which lies at a very pronounced bend in the River Devon. There is, however, no noticeable bend in the small burn that runs to the west of Crook. Sc cruik can also be ‘a curved or crooked piece of ground; a corner or nook.’ (DOST).
The Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities
In which case it may reflect the location of Crook at the bend in the road.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Cruck Cottage Heritage |
| [2] Place-Names of the Coalfield Communities, s.v., “Place-name record 4212: ‘Crook (Ruin)’,” accessed 30 January 2026, https://ayr-placenames.glasgow.ac.uk/map/915420fd91d54 |
| Maps | |
| By Permission of National Library of Scotland | |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ | |
| Map 1 | Blaeu, Cruck | |
| Map 2 | Ordnance Survey, Crook |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Crook |
| Scotland’s People |
| https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |
| Old Parish Records, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Census Records, Valuations Rolls, Wills & Testaments |