ERN CLEUCH

Place-name:	Ern Cleuch
Suggested Meaning:	eagle ravine
1st element:	Scots ern ‘eagle’
2nd element:	Scots cleuch ‘ narrow gorge with high rocky sides, ravine’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	No Entry
OS Name Books (1855-57):	Ern Cleuch
Location:	Ordnance Survey (1894)

Ern Cleuch

Scots ern ‘eagle‘ + Scots cleuch ‘ravine’

Ern Cleuch is found in an unnamed tributary that joins the Langlee Burn in its upper reaches, which in turn meets the Gray Burn just above Blackcraig before it joins the Afton Water. The name comprises two Scots element ern ‘eagle’ [1] and cleuch, cleugh ‘ravine’ [2].

The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) entry appears under Ern Cleugh, rather than Ern Cleuch, and reads –

A rocky ravine, about 30 chains E [East] of Quintin Knowe, so named because it was once the haunt of eagles.

Ern, Erne – The eagle – Jamieson; Cleuch, Cleugh – A Precipice – Jamieson

All three authorities for ‘Various Modes of Spelling’ – Thomas Lee, herd, Dunside; George Hyslop, Polloch and John Welsh, Black Craig – cite Ern Cleuch.