| Place-name: | Farden |
| Suggested Meaning: | farthing-land |
| S. farden, fardin ‘farthing’ G. fairdean ‘farthing’ , | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | Fairding |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Farding |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1893-1960) |
| Earlier forms |
| Fardin (1520), Fardinge (1523), Ferding (1535), Farding (1549), Fairding (1654, Blaeu), Farden (1671, wills), Fardine (1684), Farden (1797/98, farm tax roll) |
Farden
1.Gaelic fairdeann, fairdin ‘farthing’ 2. Scots farden, farding ‘farthing’
Farden, as it’s known today, is one of three farthing place-names in the parish of New Cumnock, the other two being Blackfarding and Fardenreoch. All three are references to a farthing unit of land-measure.
One of the earliest reference to to the property reads [1] –
Instrument narrating that George Craufurd, son of George Craufurd of Laffinoris, as bailie, in terms of a precept by the elder George, passed to the lands of Fardin, and there at the principal mansion gave sasine of the two merklands of Fardin in the barony of Cumnok, sheriffdom of Are, according to a charter to be made there upon to William Rede, son and heir of the late (Andrew) Rede. Done 30th January 1520. Witnesses, Andrew Campbell, Andrew Blak, John Dargan and Thomas M‘Nacht
Protocol Book of Gavin Ros, Vol. 1, (May 1512-Dec 1524), No. 450
The Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) entry for the property is under that of Farding, however the form Farden is also recorded in the entry. The entry also quotes from John Jamieson’s ‘Etymological Dictionary of the Scottish Language’ – “Farding – a farthing“.
The challenge is to determine if the origin of the name is Gaelic fairdean [2] or Scots farding [3]. With the other two farden, names in the parish it is straight forward since they
| Fardenreoch | 2nd element is Gaelic –riabhach and thereby likely to be preceded by a Gaelic fairdean. |
| Blackfarding | Scots 1st element is and is therefore likely to be followed by Scots farding. |
However, Farding, Farden being a simplex form of the name, and does not have 1st of 2nd element, to help determine if the name is of Gaelic or later Scots. Nevertheless the simplex form Fardin may represent the earliest use of the name in the parish forcing the latter two places to include the place name elements, Gaelic -riabach and Scots black- respectively, to differentiate them from the existing property. This would support the case for Gaelic fairdean ‘farthing’
However, it should also be noted that the early forms of Farden given above match well with the variants of Scots farding given in the Scots dictionary, namely fardyng-, fardin-, fardine-, farden-, fardene-,fardein-. which supports the case Scots farding ‘farthing’.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Protocol Book of Gavin Ros, Vol. 1, (May 1512-Dec 1524), No. 450 |
| [2] Edward Dwelly Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary | fairdean |
| [3] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |farding |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the Permission of the National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1 | Blaeu Coila Provincia (1645) | Fairdin |
| Map 2 | Ordnance Survey (1885-1903) |Farding |
| Map 3 | Ordnance Survey (1893-1860) | Farden |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books & Farm Horse Tax Rolls |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49|Farding |
| Farm Horse Tax Rolls (1797-98) | Farden |
| Scotland’s People |
| https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |
| Old Parish Records, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Census Records, Valuations Rolls, Wills & Testaments |
| Place-names | Sources |
| Fardin (1520) | Protocol Book of Gavin Ros, Vol. 1, (May 1512-Dec 1524), No. 450 |
| Fardinge (1523) | Protocol Book of Gavin Ros, Vol. 1, (May 1512-Dec 1524), No. 659 |
| Ferding (1535), | Registrum Secreti Sigilli Regum Scotorum Vol. 2 (1529-1542), 1681 |
| Farding (1549) | Register of the Great Seal of Scotland Vol. 4, (1546-1580) No. 327 |
| Fairding (1654) | Blaeu Atlas of Scotland (1654) Coila Provincia, [or], The province of Kyle / auct. Timoth. Pont. |
| Farden (1671) | 1671 Logane, James (Wills and testament Reference CC9/7/38 Glagow Commissary Court |
| Fardine (1684) | Interrogations of parishioners | James Logan; Henry Paton (Editor), The Register of the Privy Council of Scotland, Third Series, Vol IX, A.D. 1684, P.543-547 |
Instrument narrating that George Craufurd, son of George Craufurd of Laffinoris, as bailie, in terms of a precept by the elder George, passed to the lands of Fardin, and there at the principal mansion gave sasine of the two merklands of Fardin in the barony of Cumnok, sheriffdom of Are, according to a charter to be made there upon to William Rede, son and heir of the late (Andrew) Rede. Done 30th January 1520. Witnesses, Andrew Campbell, Andrew Blak, JohnDargan and Thomas M‘Nacht,
Protocol Book of Gavin Ros, Vol. 1, (May 1512-Dec 1524), No. 450
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 