| Place-name: | Faulds Moss |
| Suggested Meaning: | the outfield marsh |
| 1st element | S. faulds ‘part of outfield which was manured by folding cattle on it’ |
| 2nd element | S. moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’ |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | No Entry |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Faulds Moss |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1895) |
The Ordnance Survey Name Book Ayrshire (1855-57) entry for Faulds Moss reads –
A small moss on Lanemark farm, near Lanemark Moss, from which it is separated by the road from N [New] Cumnock to Dalmellington
1st element: Scots faulds ‘part of the outfield which was manured by folding cattle upon it’
Scots fauld is equivalent to English fold ‘pen’. The Dictionaries of the Scots Language gives several examples of the usage of the term including in the plural faulds along with an example from its use on the Island of Bute [2].
faulds the part of the outfield which was manured by folding cattle upon it.
for example
The out-fields or faulds are most commonly kept three years in oats and other three years in grass [ John Blain ‘History of Bute’ (1850) ]
Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Faulds Moss in the foreground with cut-grass on the faulds (outfields of Lanemark farm) in the background. On the left is the road from New Cumnock to Dalmellington. The cottages on the right hand side of the road are the remains of Lanemark Row and the nearest one is known as Mossdale.
2nd element: Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’
One of the definitions for moss given in the The Dictionaries of the Scots Language [2] reads ‘a marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground‘ and also notes it is ‘frequently found in collocation moss and muir’. There are almost 20 named mosses in New Cumnock, and probably just as many unnamed, including Faulds Moss and Lanemark Moss, part of the same marshy land separated by the road from New Cumnock to Dalmellington.
A flooded Faulds Moss with the grassy faulds, i.e. outfields of Lanemark farm in the background. The cottages on the right hand side of the road are what remains of the Lanemark Row and the nearest cottage is known as Mossdale.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionaries of the Scots Language | fauld |
| [2] Dictionaries of the Scots Language | moss |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the Permission of the National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1 | Ordnance Survey (1895) |Faulds Moss |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Faulds Moss |
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 