Lairhag Burn

Place-name:	Lairhag Burn
Suggested Meaning:	burn by the the place where sheep lie down in the moss
	Lairhag
	Scots lair ‘place for animals lying down, probably sheep’
	Scots hag ‘marshy hollow piece of ground in a moor’
	Lairhag Burn
	Place-Name: Lairhag + Scots burn ‘stream’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	N/A
OS Name Books (1855-57):	Lairhag Burn
Location:	Ordnance Survey (1894)

Lairahag Burn

The entry in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) for Lairhag Burn reads-

A small burn running in a NW [North West] direction into Black Water

S. lair ‘place for animals lying down, probably sheep’

The Dictionaries of the Scots Language entry for lair [1] reads –

LAIR, n.¹, v.¹ Also lare, layer; lear. 4. A place where animals lie down; a fold or enclosure for cattle or sheep (Sh. 1960, obsol.), freq. in place-names (Lth. 1960).

Dictionaries of the Scots Language

The landscape is certainly sheep country and indeed nearby lying on the parish boundary between New Cumnock and Ochiltree on the east bank of the Black Water is Midhill Stell, i.e Scots stell ‘An open enclosure made of dry-stone walling’ [2]. This perfectly round stell still stands.

S. hag ‘A soft marshy hollow piece of ground in a moor’

The Dictionaries of the Scots Language entry for hag reads [3] –

3. (1) HAG, v.¹, n.¹ Also hagg, haag, haug. A soft marshy hollow piece of ground in a moor, e.g. where channels have been made by water or where peats have been cut; “moss-ground that has formerly been broken up; a pit, or break in a moss”

Also used attrib. and in such combs. as moss-hag (Ayr. 1790 A. Tait Poems 224, -haug), peat-hag, etc. Now Gen.Sc. Also found in n.Eng. dial.

Dictionaries of the Scots Language

Lairhag Burn

Place-name: Lairhag + Scots burn ‘stream’ [4]

The burn presumably took its name from ‘a place on the hag, moss or moor where sheep lay down’ known as lairhag, possibly between the burn and Midhill Stell. The Black Water skirts either side of the parish boundary as it flows due north and the Lairhag Burn joins it on the New Cumnock side of the boundary.

 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References

[1] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |lair

[2] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |stell

[3] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |hag

[4] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |burn

Maps

Reproduced with the Permission of National Library of Scotland

https://maps.nls.uk/

Map 1: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857)|Lairhag Burn

Ordnance Survey Name Books

By Permission of Scotland’s Places

scotlandsplaces.gov.uk

Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Lairhag Burn