Lethans, Lethans Hill

Place-name:	Lethans
Suggested Meaning:	broad
	Gaelic leathann ‘broad’
Place-name:	Lethans Hill
	Place-Name: Lethans + SSE hill ‘hill’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	Litthen, Litthen hil, Litthen b.
OS Name Books (1855-57):	Lethans, Lethans Hill
Location:	Ordnance Survey (1895)

Early Forms

Lethanis (1484), Litthen (1654), Lethens (1673 Wills & Testaments) Lithins (OPR 1709 & throughout), Lithins (OPR 1725), Lethin (Roy 1752-55), Litham (Armstrong 1775), Lethans (1785, 1804 newspapers)

Lethans, Lethans Hill

The earliest reference to the place-name Lethans uncovered thus far is found in 1484 during a dispute between the Baron of Cumnock and the Countess of Ross in the form Lethanis.

Sir James Dunbar of Cumnock & Westfield had inherited the title of Cumnock through marriage to Euphemia Dunbar (before 1474), the eldest daughter and heir of Patrick Dunbar of Cumnock & Mochrum. He also inherited the title of Westfield from his father Sir Alexander Dunbar of Westfield, Morayshire [1]. Despite holding the positions of Sheriff of Elgin & Forres, Sir James got himself into some financial difficulty and not having the means to pay Elizabeth Livingston, Countess of Ross, she was granted the following lands in his barony of Cumnock [2] –

2 Oct 1484

Jacobus de Dunbar de Cumno owing 700 merks plus 10 merks expenses to Elizabeth Countess of Ross because of decreet of lords auditorum causarum et querelarum, not having enough moveable goods to pay, royal grant to said Elizabeth in lands of Wellis of Gelt, 2 merk lands of Lethanis, merkland of Knokluy, merkland of Ruchside, 2 merk lands of Uvirgarlach, 2 merk lands of Nethirgarclach, 2 merk lands of Nethirgerreve, with free regress to sd lands whenever he, heirs might pay 710 merks within 7 yrs .

Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum, RMS/ii#1602| translation courtesy Stuart Clarkson

In Blaeu’s Coila Provincia (1654) it appears in the form Litthen associated with a farmhouse, hill and burn. Also shown on the map are Clockluy and Ruchsid hil which appeared as Knokluy and Ruchside respectively in the dispute of 1484.

In Roy’s Military survey of the Lowlands of Scotland (1752-1755) the name appears in the form LIthan (see Map 2 in Table below) while in Armstrong’s Map of Ayrshire (1775) it appears in the form Litham, probably a cartographical error.

Scotland’s People gives several forms of the place-name beginning with Lethens in the Will and Testament of Thomas Howatstone in Lethens, 17th May 1673 through to William Riddle in Lethans, 3rd February 1847. While in the Old Parish Records of New Cumnock of Baptisms /Births (1706-1855) in the form Lithins, the earliest record of which reads –

• 01 May 1709, Mary Daughter of William Barry and Janet Hope, in Lithins

The form Lethans is found in newspaper articles regarding the letting of farms owned by the Marquis of Bute including in 1785 ‘… Clockluie, Lethans…’ [3] and again in 1804 ‘Lethans, tenant Geo. Maider, 437 acres 437 acres‘ [4].

In the 1841 and 1851 Census Records the name appears in the form Lithans, at which time the aforementioned Riddle / Riddel family were living there.

However, the forms Lithins and Lithans were superseded by the form Lethans and became the recognised form in the Ordnance Survey Name Books (1855-1857) –

A Small thatched house occupied by Mr Lammie, Herd.

The Authorities for the Spelling of name were the occupier Mr. Lammie, shepherd and the Estate Map, held by Mr. Hay*, Dumfries House – the property was owned by the Marquis of Bute. Lethans became the established form of the name in the Valuation Rolls (1855-1940), other than 1865 & 1875 when it appeared in the form Lethan.

*probably Mr. Kay, Dumfries House

The entry in the Ordnance Survey Name Books (1855-1857) for Lethans Hill reads –

A Hill on which is a Trig [Trigonometrical] Station South of Lethans: it is partly [in] Ayr & partly in Dumfriesshire

The Authorities for the Spelling of name were Mr Lammie, Lethans; John Lammie, Clocklowie
and Robert McNaught, Craigshiel.

The Ordnance Survey Map included with the entries for Lethans and Lethans Hill was Ayrshire Sheet XXXVII (with inset of Sheer XLII.A) , the inset is shown below.

Lethans

Gaelic leathann ‘broad, slope’

Edward Dwelly in his Gaelic dictionary gives – Gaelic leathann ‘broad’ and 2. ‘spacious’ and also notes Alexander MacBain’s spelling as Gaelic leathan [5,6]. Professor W. J. Watson also considers the spelling as Gaelic leathan and in his discussion of the ‘Saints of West and East’ he notes Dubthach of Tain and offers that the Laird of Lethen in Nairnshire is Tighearm Leathan Dubthaich ‘lord of Dubhthach’s broad (slope)’ [7].

The breadth and slope of the hill are well illustrated on the map below.

The Gordon family were the last occupants of Lethans and sold off the farmhouse in the 1960s as plans were afoot to create what became the extensive Lethans forest on Lethans Hill and beyond [8].

Lethans Hill

Place-Name Lethans + SSE hill ‘hill’

It appears that the farmhouse of Lethans took its name from the broad hillside that it sat upon and at sometime later the hill was named after the farmhouse. Views from the ruins of the farmhouse illustrate the breadth of the hill despite the encroachment of the large swathes of forestry.

Meanwhile plans to erect 22 massive wind turbines be known as the Lethans Wind Farm [9] have now be revisited to included an extension of another 10 turbines [10].

Place-Name Lethans + Scots burn ‘stream’

Although there is no entry for Lethans Burn in the Ordnance Survey Name Book (1855-57) and as such the name long appears on Ordnance Survey maps. However, Litthen B., shown on Blaeu Coila Provincia (1654) above, would have taken its name from the farm house Litthen.

The course of the burn runs from south to north past the east side of the farm house and then heads due east through the line of rushes.

Footnote

There is another Lethans Hill in the parish of New Cumnock about 10 miles due east near the boundary with the parish of Dalmellington [11] . In that parish is a Lethan Hill giving its name to the miners row of Lethanhill (see Map 6).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References

[1] James Paterson, History of the Counties of Ayr and Wigton Volume I Kyle, Part two (1871, 2003 Edition) | Dunbars of Mochrum and Cumnock

[2] Registrum Magni Sigilli Regum Scotorum |RMS/ii#1602, Translation courtesy of Stuart Clarkson, Guelph, Ontario

[3] British Newspaper Archives |Caledonian Mercury, Monday 04 July, 1785

[4] British Newspaper Archives |Caledonian Mercury, Thursday 07 September, 1804

[5] Edward Dwelly, Illustrated Gaelic-English Dictionary | Leathann

[6] Alexander MacBain, An etymological dictionary of the Gaelic language (1911)| Leathan

[7] Professor W. J. Watson, Celtic Place-Names of Scotland (Birlinn 2004) | Leathan

[8] Cumnock History Group | Ploughing Up Our Past

[9] Lethans Wind Farm

[10] Lethans Wind Farm extension

[10] New Cumnock Place-Name: Lethans Hill

Maps

Reproduced with the Permission of National Library of Scotland

https://maps.nls.uk/

Map 1: Johan Blaeu , Coila Provincia, [or], The province of Kyle / auct. Timoth. Pont. (1654) | Litthen, Litthen Hil, Litthen b.

Map 2: Roy Military Survey of Scotland, 1747-1755, Lowlands (1752-55) |Lethin

Map 3: Andrew Armstrong A new map of Ayrshire (1775) | Litham

Map 4: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1843-1882 (1857) |Lethans, Lethans Hill Ayrshire Sheet XXXVII (with inset of Sheet XII.A)

Map 5: Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain – 1945-1973 (1954) | Lethans, Lethans Hill

Map 6: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1960 (1894) | Lethan Hill, Lethanhill (Dalmellington)

Ordnance Survey Name Books

By Permission of Scotland’s Places

scotlandsplaces.gov.uk

Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Lethans, Lethans Hill

Scotland’s People

https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk

Old Parish Records, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Census Records, Valuations Rolls, Wills & Testaments