| Place-name: | Loupsheugh |
| Suggested Meaning: | place where people and or animasl leapt over a ditch |
| 1st element: | S. loup ‘leap, leap over’ |
| 2nd element: | S. sheugh ‘ditch’ |
| Place-Name: | Loupsheugh Burn |
| Place-Name: Loupsheugh + S. burn ‘stream’ | |
| Place-Name: | Loupsheugh Burn |
| Place-Name: Loupsheugh + S. rig ‘ridge’ | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | No Entry |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Loupsheugh Burn, Loupsheugh Rig |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1894) |
LOUPSHEUGH
Scots loup ‘leap, leap over’ and Scots sheugh ‘ditch’
The place-name Loupsheugh comprises the two elements Scots loup ‘leap, leap over’ [1] and Scots sheugh ‘ditch, trench’ [2] where the ‘leaping over the ditch’ may be associated either with people or animals or both.
Elsewhere in the parish is Loup Burn, a small tributary of the River Nith in its upper reaches while in the parish of Canonbie, Dumfriesshire there is a Loup Sike, i.e. Scots syke ‘sluggish stream’ which runs into Loup Pool – three examples of leaps over water.
It brings to minds Robert Burns ‘The Twa Dugs’ he named Caeser and Luath and of the latter, a ploughman’s dog, he penned [3] –
He was a gash an’ faithfu’ tyke,
As ever lap a sheugh or dyke.
In a less well known poem, from another Ayrshire Bard, the Laird of Logan’, the ‘sheughs‘ also warrant a mention, along with several topographical features of our landscape [4].
LOUPSHEUGH BURN
Place-Name: Loupsheugh + Scots burn ‘stream’
The Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Books entry for Loupsheugh Burn reads-
A Stream which forms the Boundary – for a short distance between New Cumnock and Dalmellington – and flows northwards into Black Water
The burn [5] takes its name from this place where the ‘sheugh was louped’. It would be interesting if the louping was in anyway related to the sheugh forming part of the parish boundary between New Cumnock and Dalmellington.
LOUPSHEUGH RIG
Place-Name: Loupsheugh + Scots rig ‘ridge of high land, long narrow hill’
The Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Name Books entry for Loupsheugh Rig reads-
A ridge of slightly elevated moorland extending along Loupsheugh Burn
The rig, [6] takes its name from this place where the ‘sheugh was louped’.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |loup |
| [2] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |sheugh |
| [3] Robert Burns Organisation web-site |The Twa Dugs |
| [4] The Laird of Logan, Or, Anecdotes and Tales Illustrative of the Wit and Humour of Scotland |
| [5] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |burn |
| [6] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. |rig |
| 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 (1850-57) |Loupsheugh Burn and Loupsheugh Rig |
| Map 2: Ordnance Survey, 1:25,000 maps of Great Britain – 1945-1971 (1953) |Loupsheugh Rig |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49|Loupsheugh Burn |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49|Loupsheugh Rig |