| Place-name: | Linn Burn |
| Scots linn ‘waterfall, cataract, cascade of water Scots burn ‘stream’ | |
| Place-name: | Upper Linn |
| Scots upper ‘upper’ + Place-Name: Linn | |
| Place-name: | Netherlinn |
| Scots nether ‘nether’ + Place-Name: Linn | |
| Scots linn ‘waterfall’ | |
| Blaeu Coila (1654): | Garrif burn. |
| OS Name Books (1855-57): | Linn Burn, Netherlinn, Upper Linn |
| Location: | Ordnance Survey (1892-1960) |
| Early References |
| Garrif b. (Blaeu 1654) |
Garrif Burn
In 1790 Sir James Stirling, Lord Provost of Edinburgh acquired lands in the parish of New Cumnock including those of Garrieve and Garclaugh. He named his new estate Mansfield in honour of his wife Alison Mansfield .
The farms of Nether Gariff and Over Garif were later renamed as Mansfield Mains and Mansfield Hall and the upper reaches of Garrif Burn was called Mansfield Burn while a small waterfall on this stretch of the burn was called Mansfield Linn, from Scots linn ‘ waterfall, cataract, cascade of water’ [1,2].
Linn Burn
The Ordnance Survey Name Books (1855-57) entry for Linn Burn reads –
A burn formed by the junction of Mansfield burn with Hall burn and flowing southwards into the river Nith
Presumaby the Linn Burn takes its name from Mansfield Linn albeit the linn is not on that stretch of the burn. Indeed in the renaming of the Garrif Burn it would may have seemed more appropriate to name the upper reaches of the burn as Linn Burn and the lower reaches as Mansfield Burn.
Furthermore the stretch of Linn Burn from the meeting place of the Hall Burn and Mansfield Burn past the ‘auld barn‘ to Mansfield Bridge is known as ‘The Ladies Burn’, possibly after ladies that lived at Mansfield House [3].
From the bridge the burn heads south-west through heavily wooded banks and then follows channel cut cut to take it under the railway line to join the River Nith.
Upper Linn and Netherlinn
The place-name elements Scots nether ‘lower’ [4] and Scots over ‘upper’ [5] are commonly used to distinguish between two places bearing the same name, with nether and over applying to the lower lying and upper lying properties respectively.
Upper Linn
In this case there is a mixture of upper and nether
Scots upper ‘high lying’ + Place-Name: Linn
The Ordnance Survey Name Books (1855-57) entry for Upper Linn reads –
A farm house on Mansefield estate – it derives its name from a linn in its vicinity.
The ruins of Upper Linn sit on the east bank of the Mansfield Burn some 200 metres upstream from the Mansfield Linn. It is commonly referred to as High Linn or High Lynn in the Valuation Rolls and was home to tenants of the Mansfield Estate.
The 1841 Census Records show Thomas Brown, 78, bower or dairyman, living there with his wife Margaret along with three lodgers. Their son George and his wife Margaret had previously lived there too; it was here in 1836 that their first child Thomas was born. George found work on the Mansfield estate as a Tile Maker and then as a miner at Mansfield Colliery on Grieve Hill. Sadly, he was tragically killed by a fall of coal and lies buried in the family lair in the Auld Kirkyard.
Netherlinn
Scots nether ‘lower lying’ + Place-Name: Linn
The Ordnance Survey Name Books (1855-57) entry for Nether Linn reads –
A farm house, the property of Sir James Menteith, occupied by Mr. Brown, Factor of Mansfield
The ruins of Netherlinn stand in the Linn field on the opposite side of Mansfield Road from the ruins of Mansfield House; the property was also known as Low Linn or just Linn.
At the time of the 1891 Census Anthony Milligan, coachman and domestic servant and his wife Jane are living here along with their three children. Anthony would spend much of his day at the Mansfield stables where his son Hugh also worked as a groom. Lady Jane Stuart Menteth was one of the leading land-owners in the parish and one of Anthony’s duties would include taking Lady Jane by coach along the Mansfield road to church and back.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
| References |
| [1] New Cumnock Place-Names |Mansfield |
| [2] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd.|Linn |
| [3] Responses | New Cumnock Heritage Facebook |
| [4] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd.| nether, lower |
| [5] Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd. | over, upper |
| Maps |
| Reproduced with the Permission of the National Library of Scotland |
| https://maps.nls.uk/ |
| Map 1: Joan Blaeu, Coila Provincia, [or], The province of Kyle / auct. Timoth. Pont. (1654) |Garrif B. |
| Map 2 : Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1960 (1895) | Linn Burn |
| Map 3 : Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1960 (1895) | Linn Burn |
| Map 4: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1949 (1895) | Upper Linn |
| Map 5: Ordnance Survey Maps – 25 inch 1st edition, Scotland, 1855-1882 (1856) | Nether Linn |
| Ordnance Survey Name Books |
| By Permission of Scotland’s Places |
| scotlandsplaces.gov.uk |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Netherlinn |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Upper Linn |
| Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Linn Burn |
| Scotland’s People |
| https://www.scotlandspeople.gov.uk |
| Old Parish Records, Births, Marriages, Deaths, Census Records, Valuations Rolls, Wills & Testaments |
NEW CUMNOCK HISTORY 