Sheel Burn, Sheel Moss

Place-name:	Sheel
Suggested Meaning:	a rough shelter for sheep and their herds in a remote place
	Scots shiel ‘a rough shelter for sheep or cattle and their herds‘
Place-name:	Sheel Burn
	Place-Name: Sheel + Scots burn ‘stream’
Place-Name:	Sheel Moss
	Place-Name: Sheel + Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	N/A
OS Name Books (1855-57):	Sheel Burn, Sheel Moss
Location:	Ordnance Survey (1893)

Sheel

Scots sheel ‘a rough shelter for sheep or cattle and their herds‘

The place-name element shiel has a number of variants including sheel and shield, all three forms of which are found in the parish of New Cumnock. The entry for shiel in the Dictionaries of the Scots Language reads [1] –

SHIEL, n., v.¹ Also shiell, sheul(l), sheel, sheil(e), schiel, shel(c); shield, sheild, she(e)ld. A sheepcot, a rough shelter for sheep or cattle and their herds in a remote place, specif. one used in the summer when sheep and cattle were removed to higher and more distant pastures

Dictionary of the Scots Language. 2004. Scottish Language Dictionaries Ltd

Although the sheel in question no longer exists it gave its name to the Sheel Burn and Sheel Moss and it can be assumed it once stood in that vicinity. Also the landscape, which includes a sheepfold , Lamb Hill and Wedder Hill from Scots wedder ‘male castrated sheep’ [2] indicates that the sheel was a ‘rough shelter for sheep and shepherds‘.

Place-Name: Sheel + Scots burn ‘stream’

The entry in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Names Book (1855-57) for Sheel Burn reads –

A Small burn north of Millaneoch Burn, running into the Deugh Water at Sheel Moss.

The burn [3] runs in to the Water of Deugh which served as the boundary between the parish of New Cumnock, Ayrshire and Carsphairn, Kirkcudbrightshire.

Place-Name: Sheel + Scots moss ‘marsh, bog, a tract of soft wet ground’

The entry in the Ayrshire Ordnance Survey Names Book (1855-57) for Sheel Moss reads –

A Small moss at the junction of Sheel Burn with the Deugh Water

Much of the moss [4] is now covered in forestry. 

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

References

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

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

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

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

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)| Sheel Burn and Sheel Moss

Map 2: Ordnance Survey Maps – Six-inch 2nd and later editions, Scotland, 1892-1960 (1893) |Sheel Burn and Sheel Moss

Ordnance Survey Name Books

By Permission of Scotland’s Places

scotlandsplaces.gov.uk

Ayrshire OS Name Books (1855-57) Vol. 49| Sheel Burn and Sheel Moss