Sike, Syke

Place-name:	Sike, Syke
Suggested Meaning:	‘sluggish stream’
	Scots sike, syke ‘sluggish stream’
Blaeu Coila (1654):	No Entry
OS Name Books (1855-57):	See Table below
Location:	See Table below

the sheughs and the sykes

A Sike or Syke is described as –

A small stream, rill or water-course, especially one that meanders through a hollow or across flat or boggy ground and is freqently dry in summer
Dictionary of the Scots Language

Map	Notes
Cameronsike Burn	Personal Name: Cameron Unable to identify the person Cameron that gave their name to the sike. See Cameronsike
Gullet Sike	Scots gullet ‘deep channel’
Mitchell’s Syke	Personal Name: Mitchell Mitchell’s Sike flows into the Beoch Lane which in then flows to meet the Nith passing the original property of (Old) Craigman. In the early 17th century Daniel Mitchell of Craigman married Marion Cathcart the daughter of Allan Cathcart of nearby Waterhead Castle. Was Mitchell’s Sike a boundary of the Mitchell land.
Otter Sike	Named no doubt at a time otters were pevalent here
Palmsike Burn	Palm?
Peat Sike	Probable because the sike was peaty.
Sandy Syke, Afton	Perhaps from sandy peat which is said to a be ‘a peat containing a good deal of earthy matter‘
Sandy Syke, Deugh	Perhaps from sandy peat which is said to a be ‘a peat containing a good deal of earthy matter‘
Stot Syke	Scots: stot ‘ young castrated ox, a steer, bullock’
Sunny Syke	Sunny or possibly sandy as in sandy-peat
Whitelaysyke Bridge	white + Scots lay ‘ ground which has been tilled and is now in pasture’

Peat Sike, Mitchell’s Sike and Gullet Sike

All feed into the Beoch Lane.

Peat, Mitchell’s, Gullet | Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland

Palmsike Burn, Otter Sike and Stot Sike

In the north-east of the parish either side of the Martyrs’ Moss.

Otter Sike, Stot Sike | Reproduced with the permission of National Library of Scotland

Sandy Syke | Afton Water

Sandy Syke , Afton | Reproduced with the permission of National Library of Scotland

Sandy Syke | Water of Deugh

Whitelaysyke Bridge

The sike is not named on the Ordnance Survey map or referenced in Scotland’s Place. However the bridge under which it passes was named as Whitlaysyke Bridge – now incorporated into the A76 trunk road.

Lay may be a variant of lea, ley which is ground that has been left fallow for a time and later covered by natural grass, under the field rotational system. The Dictionary of Scots Language gives the following Ayrshire based reference to lay –

Of all the rotations hitherto discovered, the best for Ayrshire appears to be from lay, oats or beans.
Ayr. 1793 W. Fullarton Agric. Ayr. 25

Whitelay may be a reference to the colour of the field during the lay rotation.

The upper reaches of the sike are linear in fashion and resembles aman-made ditch or sheuch (see also Cameronsike Burn). The syke flows into the channel that flows form Loch O’ the Lowes to the River Nith.

In 1951 it was proposed that the New Cumnock by-pass (east bound) would start at Whitelaysyke Bridge and rejoint the A76 at Marchburn. The plans came to nothing. The Tam O’Shanter Transport Cafe that one stood nearby has also disappeared. The ariel photograph gives a glimpse of a small section from Whitelayske.