Moorfield, 6 Moorfield Road, Cumnock

 Researched by Roberta

Moorfield, 6 Moorfield Road, Cumnock

Mrs Jane Moore, the widow of Alexander Nicol Moore, watchmaker, Cumnock, lived in Moorefield (original spelling) Cottage from at least 1891. Presumably the cottage was named after the Moore family of watchmakers. She died in 1914 at Moorefield.

After her death the new proprietor was William Armitage, a local doctor. He had been practicing in Cumnock since 1904, two years after he graduated, until his retiral in 1947. Armitage Drive in Cumnock was named after him. For years Dr Armitage was the Medical Officer for the Burgh of Cumnock and Holmhead. He married Mary Briton Henderson, the daughter of grocer and grain merchant James Henderson, New Cumnock and they had three sons, all of whom became doctors, and a daughter. Dr Armitage died at Moorfield in 1959 and his wife Mary Briton Henderson died there in 1967. 

Probate:

Henderson or Armitage Mary Briton of Moorfield Cumnock died 9 September 1967 at Ayr. Confirmation of  George Henderson Armitage and Ernest Armitage and James Briton Armitage and Moira McLaren. Sealed London 8 December. 

Source:

Valuation Rolls

Censuses

St Serf's, 28 Car Road, Ayr Road, Cumnock

 Researched by Roberta

St. Serf's, 28 Car Road, Old Cumnock

St. Serf's was originally owned by the Garrallan Coal Company and housed their colliery managers. The pit was closed in 1927 (it re-opened later). The 1930 Valuation Roll shows Alexander Young, Company Director, as the Proprietor/Occupier.

The Scotsman 3/6/1933

In 1933, according to the wedding announcement above, Mrs Henderson lived there. She was the widow of James Henderson, Bridgeville, New Cumnock. They were the parents of Mary Briton Henderson who was married to Dr Armitage and who lived in nearby Moorfield Cottage. The 1935 Valuation Roll verifies this. Widow Henderson was, according to the 1881 and 1901 censuses, born in Peru. By 1940 the Proprietor/Occupier was Mrs Janet (Nettie) Colville Henderson or Cullen, her daughter and sister of Mrs Armitage. 

St Serf was a 6th century Scottish saint known for funding churches and mentoring St Mungo. It is a relatively common dedication for churches. The original owner of the cottage may have had some link to one of the churches in Cumnock. 

Sources:

Valuation Rolls

Various censuses

Abbotsford, 11 Car Road, Cumnock

 

Researched by Roberta

Abbotsford, 11 Car Road, Cumnock

Abbotsford on the right 
        

Abbotsford is situated near the junction of Car Road and Hall Terrace. It was occupied by Thomas Goldie's family from the time he resigned  from his employment with the Burgh in 1907.

                    In 1897 it had been resolved to create an additional post of Burgh

                    Surveyor and Inspector of Cleansing, and Thomas Goldie was given

                    also the duties of hallkeeper, at a combined salary of £65 plus free

                    house, coal and gas. He resigned in 1907 and it was decided to combine

                    his duties with those of the vacant Sanitary Inspectorship.

                              Source: The New History of Cumnock, John Strawhorn p 103 

Born at the Old Mill, New Cumnock, Thomas moved to Townhead Street, Cumnock, then Barrhill Road  before accepting employment with the Burgh. He received a rent free house which adjoined the Town Hall in Glaisnock Street. He had previously worked as a corn miller, millwright and as an engineer at McCartney & Drummond's Engineering Works in Cumnock.  When he resigned from the Burgh in 1907 he moved into Abbotsford, 11 Car Road, Cumnock where he died in 1910. 

Thomas had married three times. His widow Elizabeth continued to live in Abbotsford until she died in 1933. The 1940 Valuation Roll shows his daughter Mary Seaton Goldie as proprietor/occupier. Mary died in Cumnock in 1955.

Sources:

Valuation Rolls - Scotland's People

Censuses

                             

                    

Amulree, Car Road, Cumnock

 Researched by Roberta

        Amulree is a small hamlet located in Perth & Kinross. Its name in Scottish Gaelic is Ath Maol Ruibhe which translates as Ford of [St.] Maelrubha. Historically it was situated on key military and cattle droving routes through the Central Highlands, but today consists of mainly a handful of cottages and farms.

(Source: www.definitions.net)

        In 1915 there were three houses in Car (Carr) Road. They were Abbotsford, Amulree and St Serf's. By the 1920 Valuation Roll the houses were Abbotsford, Glendyne and St Serf's. It appears that the new owners of Amulree, the Stoddart family, changed the name of the house to Glendyne. 

        The 1915 Valuation Roll shows the 'residenter' being Peter McDonald, a gardener, who previously lived at 151 Glaisnock Street. He was born in Aberfeldy in 1863. Aberfeldy is only eleven miles from Amulree so perhaps he named the house when he first moved in. He married Elizabeth Walker in 1908 in Edinburgh. Elizabeth died in Amulree, Car Road in 1915 and Peter had moved out by 1917. 

Ardrossan & Saltcoats Herald 5/3/1915

        Another local connection to the name Amulree are the Craigs from New Cumnock who had moved to Corriemucklock, Amulree, Dunkeld. They were very successful sheep farmers in Perth and had New Cumnock properties Craigdarroch, Monthraw and Ashmark among others. William Craig married Margaret Wilson from Ashmark, New Cumnock in 1903 at Ayr Station Hotel. 

                                                   Strathearn Herald, Crieff 14/11/1903

Dumfries & Galloway Standard 26/1/1918 

Glendyne, 26 Car Road, Cumnock

 

Researched by Roberta

        Cumnock-born George Stoddart had been Postmaster at Cumnock Post Office for 36 years when he retired in 1916. He had been 43 years with the Post Office.

        He married his first wife, Jeanie Stoddart, in 1886 in Douglas and they had two living children, Jane Scott Stoddart born 1887 and Margaret (Peggy) Stoddart born 1889, both in Cumnock. Sadly Jeanie died in 1892 of peritonitis six days after the birth of her son who did not survive. George then married Margaret Slimmon in 1898 at Sanquhar. 

        George was initially a postman in Cumnock. When he took over as Postmaster he supervised the sub-post offices at Sanquhar, Kirkconnel, New Cumnock, Ochiltree, Auchinleck, Lugar and Muirkirk. When he retired in 1916, after living in rented accommodation for many years, he purchased a house at 26 Car Road, Cumnock and named it Glendyne. 

        He and his second wife had close ties with Sanquhar. Sanquhar Post Office was established in 1712 and was considered the oldest working Post Office in the world. George had worked closely with them over the years. Alexander Peden and the Covenanters had hidden in the beautiful glen called Glendyne near Sanquhar. Perhaps these were the reasons he named his house Glendyne.

        George was not fortunate enough to enjoy his well-earned retirement for long. He died at Glendyne, Car Road, in 1917.

        Plans were passed in 1920 for a new housing scheme in Car Road and between 1921 and 1925 council tenants had began to move in. This work was not completed until 1951. George's widow and daughters continued to live there. His widow Margaret died in Glendyne in 1926 and his daughter Jane Scott Stoddart, postal and telegraph worker, also died there in 1956. Younger daughter Peggy died in Cumnock in 1976. Both daughters were unmarried. 

Sources:

The New History of Cumnock, John Strawhorn p95

Valuation Rolls

Cumnock Connections Tree 

        

Castlehill

 A tenement in Townhead street from 1851 census until demolished in 1972

in the 1851 census there were three households living there:

Andrew Miller a handloom weaver with wife and two children

James Whyte a carter with wife, sister, 4 adult children and a niece

Widow Janet McLanachan 42 with six sons

John Baird's house

Researched by Kay 

John Baird was a cloth merchant and owner of land in Lugar Street. The Baird Institute was built as his legacy to Cumnock.

Baird's Place 

Situated to the right when facing the Baird Institute, it is now part of a shop in Lugar Street.

The records below  are in Ayrshire Archives and would indicate that the house was built in 1880.

AA/DC177/1/81 Specification of the execution of masonry work for a house to be rebuilt by John Baird, Merchant, Cumnock, unsigned  May 1880

AA/DC177/1/82	Specification of the slater and other works for a house to be built by John Baird, Merchant, Cumnock, unsigned	May 1880
AA/DC177/1/83	Draft specification of the execution of masonry work for John Baird's house, Cumnock	May 1880
AA/DC177/1/85	Specification of the execution of plaster work for John Baird's house, unsigned	1880
AA/DC177/1/87	Plan of John Baird's garden	1881