Cumnock and Holmhead, a

police burgh A police burgh was a Scottish burgh which had adopted a "police system" for governing the town. They existed from 1833 to 1975. The 1833 act The first police burghs were created under the Burgh Police (Scotland) Act 1833 (3 & 4 Wm IV c.46). This ...

Ayrshire Ayrshire ( gd, Siorrachd Inbhir Àir, ) is a Counties of Scotland, historic county and registration county in south-west Scotland, located on the shores of the Firth of Clyde. Its principal towns include Ayr, Kilmarnock and Irvine, North Ayrshi ...

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to th ...

, on the Lugar, S. of Glasgow by road, with two stations (

Cumnock Cumnock (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cumnag'') is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just o ...

and

Old Cumnock Cumnock (Scottish Gaelic: ''Cumnag'') is a town and former civil parish located in East Ayrshire, Scotland. The town sits at the confluence of the Glaisnock Water and the Lugar Water. There are three neighbouring housing projects which lie just o ...

) on the

Glasgow and South Western Railway The Glasgow and South Western Railway (G&SWR) was a railway company in Scotland. It served a triangular area of south-west Scotland between Glasgow, Stranraer and Carlisle. It was formed on 28 October 1850 by the merger of two earlier railway ...

. The population in 1901 was 3,088.

History

At the beginning of the 19th century, Cumnock and Holmhead lay in the parish of Old Cumnock (pop. 5144), a police burgh of Ayrshire, Scotland, on the Lugar water, 33¾m. south of Glasgow by road, with two stations close by on the Glasgow and South Western Railway. With a population in 1901 of 3088 it was a thriving town, with a town hall, cottage hospital, public library and an athenaeum. Coal and ironstone were extensively mined in the neighbourhood, and the manufacturers included woolens, tweeds, agricultural implements and pottery. When Alexander Peden (1626–1686), the persecuted Covenanter, died, he was buried in the Boswell aisle of Auchinleck church; but his corpse was borne thence with every indignity by a company of dragoons to the foot of the gallows at

, where they intended to hang it in chains. This proving to be impracticable they buried it at the gallowsfoot. After the Revolution the inhabitants out of respect for the Prophet's memory abandoned their then burying-ground and turned the old place of execution into the present cemetery. Five miles SE. lies the parish of New Cumnock (pop. 5367) at the confluence of Afton Water and the Nith.

Boswell family

It is the seat of the Boswell family, three generations of which achieved greatness. * Lord Auchinleck, the judge (who dubbed Dr Johnson Ursa Major) *

James Boswell James Boswell, 9th Laird of Auchinleck (; 29 October 1740 ( N.S.) – 19 May 1795), was a Scottish biographer, diarist, and lawyer, born in Edinburgh. He is best known for his biography of his friend and older contemporary the English writer S ...

, his son. A biographer *

Sir Alexander Boswell Sir Alexander Boswell, 1st Baronet, (9 October 1775 – 27 March 1822) was a Scottish poet, antiquary, and songwriter. The son of Samuel Johnson's friend and biographer James Boswell of Auchinleck, he used the funds from his inheritance to pay ...

, his grandson, the author of ''Gude nicht and joy be wi you a, Jennys Bawbee, Jenny dang the weaver,'' and other songs and poems. He perished in a duel.

Name change

Cumnock became a

burgh of barony A burgh of barony was a type of Scottish town (burgh). Burghs of barony were distinct from royal burghs, as the title was granted to a landowner who, as a tenant-in-chief, held his estates directly from the crown. (In some cases, they might also b ...

royal charter A royal charter is a formal grant issued by a monarch under royal prerogative as letters patent. Historically, they have been used to promulgate public laws, the most famous example being the English Magna Carta (great charter) of 1215, but ...

in 1509. It became a police burgh, with the name Cumnock and Holmhead, in 1866. Holmhead was removed from the title in 1960.

History

Boswell family

Name change

See also

References

Further reading