September 2020
A small team of researchers from Cumnock History Group has been collecting information on farms and matters to do with farming for the Ploughing Up Our Past project funded by the National Lottery Fund and supported by the Coalfield Communities Landscape Project. This is very much a work in progress - some farms have scant information partly because we haven't got around to them yet. We are updating the posts constantly as we find out more. We think there are over 400 farms in the four parishes of Auchinleck, New Cumnock, (Old) Cumnock and Ochiltree.
Amongst the things we want to know are:- location of the farm on a map plus some description of the land, who lived there, was the tenancy passed to family members, how big it was, was it dairy, cattle, arable or mixed, did they have hired help, was it amalgamated, is it still there and if not what happened, who were the land owners. What is the current situation? Has the farmer diversified into tourism or something else?
See what we have on the farms you know about by finding the farm name in the list of labels on the right hand side.
Help needed!
We need your help, especially about what happened from 1940 on. We'd love to publish your old photos and hear your stories.
For the current situation, if you are a farmer, we suggest you write a paragraph or two yourself about your farm.
You can email us: info@cumnockhistorygroup.org
We also have a very active Ploughing Up Our Past Facebook group with over 470 participants. Join the conversation!
Kay McMeekin, Cumnock History Group, project manager
email to: farms@cumnockhistorygroup.org
A small team of researchers from Cumnock History Group has been collecting information on farms and matters to do with farming for the Ploughing Up Our Past project funded by the National Lottery Fund and supported by the Coalfield Communities Landscape Project. This is very much a work in progress - some farms have scant information partly because we haven't got around to them yet. We are updating the posts constantly as we find out more. We think there are over 400 farms in the four parishes of Auchinleck, New Cumnock, (Old) Cumnock and Ochiltree.
Amongst the things we want to know are:- location of the farm on a map plus some description of the land, who lived there, was the tenancy passed to family members, how big it was, was it dairy, cattle, arable or mixed, did they have hired help, was it amalgamated, is it still there and if not what happened, who were the land owners. What is the current situation? Has the farmer diversified into tourism or something else?
See what we have on the farms you know about by finding the farm name in the list of labels on the right hand side.
Help needed!
We need your help, especially about what happened from 1940 on. We'd love to publish your old photos and hear your stories.
For the current situation, if you are a farmer, we suggest you write a paragraph or two yourself about your farm.
You can email us: info@cumnockhistorygroup.org
We also have a very active Ploughing Up Our Past Facebook group with over 470 participants. Join the conversation!
Resources
We are using the following, mainly online, resources during the coronavirus epidemic.
National censuses 1841 - 1911 mainly using transcriptions from and family history
- freecen.org for the 1841 census
- ancestry.co.uk
- findmypast.co.uk
- familysearch.org for the 1881 census
- and scotlandspeople.gov.uk for the 1911 census
Maps on the National Library of Scotland site - we need more description though eg in a valley, on a hillside, moor
scotlandsplaces for 1855 place names and old tax rolls
Newspapers on the britishnewspaperarchive and the Cumnock Chronicle scanned by the late Bobby Grierson.
Wills, and Valuation Rolls 1855 to 1940 on scotlandspeople.gov.uk
And, of course, books.
Kay McMeekin, Cumnock History Group, project manager
email to: farms@cumnockhistorygroup.org
